Festivals
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🎭 Festivals of Manipur

Celebrations That
Stop the World

A state that has been celebrating without pause for over a thousand years. From moonlit community dances to all-night classical performances, from daughters coming home to flowers that bloom only on one mountain — Manipur's festival calendar is a year-round act of living culture.

Eleven major festivals. Ancient rituals unchanged for a millennium. A state that has never stopped celebrating — and has always made room for you to join.

11+
Major Festivals
12 Months
Something Always Happening
UNESCO
Recognised Art Forms
1,000+
Years of Unbroken Tradition
Festival Calendar — When to Visit
Jan
Gaan Ngai
Feb
Lui-Ngai-Ni
Yaoshang (starts)
Mar
Yaoshang
Thabal Chongba
Apr
Shirui Lily Fest
Lai Haraoba
Cheiraoba
May
Lai Haraoba
Jun
—
Jul
—
Aug
—
Sep
—
Oct
Ras Leela
Ningol Chakouba
Nov
Sangai Festival
Ras Leela
Ningol Chakouba
Dec
—
Yaoshang
🌿 Spring
📅 February–March · 5 Days

Yaoshang

Holi With a Soul
📍 Valley-wide, all districts
"During Yaoshang, Manipur becomes one family. Every barrier falls. Rich and poor, valley and hill — we all dance under the same moon."
— Elder from Imphal East
🎊
Valley-wide, all districts

Yaoshang

Holi With a Soul

Yaoshang is the most beloved and joyful festival of the Meitei people — a five-day explosion of color, dance, sport, and community that falls on the full moon of the Meitei month of Lamta (February–March). Though it coincides with the pan-Indian Holi festival, Yaoshang is something entirely its own — older, richer, and coded with meanings that go centuries deeper than colored powder.

The festival opens on the first night with the ritual burning of the Yaoshang thatched hut (a symbolic structure built for the occasion) — representing the destruction of the demon Poothan and the triumph of good over evil. As the hut burns, thousands gather around it in the open fields. It is a moment of collective catharsis and release.

Highlights
Thabal Chongba — moonlight community dance for 5 nights
Ritual burning of the Yaoshang thatched hut on night one
Nakatheng — children go door-to-door collecting coins & sweets
Traditional sports: kabaddi, football, wrestling, archery
Holi colors played the Meitei way — water & powder across the valley
🔮 Ritual Sequence

Night 1: hut burning. Nights 2–5: Thabal Chongba moonlight dance. Days: sports, Nakatheng, Holi colors.

✅ Best For

First-time visitors to Manipur; anyone who wants to experience living community ritual at its most vivid.

🏠 Festival Spotlight

Ningol Chakouba —
A Festival That Brings Daughters Home

On the second day of the Meitei month of Hiyangei (October–November), the entire Meitei community observes a festival devoted to one idea: a married daughter belongs permanently to both her birth home and her married home. And on this day, she comes back.

Brothers travel to their married sisters in the morning, bearing gifts of handwoven phanek skirts, innaphi shawls, fresh fruits, and sweets — making the formal invitation called nunggo thiba. The sister dresses in traditional Meitei attire and returns with her children to feast at her parental home.

The feast is the beating heart of Ningol Chakouba: chamthong, eromba, singju, kangshoi, fried hillstream fish, lotus-stem pickle, chak-hao kheer (black rice pudding) — a full showcase of Meitei cuisine, cooked with a love that is both personal and cultural.

"Ningol Chakouba is the day I feel most Manipuri. No matter where I live in the world, I will always come home for this."

— Meitei woman, Bengaluru
State public holidayIma Market overflows with giftsFamilies reunite statewideMeitei cuisine at its peak

What Happens on Ningol Chakouba

Morning
Brothers visit married sisters with gifts — clothes, fruit, sweets, jewellery
Nunggo Thiba
The formal invitation ritual: brother invites sister back to her birth home
Midday
Daughters arrive at parental homes with their children — grandparents reunited
The Feast
Two-day-prepared Meitei cuisine: chamthong, eromba, singju, fish, black rice kheer
Evening
Extended family feast extends to neighbours; gifts exchanged across networks
Markets
Ima Market transforms for days preceding — the largest gift economy event of the year
Civic Dimension
Chief Minister hosts state Ningol Chakouba attended by thousands; public holiday declared

All Manipur Festivals at a Glance

Click any festival to explore its full story, rituals, and visitor guide above.

🎊

Yaoshang

February–March · 5 Days
Holi With a Soul

Yaoshang is the most beloved and joyful festival of the Meitei people — a five-day explosion of color, dance, sport, and community…

Read full story →
🏠

Ningol Chakouba

October–November · 1 Day (2nd day of Hiyangei month)
A Festival That Brings Daughters Home

Ningol Chakouba — meaning literally "Daughter-in-law, come eat" — is one of the most emotionally resonant festivals in all of Mani…

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💃

Thabal Chongba

During Yaoshang · Nights 2–5
Dance Under the Full Moon

Thabal Chongba — literally "moonlight dance" or "dancing in the moon" — is performed across Manipur on four nights of the Yaoshang…

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🦌

Sangai Festival

November 21–30 · 10 Days
Manipur Invites the World

The Sangai Festival is Manipur's invitation to the world — a 10-day showcase of everything the state is and everything it has to o…

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🎭

Ras Leela

October–November · Seasonal full-moon nights
When Dance Becomes Prayer

Manipuri Ras Leela is one of the great artistic achievements of human civilization — a classical dance tradition of extraordinary …

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🌺

Lai Haraoba

April–June · Weeks-long (varies by temple)
The World's Creation, Re-enacted

Lai Haraoba — meaning "Merrymaking of the Gods" or "Making the Gods Happy" — is the oldest and most sacred festival of the Meitei …

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🌸

Shirui Lily Festival

April · 3 Days
The World's Rarest Flower, On Its Only Mountain

The Shirui Lily (Lilium mackliniae) grows on exactly one mountain in the world — Shirui Peak in Ukhrul district. It cannot be tran…

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🥁

Gaan Ngai

January · 5 Days
Post-Harvest Feast of the Zeliangrong

Gaan Ngai is the post-harvest festival of the Zeliangrong Naga people — a community that spans Senapati, Tamenglong, and Jiribam d…

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🌱

Lui-Ngai-Ni

February 15 · Simultaneous across all Naga districts
All Naga Tribes. One Day. One Spirit.

Lui-Ngai-Ni — the Naga Seed Sowing Festival — is one of the most powerful expressions of pan-Naga cultural solidarity on the India…

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🏔️

Cheiraoba

April · 1st day of Meitei month of Sajibu
New Year at the Summit

Cheiraoba is the Meitei New Year — and it opens with one of the most poetic and physically alive rituals in Indian culture. Before…

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🎭

Be Part of the Festival

The Sangai Festival in November is the perfect gateway to Manipur — 10 days of culture, wildlife, music, and human connection. Or time your visit for Ningol Chakouba to be welcomed into a Meitei home for the feast of the year.

Manipur's festival calendar means there is never a wrong time to visit — only different reasons to come.

Book Sangai Festival PackagePlan a Custom Festival Trip
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