December 6 – Hornbill Festival

We were back at the festival site again this morning for another round of performances.  The lead into the performances was the same as yesterday with long lines of tribal people lined up to greet the guests..

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Video of tribes lined up
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Introduction of the various tribes.

And performances by 8 different tribes.  The focus today was on “every day” life.

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Video of dancers
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Video of performance
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One group enacted some of the games they play.  A couple managed to entwine their arms and legs together (facing each other) and proceeded to rock as though they were on a teeter totter.  

They ended their performance by leapfrogging out of the field.

Another group enacted peace negotiations between two warring tribes and yet another enacted a battle between two villages…

which resulted in the beheading of two casualties.  Historically many of these tribes were headhunters.

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More Hornbill Festival Photos
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We had an early lunch and then walked about a half mile up a shallow hill to a viewpoint where we could see surrounding hills and villages.  The area is very beautiful. 

In the afternoon we enjoyed a concert by the Tetseo sisters.  They are from Nagaland and sang various folk songs from the area.  Very nice performance.

There was a small heritage village with some examples of architecture.

We headed back to the hotel…traffic jam wasn’t quite as bad…and hung out in the hotel for a while.

Then we headed out to the Night Carnival.  Quite a busy street scene with lots of food vendors and people selling all types of merchandise.  

There were a lot of cupcakes for sale.

A lot of women were cooking rice cakes there on the street on their little mini-stoves.

There were a lot of barbecues set up.  SInce the are is more Christian than Hindu many were cooking beef. as well as pork and chicken.  

There were a lot of Christmas items available.

Mary bought a couple of long-sleeved shirts.  It is pretty chilly here and she hadn’t brought warm enough shirts.