Yaoshang festival concludes in Manipur

IMPHAL, March 15: Yaoshang, the greatest festival of this border State was formally concluded recently with a series of events. The five-day festival which started from March 9 with the burning of Yao-Shang (Yao-Sheep, Shang-hut) concluded on Tuesday night with traditional fervour. The significance of this five day festival is the observation of birth anniversary of Chaitainya Mahaprabhu, an incarnation of Lord Krishna after the emergence of Hinduism in Manipur. During the festival, people go out for Hali-pala at various places including the Gobindrajee temple while the teenaged boys and girls play merrily in the streets. Yaoshang, the festival of spring is quite familiar to the younger generation, as it gives them an opportunity to choose their sweethearts during the festival particularly in Thabalchongba the moonlight dance. Both sexes participate in this dance during night time. Interestingly boys of the same village or colonies are not permitted to join the dance at their native places but to other distant places or neighbouring places. On the other hand, small boys and girls are given an opportunity to collect gifts and organise a grand feast on the concluding day of the festival. In ancient times, the Thabal Chongba was even organised inside the courtyard of a family. However, it has undergone some change today. In fact, most of the people residing in Manipur spend a huge amount of money during the Yaoshang festival. However due to the non-payment of the salaries to the 80,000 odd State government employees for two consecutive months, the festive moods of the people have dampened this time.