HORNBILL FESTIVAL
If you are a person who loves meeting new people and experiencing new things and cultures, the right festival for you to attend is the Hornbill Festival of Nagaland, at Kohima.

The Hornbill festival which was celebrated for the first time from December 1-5, 2000 will be a yearly feature and will be celebrated around the same time.

If you love seeing Tribal architectural styles and house patterns of different Naga tribes, the Hornbill festival will have it all for you in one place. As in this Festival, each Tribal Hoho(the apex body of each tribe) will construct their Morung-the Boys Dormitory where the values of life are imparted. In these dormitories, each tribe tries to depict their original lifestyles to the nearest possible. Though the original Totem posts and carvings are not available, you get an idea of the original Morungs and traditional houses.

A tourist who is an art dilettante will definately find a visual delight in going through the paintings and other art, like wood carvings and sculptures by modern Naga artists.

Persons who take delight in collecting art items will be more than pleased as they will find a plethora of handloom and handicraft items such as,bamboo baskets,wooden plates, wooden spoons, bamboo mugs, cane and bamboo caps, bamboo and wooden carving of human figures and variety of animals, bamboo and wooden smoking pipes, walking sticks. Any visitor will be impressed with the variety of cultural items performed by the different tribes. Different Naga Troupes sing different folk songs and perform different types of dances. The multiplicity of musical instruments used by various tribes is simply mind-bobbling and impressive. All participating tribes also play and enact various indigenous games and sports to the throated appreciation of all. In the evenings, musical concerts and other entertainment programs keep the people in a festive mood. These concerts cater to the needs of all music lovers as it includes gospel, rock, metal, country, pop, western and what have you. If you are a gourmet and like to sample ethnic food, you can have a good fill as there are many stalls where Naga cuisine is served. Many people from all walks of life participated in the first Hornbill festival. It is expected that with experience and with wider publicity more and more people will participate in the intervening years. The Hornbill festival is organized not only with the collective efforts of all government departments related to Tourism, but it is a joint effort of all important NGOs and local communities of Nagaland.