Moatsu Festival
Date : May 1-3, 2011
Venue : Villages of Ao tribes, Nagaland
The festival of Moatsu Mong is an annual festival celebrated by the Ao tribes of Nagaland in the first week of May. It is a time of leisure, entertainment and recreation for the members of the tribe after the hard work of the season of sowing.
During the planting season, the tribal people are involved in various strenuous activities like clearing the fields, burning jungle tracts, sowing, cleaning up the tsubu or wells and construction or repairing of houses. When all this is done, the men and women dress up in their best clothes, treat themselves to meat and wine, and sing and dance around a great fire.
Sangpangtu, the occasion of merrymaking around the fire, is the highlight of the festival. Various rituals are also associated with the festival. One such is prediction of the future by reading the signs of the celebrations.
In preparation for the festival, men compete to make the best rice beer and to rear the best pigs and cows for slaughter while the women put their skills in garment making to good use to create finery for the big day. On the day of Sangpangtu, both men and women sit together to eat, drink and compose warrior songs and love songs. It is also a time when the elders of the tribes exhort the younger generation to be bold and heroic as were the forefathers who had to ward off the threat of head hunters from other tribes.
Venue : Villages of Ao tribes, Nagaland
The festival of Moatsu Mong is an annual festival celebrated by the Ao tribes of Nagaland in the first week of May. It is a time of leisure, entertainment and recreation for the members of the tribe after the hard work of the season of sowing.
During the planting season, the tribal people are involved in various strenuous activities like clearing the fields, burning jungle tracts, sowing, cleaning up the tsubu or wells and construction or repairing of houses. When all this is done, the men and women dress up in their best clothes, treat themselves to meat and wine, and sing and dance around a great fire.
Sangpangtu, the occasion of merrymaking around the fire, is the highlight of the festival. Various rituals are also associated with the festival. One such is prediction of the future by reading the signs of the celebrations.
In preparation for the festival, men compete to make the best rice beer and to rear the best pigs and cows for slaughter while the women put their skills in garment making to good use to create finery for the big day. On the day of Sangpangtu, both men and women sit together to eat, drink and compose warrior songs and love songs. It is also a time when the elders of the tribes exhort the younger generation to be bold and heroic as were the forefathers who had to ward off the threat of head hunters from other tribes.
