From a rustic tradition to world recognition, Meghalaya’s Wangala festival marks a flourishing heritage
Meghalaya's Garo community celebrated the golden jubilee of the Wangala harvest festival by setting a world record with a 1,000-drum ensemble. The event, which honors the sun god Saljong, has grown from a local tradition into a major cultural landmark.
Why it matters
The festival serves as a significant example of cultural preservation and the promotion of indigenous heritage on a global stage.
TURA The biggest organised harvest festival of Meghalaya’s Garo community expanded from a hundred to a thousand drums on its golden jubilee on Saturday (November 14, 2026), creating a world record. Also read | The Hundred Drums Wangala https://www.thehindu.com/features/magazine/The-Hundred-Drums-Wangala/article15616905.ece Also known as a ‘100 drums festival’, the festival of farmers is the occasion when the tribal people offer sacrifices to please their main deity Saljong – the sun God. The harvest festival marks the end of a period of toil and signifies the onset of winter. Called dama in the Garo tongue, each drum is almost 4 feet long. Wangala was given a formal shape in 1976 after a Block Development Officer, who felt the drumbeats were losing their reverberating sound, scouted 10 dama players and organised a Wangala at the Chandmary Field in Tura, the second-largest urban centre in the State. Captain Williamson A.
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