Fast, Fair and Festivals of India Fast, Fair and Festivals of India
NYADA
Celebrated In : Assam
Celebrated by : Rengma Nagas
Duration : 8 days
In the month of : December
This festival is held in the early part of the month 'Penepho' (December) of the Rengma Nagas. Celebration of the festival marks the end of the agricultural year. This festival continues for eight days and each day has its own significance.
The Rituals
On the first day, rice beer is brewed. On the second day, the graves of the ancestors are repaired by their descendants by cutting the jungles around the graves and by replacing the fallen stone slabs on the graves. On the third day, the women offer rice beer on the graves of their forefathers. On the fourth day, the young boys and girls sing and dance in memory of the ancestors.
On the same day, the young boys and girls collect foodstuff from the families of the village to be taken in a feast on the last day of the festival. On the sixth day, rice beer is drunk by one and all. On the seventh day, men go out to gather thatch for repairing their own houses. On the last day that is on the eighth the young men of the 'Rensi' arrange a feast for them.