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Dimapur, Dec. 4 (EMN): During the 4th day of ‘Cultural Connect’ of the ongoing Hornbill Festival, 17 different Naga cultural troupes presented to the visitors a glimpse of various Naga traditions from the way wars were fought to the rituals they performed to mark harvest, and activities such as fishing, rice pounding and babysitting, among other practices.
Besides our Correspondents’ reports, the department of Information and Public Relations (IPR) gave on December 4 updates about the festival.
In the morning session, Lieutenant General Rajeev Sirohi of the 3rd Corps, and secretary for the Development of North Eastern, Region ministry, Dr. Inderjit Singh attended the occasion as the special guests of the event.
The evening session had Union minister for State for Tourism and Art & Culture Prahlad Singh Patel, and GEM Hospitals’ chairman C Palanivelu as the special guests of the programme.
Our Correspondent
A number of women, artisans, from Lüruri village in Phek district, are demonstrating the ways to make pottery the traditional Naga way, at the Hornbill festival at Kisama. The women are Asangle, Yemsang and Mowtsa from the Pochury community.
Interacting with Eastern Mirror, they said to be attending the event for the first time to demonstrate the traditional pottery making. Their experience so far at the festival has been positive.
They said that in the olden days their mothers would make pots and sell them to sustain their families.
“Our mothers used to make pots every season and we just leant from them while helping them out since childhood. We were not taught,” one of them said. They informed that people from different places would come to their village to buy pots as there were no modern pots available back then.
Making pots is a very tough work as they have to go to deep jungles and collect the appropriate soil to make clay, they said. “It takes a lot of labour to make fine clay.”
It takes around two days to make a single pot and 2-3 weeks or even more for the pots to be ready for use, they said.
Further, making pots has its own season which is normally the winter season from September to February. During summer, the pots break due to the hot weather, they said.
They do not take their pots for sale outside their village, but people from other villages come to the village to buy the earthenware, the women informed. Making pots and selling them is the only source of income besides working in the fields for the women, it was informed.
According to the potters, many visitors have been asking to buy the pots they have made at the event but they did not bring any for sale this time. The ones they recently made cannot be used as it is not properly dried and did not undergo the complete drying process, they said. The ones there are only for display and demonstration.
It was informed that making pots is a tradition in Lüruri village, and a hereditary craft tradition passed down from mother to daughter from the ancient times. How the craft came to their possession remains unknown but the tradition has been historically associated with the Lüruri from the distant past notwithstanding its fragile status today.
Our Correspondent
Coinciding with the Hornbill Festival, members of Mima village on December 4 conducted a stone pulling ceremony in commemoration of the 75th year of Christianity in the village.
A prayer was offered by Zhasalie Ngukha, senior pastor of Mima Baptist Church. The stone pulling ceremony started at the village junction situated below Kigwema village, in Kohima.
Before the commencement of the stone pulling, Kho-o Pfiikha, pastor of Christian Revival Church gave the welcome address.
“It is a symbol of forgiveness; to forgive and be forgiven of the past deeds which were not God’s likeness, with every village and declaration of friendship and peace in the name of our Lord and Christ.” He said the act is also a remembrance to the pioneers of faith to show that their sacrifices have not gone in vain.
The pastor maintained that the 75th-anniversary celebration commemorates how embracing Christianity impacted the village, education and civilisation and steadily bringing change.
The event was eventful with young and the old from the community pulling the stone for about a kilometre. It was also reported that the stone weighed more than 10 tons.
Organised by Mima Village Council the stone pulling ceremony saw active participation from men from Mima, and Angami frontal organisations besides neighbouring villages.
The Union minister for State for Tourism and Art Culture Dr. PS Patel also watched the stone pulling ceremony along with Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and advisors, among hundreds of spectators.
Speaking to media personnel, Rev. Vikiezo Lese, a pastor, said one Cüpfülhou Pieki became the first baptized convert in 1944 which marked the beginning of Christianity in the village. He maintained that there are four denominations in the village namely Baptist, Roman Catholic, Christian Revival and Baptist Revival Church.
The pastor said there are now only a total of 29 people who follow an ancestral religion while the rest of the village has embraced Christianity.
Mima is located about 16 km away from Kohima town, the state’s capital. The village was declared “Honey village” for its being known for producing quality honey.
The department of Social Welfare has opened spot registration to the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandhana Yojana (PMMVY), a maternity benefit program, at Kisama, opposite the Tourism office, updates stated.
Pregnant women and lactating mothers from the year 2017 with their first live birth, excluding pregnant women and lactating mothers who are regular employees with the central and state governments or with public sector undertakings, can avail this benefit, the IPR stated.
Eligible beneficiaries who apply and comply with the conditions will receive cash incentives of rupees 5000 in instalments into their bank accounts through direct benefit transfer, the IPR stated.
The department of Youth Resources & Sports organised a shot-put competition on December 4 at Kisama as part of the festivities.
Individuals from 13 tribes participated in the games. Suiriepeu Zeliang won the first prize while Megorieto Chase Angami and Likho D Sanga Garo won the second and third prizes, in that order.
A colouring, drawing and painting competition was conducted on December 4 In the Children’s Park at Kisama. Children competed in three categories.
The Synergy Group Enterprise issued a press release to the media on December 4 informing about the event. 15 students participated in the event.
The winner from group A was Sophia Gurung from Northfield higher secondary school. She was awarded a cash prize of INR 2000 while the second price went to Abhiruk Bagchi from Fernwood School to receive a cash prize of INR 1000.
The winner for group B Adarsh Gurung from Chandmari higher secondary school was rewarded with cash of INR 4000, and runner up Visa from St Paul School received INR 2000.
Winning the group C event, Khrienuo Chinese from RGHSS in Kohima bagged a cash prize of INR 5000 and the runner-up Ruokuozeü Chiese from government middle school received INR 3000, the updates stated.
All the winners in the three categories also received merit certificates, the organisers stated.
Music competition will be held from 1 pm onwards, the updates informed.