100 Drums Wangala Festival 2009 on November 13, 14

The annual Hundred Drums Wangala Festival will be organised this year at Asanang, 18 kms from here, on November 13 and 14 next. The Hundred Drums Wangala Festival Organisation is now making necessary preparations through a series of meetings to make the festival a grand success.

Ms.Agatha Sangma, Union Minister of State for Rural Development, is expected to participate as the chief guest in this year’s festival. Besides, other dignitaries from the state and outside, as well as tourists, both local and foreign, will be participating in the festival.

The Wangala is the most significant festival of the Garos and is performed during the harvesting season, generally in the months of October-November. It is a thanksgiving ceremony to Misi Saljong, also known as Patigipa-Ra•rongipa (the Great Giver) for having blessed the human beings with the rich harvest of the season.

The festival has been practiced traditionally by the Garos from times immemorial. However, due to the impact of modern civilisation and foreign culture, the Wangala, which is the cultural identity of the Garos, has been fast disappearing. In order to preserve and promote this cultural identity, a group of Garo intellectuals put their heads together in a meeting and decided to organise the Wangala Festival on modern lines.

A group of 30 dancers with ten drums would form a contingent and 300 such dancers would make up the “Hundred Drums Wangala Festival”.

The first Hundred Drums Wangala Festival was organised on December 6 and 7, 1976 at Asanang, the headquarters of Rongram Development Block. Since then, the Hundred Drums Wangala Festival is being organised in the second week of November every year and it has grown over the years under the patronage of the Government of Meghalaya and nurtured by the Hundred Drums Wangala Festival Organisation.

In this year’s festival too, there will be ten Wangala dance troupes as usual and these are: Dingnapara of Selsella block, which is the first prize winner in the festival last year; the host troupe, i.e, Selbalgre-Rengsangre combined troupe of Rongram Block, one troupe each from Ampati and Dadenggre civil sub-divisions; one troupe each from West, East and South Garo Hills districts; Chandigre-Sasatgre combined troupe and one troupe each from Gambegre and Dalu blocks. A troupe from Danang Bi•sa has been placed as a standby in case any one of the above troupes fail to turn up at the festival.

On the first day, that is on November 13, the Rugala ritual will be performed as an offering to Misi Saljong. The main Wangala festival will take place on the second day after performing the Sa•sat So•a (burning of incense) ceremony.

Meanwhile, the Do•kakku Artists’ Society (DAS) has also informed that it will hold an exhibition during the two-day festival to showcase the art and paintings and handicraft items created by its members. It would also exhibit the painting on canvas the picture of Giting, the most beautiful maiden in the Garo legend. The Society will also give an on the spot training on art and painting to the interested and upcoming artists during the exhibition.