Festivals of Northeast India

Why Northeast India is India's festival capital

Eight states — Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura — hold together more than 220 distinct ethnic communities. Almost every month a village, valley or hill town breaks into a festival: agrarian thanksgivings after jhum harvests, warrior dances performed with dao and spear, Buddhist Cham mask dances in monastery courtyards, and modern additions like the Ziro Festival of Music and the Shillong Cherry Blossom Festival. Together they make Northeast India the most concentrated living festival landscape on the subcontinent.

Best Festivals in Northeast India to Experience

Ten festivals that give the clearest sense of the region's tribal and agrarian year. Each is documented in full on its own page — dates, host community, location and how to attend.

• Hornbill Festival December · Nagaland

  Ten days at Kisama near Kohima where all 17 recognised tribes of Nagaland keep their own morungs, songs and log drums. It is the one place you can compare Angami, Konyak, Ao and Chakhesang traditions side by side, which is why most first-time visitors to Nagaland plan around it.

• Aoleang Festival April · Nagaland

  The Konyak new year in Mon district, marking the end of seed sowing in early April. Older men still carry facial tattoos and brass-head necklaces, and the festival is celebrated village by village rather than on one central ground.

• Myoko Festival March · Arunachal Pradesh

  An Apatani festival of friendship and fertility that rotates between the villages of Ziro valley and stretches through much of March. Clan gatherings on the lapang platforms and the babo poles outside each village make it one of the most intact ritual cycles in Arunachal Pradesh.

• Wangala Festival November · Meghalaya

  The Garo harvest thanksgiving to Misi Saljong, best known for the Hundred Drums procession at Asanang in West Garo Hills. The Nokma leads the Rugala rite before the drumming lines form, and November weather in the Garo Hills is dry and mild.

• Sekrenyi Festival February · Nagaland

  A ten-day Angami purification festival centred on Kohima's villages from late February. Cleansing rites, shared meals and call-and-response folk songs make it a quieter, more domestic counterpoint to Hornbill.

• Mopin Festival April · Arunachal Pradesh

  A Galo agricultural festival in West Siang where visitors are smeared with etting rice paste as a blessing and Popir dancers perform in white. It is short, welcoming and easy to combine with the Siang river valley.

• Moatsu Festival May · Nagaland

  The Ao Naga festival that follows the sowing season around Mokokchung in the first days of May. Sangpangtu bonfire feasts and long migration songs are the heart of it, in a month when very few outside visitors are in Nagaland.

• Solung Festival September · Arunachal Pradesh

  The Adi harvest festival of East and Upper Siang, opening on 1 September with mithun sacrifice and the Miri's recitation of the Solung origin narrative. Ponung dancers move in a slow circle through the night.

• Chalo Loku Festival November · Arunachal Pradesh

  The Nocte harvest festival around Khonsa in Tirap, held in late November. The procession starts from the Lowang chief's house and moves through the village with dao swords, feathered headgear and shared rice beer.

• Dree Festival July · Arunachal Pradesh

  The Apatani agricultural festival in Ziro in early July, when the four deities Tamu, Metii, Medvr and Danyi are propitiated for the standing crop. Monsoon travel is harder, but the valley's wet paddy-cum-fish fields are at their fullest.

To travel to any of these with permits, transport and village hosts arranged, see our cultural and tribal tours in Northeast India.

Festivals by state

Jump into a dedicated state guide with dates, tribes, permits and month-by-month calendars.

• Festivals of Nagalandguide →
• Festivals of Meghalayaguide →
• Festivals of Arunachal Pradeshguide →
• Festivals of Assamguide →
• Festivals of Mizoramguide →
• Festivals of Manipurguide →
• Festivals of Tripuraguide →
• Festivals of Sikkimguide →

Festival calendar — month by month

Every major festival in the region, ordered by when it happens. Click any name for dates, location, tribe, photography guide and how to attend.

Guided festival expeditions

Small-group and private itineraries built by Living Roots Expeditions around the region's most photogenic festivals.

• Nagaland Tribal & Cultural Expedition21 Days
• Arunachal Tribal Discovery Trail14 Days
• Northeast India Grand Cultural Expedition21 Days
• Cultural Tour with Hornbill Festival9 Days
• Wangala Festival Tour — Garo Hills & Assam8 Days
• Wildlife Photography Tour of Northeast India11 Days
• Dibrugarh · Sivasagar · Kaziranga · Guwahati7 Days
• Namdapha · Mon · Majuli · Kaziranga10 Days
• The Northeast Explorer — National Parks to Tribal Villages10 Days

Folk dances of Northeast India

The performance traditions behind the festivals — from Cheraw bamboo dance in Mizoram to Thang-Ta martial art in Manipur.

• Cheraw Dance
• Wangala Dance
• Nongkrem Dance
• Bagurumba Dance
• Gumrag Dance
• Cham Dance
• Popir Dance
• Ponung Dance
• Hojagiri Dance
• Garia Dance
• Warrior Dance
• Khuallam Dance
• Thang-Ta

Permits & how to plan

Indian and foreign travellers each need specific permits to attend most tribal festivals in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur and parts of Sikkim. Read the full permits guide →

Frequently asked questions