SHILLONG: The beat of 100 drums will soon resonate at Asananggre, a small Garo village 18km from Tura in West Garo Hills.
Preparations are in full swing for the 39th Hundred Drums Wangala Festival of the Garos on November 10-12.
Chief Minister Mukul Sangma is expected to be the chief guest at the Drums Festival.
Besides the usual rites associated with the Wangala Festival like the Rugala, Chachat So’a and Dani Doka, among others, there will be competition among 10 participating Wangala troupes from the traditional dancers of Garo Hills. The events will conclude with the main Hundred Drums Wangala dance.
There is also an array of other entertainment, including slow-cooking competition, Master Chef 100 Drums Wangala Festival, indigenous games and handloom and handicrafts exhibition, among others.
It may be mentioned that the Wangala is the most significant post-harvest festival of the Garos, which is generally celebrated in October and November. It is a thanksgiving ceremony to the Misi Saljong, also known as Pattigipa-Ra·rongipa (the Great Giver or the God of Wealth) for having blessed the humans with the rich harvest of the season.
The Wangala is an age-old practice by the ‘Songsareks’ or non-Christian Garos in all the villages of Garo Hills. However, the time and mode of celebration varies from village to village.
But fast modernisation and the influence of Western culture has adversely impacted the Wangala, which is the cultural identity of the Garos.
In order to protect, preserve and promote this cultural identity, a group of Garo thinkers and leaders came together in a meeting and after much brooding, it was decided to organise the Wangala festival on modern lines.
A group of 15-30 dancers with 10 drums will form a contingent and 10 such contingents with 300 dancers will make up the ‘Hundred Drums Wangala Dance Festival’.
Thus, the first-ever Hundred Drums Wangala Festival was successfully organised on December 6 and 7, 1976, at Asananggre, the headquarters of Rongram Development Block.
Since then, it is being celebrated in the second week of November every year and over the years, it has grown under the patronage of the State Government and nurtured by the Hundred Drums Wangala Festival Organisation.
