Festivals of Arunachal Pradesh

Losar Festival     

Tawang Monastery plays host to the grandest celebrations of the Losar Festival, which heralds the start of the New Year for the Buddhist Monpas. The 15-day extravaganza is held in the month of February/March according to the Tibetan lunar calendar. The festivities are dominated by the worship of the deities, the lighting of lamps, and the raising of prayer flags. Visitors also get to witness Yak and Achi Lhamu dance performances.

Nyokum

This is one of the most important festivals of Arunachal’s Nyishi community. Nyokum, a pre-harvest festival held in the month of February, invokes all the spirit forces of Nature to attend the ceremonies to bring prosperity, peace, and happiness to the people. Instead of worshipping an image of a deity, they revere a yugang, a structure created from bamboo. Hymn-chanting shamans, war dances, bamboo pole wrestling, and pole climbing are some of the highlights.

Mopin

The Mopin Gidi festival, which is deeply rooted in mythology holds great significance as an agri-based annual event for the Galo tribe of East and West Siang. Celebrated on 5th April, it propitiates the goddess Pinte-Pinku for a good harvest and prosperity for the community. A highlight of the celebrations is the Popir dance performance. Dressed in traditional white and black embroidered attire, villagers merrily smear rice flour paste on each other’s faces and share apong, a local rice brew.

Reh

The Idu Mishimis claim to be children of the divinity ‘Nanyi Inyitaya’. Each year the community celebrates the festival from 1-3^rd February and offers propitiatory prayers to the divine mother Nanyi Inyitaya and Mashelo Zinu seeking nature’s blessings and protection for sustaining the village community. The festivities include animal sacrifices of mithuns and buffaloes, mantra-chanting shamans, and a Naya dance performance at night.

Dree

Visitors get to witness the biggest and most important agri-based festivals of the Apatani tribe when they propitiate the four deities they most revere—Tamu, Harniang, Metii, and Danyi—for a good harvest. Held on 5^th July, the Dree festivities are held with great vigour in the Apatani settlements all over Ziro District. A unique ritual involves the presenting of the cucumbers to participants and guests as it symbolizes a fruitful harvest.

Solung Festival

Celebrated over five days in the month of September, after the completion of the sowing of the seeds, Solung is a major harvest festival for Arunachal’s Adi tribe. Prayers for the prosperity of the community and a good harvest are offered to the guardian deities Kine Nane and Dadi Boteh. In the evenings the Miri sings the ‘Solung Abung’ and narrates tales about the genesis of the universe, the ancestry of the Adis, and the lives and deeds of the Adi heroes. The Ponung dance performance by the females of the community is another popular highlight.

Moh-mol

For the Tangsa community of the Changlang district this is a significant agri-based festival now officially celebrated on April 25 also as the New Year. The festivities are marked by prayer and propitiation to the Goddess of Crops—Tunguja Chamja—for a good harvest and protection and prosperity of their families and village community. The carnival air of the festivities is heightened by drum beats and gong reverberations, as people gather together to enjoy the food, drinks, folk songs, and dances such as the popular Sapolo folk dance.