Our Correspondent
KOHIMA, OCTOBER 5
The Pochury community on Monday celebrated their premier festival ‘Yemshe’ with gaiety, recalling old traditional values of the past and committing to renew their friendship ties with “neighbours”.
Yemshe is celebrated as a preparation to usher in a new harvest, and it is also considered as a time of forgiveness, of renewing old ties and making new friendships, and a time of hope and fresh expectations.
In Kohima, the festival was hosted by the Pochury Hoho Kohima at the Naga Solidarity Park with minister for School Education & SCERT, Yitachu as the chief guest.
Addressing the celebration, the minister extended Yemshe greetings to all the people of Nagaland in general and to the Pochury people of Nagaland (India) and Myanmar in particular. He said the significance of any festival of any Naga tribe carries a common set of ideals such as unity, friendship, re-strengthening of old values and preparing for the future. As such, he said, festivals bring people together and forge bonds while helping the people to re-evaluate the extent of their achievement and to look forward to building better relationships with others.
“I thank God for sustaining us and for protecting and guiding us throughout the past generations. We are here today to recollect the past and reassure ourselves what we can do for the future,” Yitachu said.
Asserting that the Naga society today desires to live in unity and peace “more than anything”, yet, he said, such process cannot be achieved immediately and could take even generations. Towards this, he called upon all Nagas endeavour and give their individual effort for achieving permanent peace for development, progress and ensuring a better future for the Naga people.
“Just uttering words will not do. Our words have to be followed by action, and so, I recommit and dedicate myself on this festive occasion, to work for you and for the Naga people,” he stated.
“Let us all rededicate ourselves to work for Naga people and bring about social transformation through Naga unity,” Yitachu said.
He said the Naga society may be divided into different tribes but if all the tribes come together and unite then peace can be achieved, subsequently, progress will follow, he added. “Unity, peace and understanding has to be achieved if Nagas are to lead an honourable and progressive life,” he said.
He further called upon the people of the community to go back to their respective places and propagate the importance and the true meaning of Yemshe festival and inspire people from other tribes to realize that the characteristics of the festival should be applied to all Nagas to achieve unity as well.
Also pointing out that the Pochury area is set to become the gateway to South East Asian trade in ten years’ time as per the Look East Policy of the government of India, the minister urged upon all Pochury youth to work towards the “opportune time” so that they are not left out as the area becomes busy with economic activities that are likely to sustain the Naga economy.
The Nagaland side of Pochury area consists of 29 recognized villages while several Pochury villages lay beyond the international borders towards Myanmar side.
Guest of honour of the occasion, Home Commissioner Nagaland, Neihu C Thur in his address said that Pochury tribe, with only 20,000 people as per the 2011 census, is a compact and small community but they must have cohesiveness and maintain good relations with other tribes. While stating that “our traditions” were passed down from ancestors, he reminded the need for the people to remember that everything originates from God. He also highlighted the need to protect and preserve the God-given forests, flora and fauna for the posterity.
Earlier, the significance of the festival was explained by Tarachu Fithu, who underscored the need for the people to come together and chart out a fresh perspective towards achieving a progressive community.
The programme was chaired by Pochury Hoho Kohima president, Thsela Thupitor. Folk songs and dances were performed by ‘Voice of Yemshe’, Phoyisha group and Meluri dance.
