10 Popular Festival of Arunachal Pradesh

Communal harmony is what this famous festival in Arunachal Pradesh celebrates! And along with that, the festival also aims to promote eco-tourism. During this festival, the state becomes even more decked up and the air gets filled with warmth and liveliness. That means visiting Arunachal Pradesh around the festival will be a wholesome experience. It will be a thrilling one too. Here’s why! A huge part of this festival is an array of fun and adventurous sports and activities, like boat race, elephant race, river rafting, hot air ballooning and paragliding. The cultural shows, the handicraft displays and handloom exhibitions are also quite interesting. But the major attraction is didi. It is basically a mock war game of the Mishmi people! To participate in this festival, you can go to Tuting, Yingkiong and Pasighat, some of the best places to visit in Arunachal Pradesh.

On the list of the festivals of Arunachal Pradesh, this one is certainly a new addition, given the fact that it was first celebrated in 2007. But guess what, this modern-day festival has become very popular in a short time. And this is why, every year, in winter (January), the town of Nampong hosts this festival. Throughout this 3-day long Arunachal Pradesh festival celebration, people sing folksongs and perform folk dances. An exhibition is also organised where you can see handloom articles and handicrafts collected from all over the country. Another interesting fact that makes this festival even more special is how the people of the neighbouring country, Myanmar also get a platform here to showcase their culture and heritage.

Loku is another winter festival on our list. Actually, the Nocte Tribe celebrates this festival to bid adieu to winter. Coming to the festivities, they continue for three days. Everything starts with preparing food and also sorting out the traditional clothes to be worn. Then, members of the tribe who just reached adolescence perform a special ritual and finally, everyone comes together and dances to the beats of folk songs. In between all these rituals, people also make time to visit their friends and family.

Love music? Then this is the festival you should not be missing. This 4-day festival of Ziro is actually the biggest music festival and one of the most happening events in the state. Folk songs of the state, of course, are performed during the festival. Along with that, many international artists also are invited. Needless to say, music lovers from around the globe visit Arunachal Pradesh to be a part of this event and you should too!

Agriculture and related activities form the major livelihoods in Arunachal Pradesh. And that is why the state has many harvest festivals honouring the same. Solung happens to be among the most important harvest festivals of the state and it is also one of the longest celebrated ones. For 10 days in Monsoon, the people of the Adi community perform many rituals, host large feasts and indulge in singing and dancing. If you can spend a few days during this festival in Arunachal Pradesh, not only will you have an enjoyable time but you will also get to learn a lot about Adi people.

This is another major harvest festival of Arunachal Pradesh. It is also about creating a strong bond between people, regardless of their caste, religion, age and sex. And this is what makes this festival a great event. The people of Hill-Miri tribe celebrate Boori Boot in the month of February. The festivities last for 3 days and include a special puja that the high priest performs. After the puja, the people take part in various activities, like singing and dancing.

Every year, on the 28th of February, the people of the Nyishi tribe gather together to honour and celebrate the prosperity of the community and harmony among themselves. This celebration is known as the Nyokum festival. How do they celebrate? The high priest performs all the rituals and the people offer their prayers. The rest of the festival is spent singing and dancing. People hold hands, create a circle and then dance to folk songs!

Tawang has always been a major tourist attraction. And it becomes even more charming in the month of February (or sometimes in early March), for 8 to 15 days. The credit goes to the Losar festival. This festival marks and celebrates the beginning of a new year for the Monpa tribe. This is how the Losar festival days go by! People start by cleaning their houses. Then, they hoist religious flags, read holy sculptures, light traditional lamps with butter and offer prayers.

Next we have the popular festival of the Apatani tribe, Dree festival. This is a religious festival and mostly involves traditional religious rituals. People pray to the Tamu, Danyi, Metii and Harniang God, offer sacrifices and take oaths to protect the plants. The rituals are mainly done near the paddy fields. But, the spot keeps changing every year as per the decision of the high priest!

The final name on this list of the popular festivals of Arunachal Pradesh is the one that is celebrated all over the state on 14th February and the celebrations last for three days. How do the people of Arunachal celebrate this festival? With a lot of zeal! They bathe the idol of Lord Buddha and offer prayers by beating traditional gongs and drums. After that? Everyone just takes breaks from work and daily chores and has a fun time singing and dancing!

These amusing festivals make Arunachal Pradesh even more appealing, don’t they? So, we definitely suggest you take part in these festivals whenever you can. You just have to plan your trips around the festivals and you will be in for a zestful experience!