Dimapur: Beginning with celebrity gunfire, the Angami Naga community celebrated the Sekrenyi -cum-Mini Hornbill Festival at the state stadium in Dimapur on Saturday in a big way to preserve and promote their all-important festival.
Dressed in their traditional attire, the Angami community from across Nagaland dressed in their traditional attire, and presented folk songs and dances with grandeur, perhaps in the biggest festival celebration of the tribe in Nagaland thus far.
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Apart from the Anagami Nagas, other tribes from the state and communities from the Northeast region joined in the festival organised by the Angami Public Organisation
Sekrenyi is the biggest and most important annual festival of the Angami Nagas while the Mini Hornbill Festival is celebrated by the Naga tribes coinciding with their respective tribal festival.
Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and Deputy Chief Ministers TR Zeliang and Y Patton attended the celebration as the chief guts and guests of honour.
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In his address, Rio said the state government has been making concerted efforts to promote and preserve the rich cultural legacy of the Nagas by taking various measures such as initiating road shows in all the district headquarters. He said this ensures travelling to districts and appreciating unique customs and practices and also encourages tourists to visit these places.
“Our exclusive customs, found nowhere else in the world, is our biggest strength. But let us also appreciate the customs of other societies both within and outside the state. We must respect each other’s beliefs and practices for peaceful coexistence,” Rio stressed.
On Sekrenyi, he said it is the biggest festival of the Angami Nagas that signifies the coming together of the community as one family. He added that it also marks the purification of the body and the sanctification of thoughts.
“We must revive our common ancestry and become more united in the true spirit of Sekrenyi,” he said.
Stating that “our forefathers” exhibited profound wisdom, maintaining a work-festivity balance, Rio said Sekrenyi is a rare time of feasting on their bounties of the year gone by.
He hoped the Sekrenyi festival would rebuild the strong foundations of the unity of the Nagas and take the people toward a more secure, just, and meaningful future for all sections of society
Rio expressed gratitude to all the participants and guests who came to be a part of the joyous occasion. The celebration concluded with the Sekreyni feast.