Gaan-Ngai festival in Jalukie celebrated
Morung Express News
Dimapur | January 24
Organized by the Rongmei Council Nagaland and hosted by Rongmei Council Peren, the Rongmeis celebrated their Gaan-Ngai festival, Cultural Day at New Jalukie with Secretary Finance and Land Resources Department, Y. Kikheto Sema, IAS as the chief guest on January 24.
Addressing hundreds of gathering, Kikheto strongly advocated the need for Nagas to remain united irrespective of their geographical locations and to lend support and cooperation towards each other in times of need. He also noted that the forefathers had initially handed down impressive values and mores to the generations but rued that contemporary people had fallen short of properly preserving those ethos and were instead becoming inclined to western and other cultures.
“Preserving our culture is very important but it does not mean we have to disregard other cultures,” he said and emphasized on the need to respect others’ culture too.
Simultaneously, Kikheto also called for strong faith in the Almighty and extracted a verse from Matthew 5:3 of The Bible, “And why do you break the Commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?”
Stating that Nagas should transform from earlier head hunters to soul hunters, he called upon the people to be humble in the eyes of God expressing his belief that the Almighty have a special plan for Nagas. “It is time for Nagas to forgive and forget one another’s mistakes, make peace with our neighbours both within and outside the state and clear our mental sickness room as well,” Kikheto added.
Advocating Clean Election campaign, Kikheto reiterated that clean elections should not be confined within the state assembly elections but cover churches, students’ organizations, village councils, colonies etc. “If Clean Election starts from the grassroot level organizations then I do not see any reason for the campaign to fail,” he said.
President, Rongmei Council Nagaland, G. Chingkhiulung; Chairman, Lamhai Village Council, Haibamko and others also addressed the gathering.
During the programme, various cultural competitions were held among villages, men, women, boys and girls.
