Our Correspondent
Kohima | April 1
Minister for public health engineering, Chotisuh Sazo today said festival is not only for drinking and eating or dancing and singing but it is also for sports activities, making new friendship and preserving age old friendship.
He said traditionally our people use to work, earn and use to celebrate the festival and to prepare ourselves to face the next season of working as per the agricultural cycle. “But today, we see the festivals observed by the different Naga tribes, instead of working and earning on our own we collect/seek donation from the rich people, officers, contractors etc. and use it to celebrate,” he said while gracing Konyak Aoleang Monyu festival at Kisama as the chief guest. Sazo also pointed out that traditionally Naga ancestors used to drink and eat in order to strengthen one’s body so as to face the next season of work but today during observation of the many festivals, “we drink and eat excessively and spoil ourselves.”
In this, he requested the Naga people to understand well the value of the festival so that the good values that have been practiced by forefathers is preserved.
Further, he said, “When we talk about our culture and traditions the younger generation in this modern society use to think that it is for wearing traditional dresses, singing and dancing alone.”
Sazo made it clear that these are not only the culture and traditions “but we have so many good culture and traditions like, respect to elders and women, hard working and obeying the traditional and customary laws.” “Today we are trying to divert ourselves from all these good values of our traditional practices,” he regretted.
