The time to unleash the wanderlust is here and World Tourism Day (celebrated on September 27 every year) is the best day to indulge in unique travel experiences. This day is no less than a festival as the world comes to embrace and celebrate tourism to bring culture together. And, this time the Ziro Festival (September 28 to 30) in Arunachal Pradesh coincides with the World Tourism Day. Keeping the theme — Tourism and Green
Investment — in mind, the festival this year is all about sustainability. The festival is also a chance to give the region’s tourism a boost.
Discover the undiscovered
Globetrotters can easily plan to visit here because a blend of nature, music, culture, and civilization from across the world seems like a perfect harmonious bliss. This amalgamation can take a person on a peaceful journey of serenity and sonic altogether because the view from the hills of the Himalayas and the echo from the valleys is a perfect paradise in itself. Moreover, to add an extra edge to your adventure, you can also make a list of to-do activities such as experimenting and satisfying your taste buds with its local cuisines like smoked meats of Mithun and various other stall dishes that are served with rice in banana leaf.
You can also experience the rich culture of the festival that holds the people’s eyeballs towards their workshops and engage with the help of the Apatani tribe. Attending this event can not only be adventurous but it can also drive a learning experience especially if you are taking your children along with you. This is because there are many fun-loving activities like painting, storytelling cultural shows, craft workshops, yoga, meditation, dance and a lot more that resonate with peoples’ emotions and develop a cultural connection. People participating in such activities can also encourage you to learn and play the Apatani flute which is mainly made up of paddy straw.
Alongside this, one of the most interesting and worth attending part of this festival is the Apatani dance wherein, 800 tribal women perform various dance forms, a tribute to nature, and music. This showcases women's empowerment and how a tribe of 800 women sync together to add extra grace to the event. This is why, the Ziro Festival is not only a celebration of artistry but a place where people of different cultures bond and vibe together, coupled with the music and melodies of their national and international musicians.
Bobby Hano, Co-Founder and Festival Director of Ziro Festival also says, "This is a boost for responsible tourism in the northeast and will hopefully pave the way for a generation of eco-responsible artists and music lovers.” This is because the Ziro Festival adopts some sustainability measures like they banned single-use plastic many years ago and use recycled materials. Earlier the festival has also put-up waste segregation pits and distributed bio-degradable garbage bags for audiences to collect their waste. Thus, they encourage people to bring their reusable water bottles to refill as the festival promotes waste collection with its partners and local volunteers from women and youth’s associations to always maintain a clean venue.
Sustainability at its core
Ziro Festival excels in the music and transcends nature’s sustainability. Some of the sustainable measures adopted at Ziro:
There are free water stations set up throughout the venue for use.
The organisers have connected all food stall owners with betel leaf cutlery manufacturers so that they can procure and use them for serving food during the festival.
The festival banned single-use plastic many years ago and uses recycled materials in its design.
Imbibing the wisdom of the hosting Apatani tribe, the festival is designed around sustainable principles that the community has been practising for generations. One of those includes the use of repurposed bamboo, which is locally and abundantly grown, along with oak and pine wood for the handcrafted structures, including the stages. This is also combined with upcycled cloth buntings and bamboo light fixtures for decor.
In the past, the festival has put up waste segregation pits and distributed bio-degradable garbage bags for audiences to collect their waste.
Most of the material used for construction of the stages are from the previous editions where the material is stored properly. Even the flattened bamboo called Yamio, which is weaved to make walls have been stored from the previous editions.
Ruchira Jaitly, CMO, Marketing, Diageo India said, “Signature Packaged Drinking Water is a testament to the way today’s generation likes to live and as the title sponsors of the Ziro Festival of Music, we are excited to showcase just that. The festival has one of the most picturesque venues in India with a terrific lineup of artists, experience centres, green acts of plogging, exciting masterclasses and more. Through this collaboration, we aim to bring together the tribe of Green Seekers who seek to be One with Nature in life, and at the festival, and together propagate the ethos of living consciously.”
