Gaan Ngai is the most significant traditional festival of the Rongmei (Kabui) Naga community, observed annually after the completion of the harvest season, usually during December–January.
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Gaan Ngai is the most significant traditional festival of the Rongmei (Kabui) Naga community, observed annually after the completion of the harvest season, usually during December–January. It marks the end of the agricultural year and the beginning of a new cycle of life, symbolising renewal, thanksgiving, and communal harmony.
The festival is primarily a thanksgiving celebration offered to Tingkao Ragwang, the Supreme God of the Rongmei people, for a bountiful harvest and for continued blessings of peace, prosperity, and wellbeing. It also serves as the Rongmei New Year, a time when past grievances are set aside, relationships are renewed, and the community collectively prepares to enter the coming year with hope and unity.
Gaan Ngai holds deep religious and cultural significance, as rituals and customary practices are performed to honour ancestors and to seek divine guidance for the future. These observances reaffirm the spiritual beliefs of the Rongmei people and strengthen their moral and ethical values.
The festival is a vibrant expression of Rongmei cultural heritage, featuring traditional dances, folk songs, indigenous games, and ceremonial attire. Through these performances, the community preserves and transmits its history, customs, and identity from one generation to the next. Gaan Ngai also plays an important role in social education, particularly for the youth, instilling respect for elders, discipline, cooperation, and a sense of collective responsibility.
This year, Gaan Ngai commences on 1st January and will be observed for five days. On this auspicious occasion, we offer our heartfelt thanks and praise to the Almighty God for the gift of a renewed year and pray for continued prosperity, unity, and harmony among the Rongmei people. May this sacred festival inspire us to spread the message of love, strengthen bonds of kinship, and share compassion with our near and dear ones.
Kambui Dangmei