HORN BILL FEST FUNDS TO AID LEH VICTIM

200 FOREIGN TOURISTS TO ATTEND WEEK-LONG NAGALAND EXTRAVAGANZA

Kohima, November 30, 2010
This year’s Hornbill festival will raise funds for the flash flood victims of Leh in Jammu and Kashmir.

Commissioner and secretary of Nagaland’s department of tourism, Himato Jimomi, said, "the festival would raise funds for the victims of the flood that claimed hundreds of lives. The collections from the Hornbill Ball charity show will be given to the Prime Minister’s relief fund." Jimomi said that this charity programme would be held annually during the Hornbill festival for the needy and this year’s festival would have a plethora of entertainment shows for tourists.

A World War II rally, organized for world peace, will be flagged off from Dimapur on December 7. It will culminate at the WWII museum at Naga Heritage Village, Kisama. The rally is to honour soldiers killed during World War II.

A Naga women pipe band will perform Amazing Grace at the museum. An international photo exhibition, international motor rally, Hornbill national rock contest and Naga shadow play (projecting the rich Naga culture and tradition), American musicians playing country, blues and jazz, Miss Nagaland contest, the Northeast fashion show and Northeast cultural shows will also be organized.

Nagaland Governor Nikhil Kumar will inaugurate the programme, expected to attract 200 foreign tourists, tomorrow at 10am. Doordarshan will telecast it live. Delegates from Thailand, Laos, Norway, Britain, Israel and the US will participate in the festival, for which the state government has allocated Rs 1.4 crore.

Jimomi said the main purpose of the festival is to help the local people to earn from it. "We spent money on facilitating the people to generate revenue," he told The Telegraph. The officials of the tourism department said that the festival would be a confluence of Naga tradition and culture.

The festival is the collaborative celebration of all Naga tribes at one venue and is considered the "festival of festivals". It is also a tribute to the hornbill, the bird most admired and revered for its qualities of alertness and grandeur in Nagaland.

"The awe and admiration for the bird is symbolically displayed on almost all tribal traditional headgear worn during the festival and it indicates the unity of the Nagas," Jimomi said. This festival is a cultural extravaganza to revive, protect and preserve the richness and uniqueness of the Naga heritage.