Imphal Valley · Northeast Hill Massif
Festivals
| Festival | When | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Yaoshang | Full moon of Phalgun, February–March, five days | The valley's largest festival. A thatched hut is burnt on the first evening, children collect nakatheng — small contributions — from house to house, sports meets run in every locality by day, and Thabal Chongba circles dance by moonlight for five nights. It coincides with Holi and is nothing much like it. |
| Cheiraoba (Sajibu Nongma Panba) | First day of the lunar month of Sajibu, March–April | Meitei new year. The house is cleaned, a full meal is cooked and offered to the household deity, and in the afternoon families climb the nearest hill — the ascent standing for rising in the year ahead, and one of the few rituals in India whose central act is a walk uphill. |
| Lai Haraoba | April–June, by locality | Each Umang Lai grove holds its own festival, running from a few days to a month, at which the maibi performs the creation of the world and the making of the human body in a fixed gesture sequence, with pena accompaniment. This is the oldest continuously performed ritual complex in the valley. |
| Kang (Rath Jatra) | Ashadha, June–July, ten days | The chariot of Govindajee is drawn by hand through the streets over ten days, with Sankirtana at every halt. The Manipuri chariot is built and decorated locally and the procession is a valley-wide event. |
| Heikru Hidongba | Bhadra, August–September | A boat race in the long moat at Bijoy Govinda, with two crews of many rowers in narrow racing boats. It is a ritual event with a prescribed sequence, not a sporting fixture, and it is one of the oldest recorded observances of the valley. |
| Ningol Chakouba | Second day of the lunar month of Hiyangei, October–November | Married daughters return to their parents' homes for a feast and go back with gifts. It is the single most-observed family date in the calendar, and it formalises a woman's continuing claim on the house she was born in. |
| Mera Hou Chongba | Mera, October | An observance at which hill and valley households exchange visits and gifts in a set ceremonial form, held at the full moon of Mera. |
| Emoinu Iratpa | Wakching, December–January | The household observance for Emoinu, the deity of the hearth and of plenty. A meal is cooked and offered at the kitchen fire, and the day is kept indoors and by family. |
| Kwak Jatra | October, at Dussehra | A ceremonial observance held at Kangla in which the flight of a crow is watched for augury — a pre-Vaishnav practice absorbed into the autumn calendar. |
The festival calendar of Imphal Valley — what is celebrated, when it falls and what happens. (9)