Hornbill Festival and Indian Hornbill & Its IUCN Status
What is the News?
More than 60,000 people have visited the Hornbill Festival of Nagaland at Naga Heritage Village Kisama since its inauguration on 1st December, 2018. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the 10 day long annual festival at Nagaland.
Altogether 63,032 visitors with 780 foreigners have visited the picturesque venue. The visitors were treated with cultural performances from across the country including Odisha, Assam, Manipur, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya and Jammu and Kashmir.
About Hornbill Festival
- Hornbill Festival is a celebration held every year from 1 – 10 December, in Nagaland.
- This festival is also called the ‘Festival of Festivals’.
- Hornbill festival is the largest indigenous festival and an annual event of the Nagaland government to promote tourism.
- The practice of celebrating hornbill festival by the state government was started in the year 1963.
- It is named after the Indian Hornbill, the large and colourful forest bird which is mostly displayed in folklore of most of the state’s tribes.
- The bird is closely identified with the social and cultural life of the Nagas, as reflected in various tribal dances, songs and folklores.
- Hornbill festival exposes the culture and tradition of the tribal people and reinforces the identity of the Nagaland state as a unique one in India’s federal union.
- Tourism promoters believe that the Hornbill Festival in Nagaland allows tourists to have an insight into the different tribes of Nagaland.
About Indian hornbill
- The Great hornbill also known as the great Indian hornbill or great pied hornbill, is one of the larger members of the hornbill family.
- Great hornbills are found in the forests of India, Bhutan, Nepal, Mainland Southeast Asia, Indonesian Island of Sumatra.
- Its impressive size and colour have made it important in many tribal cultures and rituals of India.
- Due to habitat loss and hunting in some areas, the great hornbill is evaluated as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
- The great hornbill is the state bird of Kerala and Arunachal Pradesh.