festivals of arunachal pradesh

Best Festivals of Arunachal Pradesh

3 years ago

Festivals in Arunachal Pradesh are one of the main attractions for tourists as it has many unique tribal festivals that are mostly dedicated to harvesting and Gods that are considered as elements of nature. It is very surprising to see the dedication tribal people have to their beliefs and traditions. The colourful costumes, the rituals, everything is enough to blow your mind.

Let’s explore some of the festivals in Arunachal Pradesh

SIANG RIVER FESTIVAL

The Siang river festival is also called the Yonago river festival. It is celebrated in the month of February and is mainly celebrated to promote harmony and eco-tourism of Arunachal Pradesh. In this festival many cultural activities like elephant race, traditional boat race, and adventurous activities like river rafting and paragliding take place. You can also taste the traditional delicious food in the food festival and have a glimpse of Arunachali culture in their folk dance and cultural shows. It is said that before Siang, this festival was celebrated as Brahmaputra Darshan till 2005. The Siang river festival is celebrated with a lot of joy and you must visit at least once to experience some amusing things.   

Best Festivals of Arunachal Pradesh
Best Festivals of Arunachal Pradesh | Siang River Festival

ZIRO FESTIVAL OF MUSIC

 Ziro Festival is one of the most eco-friendly festivals in India as in this music festival totally bamboo sticks are used for its structure and the visitors are asked not to throw things on the ground and keep the place clean as they have banned the use of plastic in the whole concert. Talking about the concert, it is the biggest music festival in Arunachal Pradesh. This festival was started in the year 2012 by Bobby Hano and his partners featuring independent artists from all over the North East. This festival has two stages one is the sun which is said to be Donyi and the other one is the moon which is called polo.  If you’re planning to attend this music festival then you can get the form from the official site of the Ziro Music festival and take permission from the state authorities beforehand.

Best Festivals of Arunachal Pradesh
Best Festivals of Arunachal Pradesh | Ziro Festival of Music

SOLUNG FESTIVAL

 Solung is a 10-day agricultural festival celebrated by the people of the Adi community belonging to different districts of Arunachal Pradesh. The main festival is celebrated on the last day and before that, every day is meant as preparation day. On the 1st day of the festival gaur and pig is slaughtered in the early morning, on the 2nd day 1/3rd  of the meat is shared with the relatives and the neighbors, and a grand dinner is set for everyone living around. The 3rd day is for the rest and on the 4th day which is called Oinnyad, one of the family members sacrifices a chicken to their Goddess Kine Nane. On the 7th day, males of the community gather and prepare bows and arrows with bamboo sticks and then hang it on the entrance of every house. Then finally on the main day that is on the 10th day, people pull out the weak plants from their farms as it is believed in this way their goddess will take away all the insects from the farms.

Best Festivals of Arunachal Pradesh
Best Festivals of Arunachal Pradesh | Solung festival

NYOKUM FESTIVAL

Nyokum is a tribal festival celebrated by the Nyishi Tribe on 28th February for two days by doing their traditional dance in the group. It is celebrated in east kemang district, kurung kumey, papumpar district.

Best Festivals of Arunachal Pradesh
NYOKUM Festival| Best Festivals of Arunachal Pradesh

LOSAR FESTIVAL

Losar is celebrated not only in India but also in Bhutan, Tibet, and Nepal. It is basically a new year according to the Tibetan calendar. In this festival people clean and decorate their houses, hoist religious flags and prepare their traditional food and drinks.

DREE FESTIVAL

 Dree is a festival dedicated to God Tamu, Metii, Danyi, and Harniang. This festival includes the making of local beer called apong and the worshiping at a place chosen by the priest near paddy farms. In this festival four gods are worshipped Harniang for keeping the soil fertile and productive, Metii to serve them protection from natural mishappening, Danyi for their prosperity, and Tamu to protect their fields from pests.

BOORI BOOT FESTIVAL

 Boori Boot is a festival dedicated to the spirits as to get blessed with prosperity, the happiness of mankind and to free themselves from various diseases. In this festival, everyone takes part equally from high to lower class without any discrimination. People apply flour on their body and the priest performs a special prayer by sacrificing an animal and offering it to the spirits. 

Best Festivals of Arunachal Pradesh
Best Festivals of Arunachal Pradesh | Boori Booti

 So these were some of the unique and amazing festivals of Arunachal Pradesh. Whenever get a chance to visit Arunachal Pradesh, do attend the particular festival of that specific time.

Read : Tourist Places in Arunachal Pradesh

Priya Goel

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *