The Hornbill Festival is celebrated at Nartiang, West Jaintia Hills District headquarters of Jaintia people.
Of late, the Hornbill Festival has become popular as a tourist attraction as well as an important cultural event. The festival gained momentum in 2000 and since then has been drawing performers from all over India and other countries. The annual Hornbill Festival is held every year during December 1–10. It was declared as the state festival on July 8, 2005, by Meghalaya State Legislative Assembly and first celebrated on December 1, 2005, with traditional gaiety and fervour. About four hundred artists including those from neighbouring states of Assam and Manipur participated in the inaugural function which featured 200 plus tableaux depicting the rich cultural heritage of different tribes and communities of Meghalaya.
This ten-day festival is celebrated with a lot of fervour and gaiety featuring tableaux, music, dances, archery, sports, food stalls and craft bazaar etc. The primary attraction of this festival is the grand parade that takes place on a single day – 1st December which attracts a large number of tourists from India as well as abroad. The venue for this magnificent show is the historic Nartiang Durga Dedofrri or Nohrekia Bengmara memorial football ground near Nartiang around 40 km west of Jowai town in West Jaintia Hills district. At least 30000 people assemble there to watch the grand event in the early hours of the morning.
The festival was first celebrated in 2005, and it has been held annually ever since.
Even though this is a week-long festival, preparations for the week starts months before the actual event. In some cases, artists from other states also come to perform as part of their contribution towards humanity as this festival had no commercial motive whatsoever. This year 2011 the 10th Hornbill International Music & Arts Festival featured award-winning singers from all over Asia such as AYAT NADIYAH from Malaysia, MANAMI TADOKORO from Japan and ARNAV KAPIL from India.