Visitors thronged India’s first national tribal festival Vanaj, featuring around 900 artists across the country in New Delhi. The week-long the first National Tribal Festival Vanaj got a colourful kick start with Union Minister of Tribal Affairs Jual Oram inaugurating it at Central Park Connaught Place on February 13, amid folk lore’s from artistes coming from the far flung areas of our country. On this occasion the minister announced that this festival will now be an annual feature.
The five-day event is being organised by the government to conserve and promote the distinctive cultures of the tribal by providing them a national platform. The carnival will run till February 18, showcasing the rich diversity in tribal art and culture. Tribal products, medicines, paintings, art and handicrafts will be put on sale at an exhibition.
This festival marks active participation by the artistes from across the length and breadth of the country. It is also a part of the vision of the Prime Minister for uplifting the quality of Tribal lives and will provide an opportunity to the residents of the national capital to enjoy and appreciate the rich tribal culture and heritage.
The opening ceremony saw Dance performances by the tribal artists from four States. The dances were by Kutia Kondh, Dhemsa and Munda Tribes from Odisha be followed by Dobru and Flute Instrument performance from Gujrat, dance-Toda and Kaniyan from Tamil Nadu and Pandvani gayan and Gond style Karma dance from Madhya Pradesh. In addition the East Zone Cultural Centre presented marvelous performance by the artistes hailing from the north eastern states of our country - Manipur, Meghalaya and Sikkim north eastern states of our country which receive loud cheering from the spectators irrespective of language barriers.
Approximately 900 participants from Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Odisha, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal would be participating. While this would help advertise our diversity, it also helps in national integration.
The festival is also intended to conserve and promote the distinctive cultures by providing them a national platform amongst other things.