Hornbill Festival

Hornbill festival is the India’s longest and most popular music festival celebrated in the state of Nagaland. Almost every tribe of Nagaland takes part in this festival. Other than this, tourists from the country and all over the world come to behold in their eyes the spirit of the Hornbill festival. Main attraction of the festival includes Naga tribal dances, food, music and folklore. The festival is organized by the State Tourism and Art & Culture Departments and usually takes place between 1 and 10 December every year. The aim behind the celebration of this festival is to revive and protect the rich culture of Nagaland. Owing to its great significance, the Hornbill festival is also referred to as the ‘Festival of Festivals’. Let us learn some more details about Hornbill Festival 2024 such as its date, history, significance, celebrations, etc from this article.

The highlights of Hornbill Festival, at Kisma are:
- The event will have many religious and ceremonial parades.
- Each tribe will do a stunning performance based on its specific ceremonies or culture.
- Several performances of traditional folk dance and music to showcase the cultural heritage of Nagaland
- Fashion shows, sports competitions, craft competitions, dance competitions, and beauty competitions focused on Naga culture.
- The festival will have a food fair, music concerts, song & dance performances, and other entertainment events.
- Exhibitions and stalls displaying and selling traditional wood crafts, artworks, sculptures, handy crafts, and wood carvings. There will also be stalls of herbal medicines
- Flower shows
- Food stalls serving traditional Nagaland food along with other varieties of food.
- Competitions of traditional archery, indigenous games, Naga wrestling, and other athletic sports
- Hornbill International Rock Concert is one of the main highlights of the Hornbill Festival.

History of the Festival
The festival gets its name from the Indian Hornbill. The Hornbill is a common bird among the folklores and tribes of Nagaland and can be commonly seen prancing around in the forests of Nagaland. The different tribes in Nagaland address their culture with utter respect and thus find it purely essential to grace the festival with their cultural presence. And so it is celebrated with such pride and gusto. The festival is being celebrated since 16 years now. What started out as a mélange of cultural exhibit in the year 2000 is still getting stronger every year. The aim of this festival is to ensure the Naga culture is preserved and protected. The festival brings about unity and better relation among the various tribes in Nagaland. It has been because of the hard work of the tourism department of Nagaland that the festival has attained such immense success.

What to do in Hornbill Festival?
Undoubtedly Hornbill Festival is Nagaland’s biggest and most boisterous fiesta. And you would land totally headlong into this jamboree of music, dance, arts and whatnot! There is no dearth of things to do in Hornbill Festival. The shows start at around 9.30 AM and the order of events are more or less the same. The shows, music and tribes usually change daily. We think 3 to 4 days are enough to get a good experience of hornbill Festival. So here are your must do list of things in Hornbill Festival.

How is the Hornbill Festival celebrated?
Hornbill is celebrated at a village called Kisama Heritage Village which is almost 12 kilometers away from the capital city Kohima. This festival which is a 10-day long cultural manifestation attracts tourists from all over the world. Amazing performances by the Nagas, mouth-licking northeastern food, exciting games, extravagant handicrafts by the tribes, and many more attractions of the event keep the people enthralled.

various competitions, fashion shows, archery, Naga wrestling, kids’ carnival, motorsports, cycling, cultural dance shows, music programs, film festival are held to showcase Naga culture. The mysterious Naga culture unveils its magical heritage through all these programs. This festival also showcases some amazing traditional artworks like paintings woodworks Sculptures etc. Some interesting stalls and shows like herbal medicine stalls, flower shows, some food stalls serving delicious Naga cuisine, etc. The main attraction of the festival is The Hornbill International Rock Festival is held at Indira Gandhi Stadium where various Rock bands from all over the world showcase their brilliant performances.

How to Reach the Venue?
The Hornbill Festival is held at Kisma located near Kohima. Kisma is a heritage city specifically constructed to showcase the indigenous tribal culture of Nagaland. To reach Kisma, visitors need to travel to Kohima. Kohima is connected to various other Indian cities and towns through road only. It doesn’t have an airport or railway station and the nearest airport and railway station to Kohima is Dimapur. People coming by air or train can come to Dimapur and then take a taxi or local bus to Kohima, which is 74 km from Dimapur and takes 2 hours to travel.

By Air: The nearest airport to reach Kohima is located at a distance of 74 kilometers in Dimapur. It is a domestic airport with flights from Kolkata and Delhi. Foreign tourists can reach here via Delhi or Kolkata. From here, you can hire a taxi to reach Kohima which will take around 2-3 hours.
By Railway: Kohima does not have its own railway station. The closest railhead to reach here is at Dimapur. There are regular trains connecting Dimapur to Kolkata and Guwahati. These stations are very well-connected to most of the major cities. The journey to Dimapur via train is a delight with scenic beauty and beautiful views.
By Road: Kohima enjoys great road connectivity from the other important North-Eastern states like Guwahati and Shillong. NH 39 connects Kohima to Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram. You can either take government-run buses or private buses to reach Kohima. Also, there are regular Nagaland government buses operating from Dimapur to reach the venue.