Sekrenyi (Angami Naga dance)

Understand

Where Sekrenyi (Angami Naga dance) comes from

Sekrenyi is the 10-day purification festival of the Angami Naga tribe of Nagaland, celebrated in February in the villages of Kohima district. The festival is associated with the renewal of the village and the community, with the central ritual-day of the festival (the day of the Kezie or the community feast) being the most important. The Sekrenyi dance is one of the most distinctive regional traditions of the Angami community and is regularly performed at the cultural programmes of the state and at the Hornbill Festival.

How it's practiced

Sekrenyi is performed by men and women of the Angami Naga community in a circle at the central courtyard of the village or at the open ground of the Sekrenyi festival. The men and women perform in coordinated steps to the song of the Sekrenyi cycle and to the rhythm of the regional instruments (the bamboo mouth-organ, the log-drum and the small cymbals). The dance is gentle, with the small stepping rhythm of the Angami tradition. Costume is the traditional Angami Naga dress — the lungi, the colourful headdress with the hornbill-feather and the shawl. Performances are at the Sekrenyi festival and at the cultural programmes of the state.