Hornbill Festival

• The first five days of the Hornbill Festival of Nagaland, an annual tourism event of the state government, has attracted more than 78,000 visitors including 1,621 foreigners.
• The 10-day-long festival that began on December 1 is being held at the picturesque Naga heritage village Kisama.
• It has been billed as the Festival of Festivals.
• It was first held in 2000.
• Festival highlights include the traditional Naga Morungs exhibition and the sale of arts and crafts, food stalls, song and dance shows, indigenous games etc.
• It is named after the hornbill, a culturally significant bird embodying fidelity, beauty, and grace in Naga folklore.
• The Hornbill Festival symbolizes the collective celebration of identity.

FACTS-

• Hornbill is state bird of-
  • Arunachal Pradesh (Great Hornbill)
  • Kerala (Great Indian Hornbill)
  • Chandigarh (Indian grey Hornbill)
• Blyth’s Tragopan or Tragopan blythii – is the State Bird of Nagaland.