This year too, the first of December saw Nagaland’s famed Hornbill Festival begin in right earnest, as it does every year, overshadowing Nagaland statehood day.
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This year too, the first of December saw Nagaland’s famed Hornbill Festival begin in right earnest, as it does every year. December 1, incidentally, is also Nagaland’s State Day ~ this year it was our 63rd year of Statehood ~ but as the years pile up, the Hornbill Festival has sort of eclipsed the historical State Day. One gets the sense that in the last twenty years or so, during the inaugural programme of the Hornbill Festival at Kisama, our State Day merely gets a token mention if one studies the larger scheme of the Festival. Now, this could be a reflection of a section of Naga political groups rebuffing the State of Nagaland hence the long years of political negotiations with the Government of India, which our State Government balances by subsuming the Statehood Day into the Hornbill Festival increasingly in the last couple of decades ~ a kind of sitting on the fence and playing it safe. This could also be a reiteration and reinforcement of Naga identity and culture, which Statehood cannot repress or erase ~ a kind of reminder to the world, at a subliminal level. Then again with the way our governance and economy are regressing, so much governmental importance in terms of time, human and other energy and resources given to this Festival could be a way of diverting people’s attention from the real existential issues. Crumbs from the table, you understand, for who really gains from the Festival ~ a miniscule section of the population or the larger population?
The Hornbill Festival was initiated and piloted by former Chief Minister Dr. SC Jamir in 2000. For a few years it was held at the local playground at Kohima and as it grew in scope, the venue for the Festival was shifted to a Naga Heritage Village, Kisama. The Festival doesn’t seem to have been perfected as yet in terms of infrastructure or hygiene, sanitation and the little, little things that make all the difference but every year it draws a huge number of domestic and foreign tourists and visitors so perfected its public relations exercises. According to Festival organisers, its revenue have been increasing in terms of crores but as some opine the hisaab-kitaab of the Festival has to be officially checked, cross-checked and verified by the Economic and Statistical Department or an independent authority that deals with hisaab-kitaabs. Nagaland, as a State, really doesn’t have the reputation of being meticulous with hisaab-kitaabs hence we really don’t know how much revenue is earned and where it has been invested (if at all) and/or spent ~ something we may actually never know, as with so many other money matters in Nagaland.
The Government of Nagaland imposed prohibition, as demanded by our very puritanical Church, way back in 1989 and the debate for and against prohibition has been raging ever since at least once a year ~ sometimes very vociferously and at other times, not so much. In fact, months go by and no one notices the prohibition here. This could be because Nagaland, as often joked about, is the wettest dry State in India, so while our water pipes may be dry, our urban areas particularly never run dry in terms of alcohol. In any case, as Nagaland borders Assam, it is very convenient to drive over to Khatkhati and towards Diphu to stock up anyone’s alcohol requirements although there is always the fear of being stopped and checked for alcohol and the goodies seized by the Nagaland Police or Excise ~ then the legal maze of the Nagaland Prohibition Act, 1989 begins.
Since this year particularly, Dimapur’s civil societies have been pushing for lifting the prohibition in the district on the grounds that the Act in no way prevents the smuggling, sale and consumption of alcohol and that the Act is harming more than helping. Reports of deaths due to consumption of spurious alcohol and transition to illegal substances are rife. While the State Government claims to be willing to review and restructure the Act, unfortunately Nagaland is dealing with the Church’s ego and prestige ~ and the Church here is very powerful, has always been. The maze of religion and politics is indecipherable and no tippler has a chance of getting out of this maze.
Anyway, prohibition here takes on another dimension during the Hornbill Festival where IMFL and local brew flows like the Brahmaputra in the monsoons and the Government seems to sort of look that other way. Of course, foreign tourists and visitors do not come under the purview of the Prohibition Act and recently the Government said so in an official note though there doesn’t seem to be any mention of where and how they would procure their tipple. It has been noticed that the Church did not react and respond to the State Government’s aforesaid official note prompting humour that it’s fine the foreigners will go to hell while Nagas will go to heaven. In fact, it is an open secret that alcohol is served at official evening events, especially when foreign and domestic dignitaries and assorted guests arrived at Nagaland. Either the Church is ignorant about that, doubtful though, or simply turns a blind eye for whatever reason. Double-standards and hypocrisy are integral components of power games.
At the end of day, it is power plays that are the soil on which seeds for Government festivals and numerous seemingly innocuous programmes are sown coloured by the paint of economic and cultural benefits for the people, who are really the pawns near the table quite happy with crumbs. The initial intentions of these events may have been laudable but they tend to become platforms for political agenda and muscle-flexing. All Naga tribes have our traditional cultural festivals, which are sacred to us. For centuries, they have been held at specific times of the year connoting seasonal agricultural practices, underscoring our deep-rooted relationship with Nature and the bounties she blesses us with, strong community bonds and human resilience. This is common in all agricultural societies because the land and Nature are our only home and refuge. When this is appropriated and commercialized under whatever guise, it is difficult to say whether our identity, culture and traditions are being promoted or abused and insulted.
Along similar lines, the practice of performing our traditional songs and dances to entertain dignitaries and guests when they visit at any time of the year needs a re-think. Such practice is intrinsic to the colonial culture therefore they perpetuate the colonial culture. A necessary re-think especially as some of our Cultural Anthropologists are advocating decolonization, which is a process and a movement several parts of the erstwhile colonized societies have embarked on. Decolonization then should also include ridding alien practices that are ingrained in us and have subconsciously become part of our routine hospitality benchmark, which continue to immure us to the colonial culture thus accentuating us inferiorizing our own identity, customs, culture and traditions.
Monalisa Changkija
(The Columnist is a Dimapur-based veteran journalist, poet and former Editor of Nagaland Page. Published in the December 7, 2025 issue of North East Now)