The Ahuna festival cum Mini Hornbill Festival began today at Public Ground Zunheboto.

The three-day celebrations of the Ahuna festival cum Mini Hornbill Festival will run from 12 to 14 November. The theme for the event is ‘Cultural display and indigenous games competition’.

Dr Hokishe Yepthomi, the former president of the Sümi Hoho (Ahuna Papu), was the special guest of the programme. In his speech, he spoke on the importance of Sümi language and the need to preserve it. He also noted that the Ahuna festival was about sanctification in the olden days.

Dr Hokishe Yepthomi.

Nito V Zhimomi, president of the Sümi Kiphimi Kuqhakulu, delivered a short speech in which he encouraged the Sümi Kukami Hoho and Sümi Hoho to save their cultural identity.

He also told the gathering that just as farmers work tirelessly throughout the whole year and celebrate the harvest time, they should also work hard in their own fields for the better progress of the Sümi people in general.

The programme today was chaired by Hokishe Kiba, vice president of the Sümi Hoho,

The invocation was pronounced by Rev Kughato Chophi, pastor of Satakha Town Baptist Church.

The programme featured a special number by Olympic Higher Secondary School along with a war dance performance by Bloomfield Higher Secondary School. A cultural item was also presented by North Point and Amiphoto colony.

Highlights of the festival celebrations on 12 November.

Indigenous games were played following the special presentations.

The comperes for the competitions were Jevi Hesso, president of the Saptiqo Area Student Union, and Angukavi, president of the Satakha Range Student Union.

An important festival of the Sümis, Ahuna is a post-harvest festival, a celebratory occasion of thanksgiving for the season’s harvest. Traditionally, the festival was also a time to call upon the spirits for good fortune in the new year.