Kohima: The Yimchunger Naga tribe has celebrated their ‘Soul wrapping festival’ Metumneo on Saturday in Shamator in Tuensang district, with gaiety and cultural extravaganza, along with the Youth Expo, 2012.
According to sources here on Sunday the festival-cum-Youth Expo, 2012 was graced by Nagaland Parliamentary Secretary for Civil Administrative Works Department (CAWD) T. Torechu as the Chief Guest, T. Kejong Chang, MLA and Advisor of Village Guards Organizations, Dobhashis and Gaon Burhas Affairs as Guest of Honour and Parliamentary Secretary for Information and Public Relation and Economics and statistics R. Tohanba as the Special Guest.
Speaking on the occasion Mr. Torechu expressed his gratitude to the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland Government led by Neiphiu Rio for having sponsored the Festivals-cum-Youth Expo which has enabled the entire tribe to celebrate festivals together unlike earlier years when every village celebrated festivals separately.
Taking the opportunity, he urged the youth to be agents of transformation with innovation, hard work and humility.
He wished that the youth adopt the motto of ‘work and eat’. He pointed out that with the coming of DAN government, developments were being witnessed and requested that the people also develop positive attitudes and change of mindsets towards development and social change through peace and friendship with others.
Kejong Chang recalled that the jungles of yesteryears have today been replaced by developments of modernity. He was witness to the process of change since the time when Major R. Kathing visited Tuensang on January 28, 1948 and later visited Shamator in the month of May 1954.
R. Tohanba the special guest and MLA of Shamator welcomed all and said that the DAN government has a policy of uplifting the youths from the grass root to national and international levels by supporting the development of their skills through programmes such as youth expo.
He also said that the government was striving to improve the economy of the villages by sponsoring local products and distributing them to the national markets.
Metümneo festival or the ‘soul wrapping festival’ is celebrated to symbolize the welcoming of all newborn children.
During the occasion, meat wrapped for the newborn children are performed in accordance with the belief that males had six facets of the soul while females had five. Accordingly six pieces of meat are placed in the wrap for boys and five pieces of meat in the wrap for girls.
Cultural troupes from ten villages performed during the programme. (UNI)