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Women of a tribal troupe parade through Kohima town on Dec. 8. Members of 17 cultural troupes chanted, yodelled, and sang folk songs during a procession, ‘cultural parade,’ during the event. (EM Images)[/caption]
Kohima, Dec. 8 (EMN): Volunteers whistled as they signalled to the packed street to make way for the cultural troupes. The sea of people moved quickly to both sides of the road to whip out their cameras. They were out in force to capture the first ever cultural parade in Kohima’s main town, on the cold evening of Dec. 8.
The main town somehow seem to become warmer as the police brass band beat the drums, and blew the flutes and bagpipes loudly. The 17 cultural troupes each composed of ten members chanted, yodelled, and sang folk songs. They were followed by ladies in wedding gowns. They traversed along the road from the New Market junction toward Razhü point in the main town.
Despite the weather having plunged to eight degree Celsius at the time of parade, some of the cultural troupes were in full ethnic attires—which is more of less covering the body. Some had only a pair of slippers to the ethnic attires.
Although the walk lasted for about 20 minutes, it put the activities at the Night Carnival on hold. It was for the first time in 19 years of celebrating the Hornbill Festival of Nagaland that the Cultural Parade marked the event, and it displayed the spirit of unity. The event was organised by tourism promotion group India Trail in collaboration with the Tourism department.
Once the cultural troupes’ procession had walked towards the Kohima local ground, the road returned to its typically busy night bazaar as people made their way back to the road and stalls. The parade elicited excitement and appreciation from the people there. “It was awesome,” said Abhigial P Hengkong who is pursuing BBA at C Edge College, in Dimapur. She found impressive the tribal troupes walking in ethnic attires, singing folk songs and dancing.
“We want to see it like that every day,” she said. She thought such an event was a “good idea.”
Bovito Swu, who is also doing BBA at C Edge College, said that such a showcase was “very nice.” He added excitedly: “We took video.” He went on to say that, “it’s very rare to see such things happening.”
Still another admirer was Chimpo Phom, who runs a stall at the Night Carnival. He chucked “(I) Am speechless.” When asked if he would want similar events in the future, Phom said, “yeah, sure.”
However, Nchumthung Murry, a 29-year-old entrepreneur had a slightly different opinion about the event. “It was nice but the minus point is that it took more time and customers were distracted,” he said. However, he too enjoyed the police brass band display.