Hornbill Festival 2011 - Favourite things

So now that the Hornbill Festival is over for 2011, with the final bonfire and mass dance.





To mark the end of the festival, I thought I'd put together a list of favourite things from this year:

Rice beer: Angami
Now I don't drink, but my friend had been sampling the various rice beers from different tribes. She decided that the one from the Angami house was her favourite, and I'll take her word for it.

Singing: Chakhesang
I'd put a video up if my internet connection wasn't so slow. Also, I don't think I have a particularly good video of any of their performances. But there's something about the harmony that I find very pleasing. Even many of my Sumi and Angami friends will tell me that the Chakhesangs are some of the best singers in Nagaland.


Shawl design: Khiamniungan
This particular shawl design is actually quite similar to one particular Sumi shawl that I have. The most noticeable difference is that the Khiamniungan has many more of those rectangular red patches. Those red patches on the black background make it the most appealing shawl for me.


Morung models: Ao
Every festival, each tribe needs to have people stand around their model morungs to take photos with tourists. I'm calling them 'morung models'. This year, I thought the young Ao guy and girl made a particularly cute couple, even if they're not a couple in real life. They even thanked me when I took and showed them this photo, so I had to say that I was the one who ought to be thanking them. (It's sort of fitting too, given that the word 'morung' comes from the Ao language.)


Full outfit: Lotha
This Lotha man kindly posed for my photo, although I think he'd been asked to many times during the week. For some reason, it actually reminds me of some sort of military uniform. I thought it really suited him. And the beard didn't hurt either.


Hospitality: Sumi
Well, you might say I'm a little biased here, and you'd be right. Canato did let me leave my stuff at his stall all day while I went walking / hiking around. But also on my visits to the Sumi morung / house, I'd be offered milk tea and Sümi sho 'Sumi bread'. The man in the photograph with me is one of the chief of Khetoi village, which we visited a few weeks ago so we could watch them rehearse for Hornbill Festival. He usually leads the performances, and when we went to visit his village, he was tasked with introducing us over the loudspeaker. On the 2nd last day of the festival, I was very touched when he asked to take a photo with me. However, since the photo was on my camera, I quickly printed out a copy for him to take home.