Mising community celebrates Ali-Aye-Ligang as state holiday demand is fulfilled

Culture 2026-02-19

The Mising community across Assam celebrated Ali-Aye-Ligang, its most important agricultural festival, on February 18 with added joy this year after the state government fulfilled a demand raised for nearly four decades by declaring the festival a government holiday. Members of the Takam Mising Porin Kebang (TMPK), Mising Mimag Kebang and allied bodies joined celebrations in Majuli, where locals gathered in large numbers at Nayabazar as the moment turned festive. Ali-Aye-Ligang, observed on the first Wednesday of Phagun, marks the beginning of the sowing season and the community's deep bond with land, water and cultivation. Rituals opened with prayers to Donyi-Polo and the ceremonial sowing of Ahu paddy seeds, followed by Gumrag dance performances, traditional feasts and community gatherings in Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Majuli, Jorhat and across Upper Assam. Earlier, the holiday had been restricted to select Mising-inhabited districts; the statewide declaration was welcomed as recognition of the festival of Assam's second-largest Scheduled Tribe. (Based on reports by DY365, Pratidin Time and The Assam Tribune.)