Connecting Cultural and festival in Preserving the Identity: A Case of Nongkrem Festival

Abstract

The cultural festivals are one of the essential in preserving the local custom and tradition of any society. Especially in the case of small festivals, it is often as seen as the most important upshot for any event. Events can provide tourists with authentic information about culture, their routes and lifestyle. This paper will discuss the linkage between culture and festival of Nongkrem Festival in preserving the cultural identity, Nongkrem Dance Festival was held annually in the month of November at Smit, which is around 15 kilometres to the southwest of Shillong. Nongkrem festival is considered as the major religious festival among the Khasis. It is a five-day long festival which is celebrated for the harvest thanksgiving by the Khasi tribe. This colourful festival had able to attract large numbers of tourists, Attendance figures were highest at the opening and closing ceremonies, such events did lead to a positive self-identification for the local community. A qualitative technique is used for data collection and Narrative method of analysis is used for interpreting the data