Mizoram to celebrate Chapchar kut on March 6

Mizoram will celebrate Chapchar Kut, the biggest and most important festival of the Mizos, on March 6, an official statement said on Tuesday.

The meeting of Chapchar Kut organizing committee held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Zoramthanga decided that the festival will be a two-day event.

While March 5 will be celebrated as pre-festival, which would be graced by Art and Culture Minister R Lalzirliana as "Kut Pa" or the "father of the festival", the grand celebration will take place on March 6, where that place would be taken by Zoramthanga, the statement said.

"Promotion of Mizos' culture and moral code" has been chosen as the theme for this year Chapchar Kut.

The festival will be celebrated with cultural fervour and gaiety in all parts of the state and the grand celebration will be held at the Assam Rifles ground here.

The organizing committee also decided to invite diplomats from countries such as the USA, Bangladesh, Thailand, Myanmar, Korea, Japan, Nepal, Bhutan, China and Israel besides leaders of different tribes of Mizo from different parts of the world, the statement said.

Exhibition of painting, photo, handloom and handicraft will be held in different places in Aizawl as part of the celebration while a food court will be set up at the venue of the main celebration.

Chapchar Kut is a spring festival celebrated usually in March after completion of the Jhum cultivation.

Jhum cultivation, also known as the slash and burn agriculture, is the process of growing crops by first clearing the land of trees and vegetation and burning them thereafter.