Garo Hills · Northeast Hill Massif

Festivals

Festival	When	What happens
Wangala	October to December, set village by village	The harvest thanksgiving, addressed to Misi Saljong, that closes the agricultural year. It opens with rites at the nokma's house — Rugala, the pouring of rice beer, and Cha·chat So·a, the burning of incense — before moving outdoors to the drums and the two dancing lines. It runs two or three days in most villages and up to a week in some, and each village sets its own date once its own crop is in.
The Hundred Drums Wangala Festival	Usually November, at Asanang near Tura	A consolidated Wangala staged since 1976, at which village troupes bring their drummers to one ground. It has become the region's largest public event and draws troupes from outside the Garo Hills, which makes it both a genuine continuation of the rite and a distinctly modern institution.
Den Bilsia	Winter, after the harvest is stored	A post-harvest festival marking the close of the working year, observed at village level and much quieter than Wangala.
Rongchu Gala	After the harvest	A rite performed before the new rice is eaten, tied to the granary and to the nokma's household rather than to a public ground.
A·galmaka	The start of the cropping season	A sowing-season observance in the Songsarek calendar, marking the beginning of work on the a·ba after the burn.
Chambil Mesara	The Wangala season	The pomelo dance, danced as its own occasion in some villages and as part of Wangala in others.
Christmas	December	With the great majority of Garos Christian, Christmas is the largest gathering of the year in most villages — church services, choir singing and household visiting across several days.
Togan Sangma commemoration	12 December	The annual observance at Chisobibra of the 1872 resistance and of Pa Togan Nengminja Sangma's death, marked across the Garo Hills.

The festival calendar of Garo Hills — what is celebrated, when it falls and what happens. (8)