ENPO to participate in Nagaland’s Hornbill Festival 2023

KOHIMA — Putting all speculations to rest, the Eastern Nagaland People’s Organization (ENPO) on Wednesday decided to participate in the Hornbill Festival 2023, which will begin next month.

This was confirmed to Eastern Mirror by a legislator and member of the Eastern Nagaland Legislators’ Union (ENLU) on Wednesday evening after a marathon meeting of the ENPO leaders and ENLU in Dimapur.

It came days after the ENPO announced that it would not participate in the upcoming premier festival of the state, which is celebrated every year from December 1 to the 10th, over its demand for a separate state.

Following the decision to take part in the festival after several hours of discussion, sources said the tribal bodies from the eastern region would soon begin renovation work of their respective morungs at the Naga Heritage village.

On Wednesday, various tribes (except eastern Nagaland tribes), vendors and departments were spotted renovating their morungs and setting up stalls, when this newspaper visited the main venue of the 10-day event at Kisama.

Those present at the venue expressed hope the works would be completed in a few days and be ready for the mega festival.

It may be mentioned that the Chang, Khiamniungan, Konyak, Phom, Sangtam, Tikhir and Yimkhiung communities from the eastern region abstained from participating in the Hornbill Festival last year over the demand for a separate administration. They also pulled out of the festival midway in 2021 following the December 4 Oting incident.

Also read: ENPO’s potential participation in hornbill festival discussed