Manipur: Foreign tourists join Yaoshang celebrations in Imphal

Imphal: On the final day of the Yaoshang festival, a group of foreign tourists participated in the religious ceremony of Brajamai at the Shree Shree Govindajee Temple in Imphal, Manipur.

The ceremony culminated in the Sri Govindajee Halankar procession, a re-enactment of a Leela, accompanied by music, dance, and the splashing of colors and vermillion by women.

This rare occasion saw tourists experiencing the traditional Manipuri celebration of Yaoshang, similar to Holi, on the 5th day of the festival.

Yaoshang, celebrated by the Meitei community, is a lively event marked by singing, dancing, and other cultural performances.

On Halinkar day, the Holi Pala perform their rituals at the Shree Shree Govindaji and Bijoy Govindaji temples in Imphal, bringing the 2025 festival to a vibrant close with both locals and tourists joining in the celebrations.

However, the tourism sector in Manipur is still recovering from the impact of the ethnic conflict in May 2023, which resulted in over 260 deaths and displaced around 60,000 people.

As a consequence, tourist arrivals in the state have dropped significantly, with a decrease of 79.04 percent in 2024-25 compared to the pre-conflict period in 2019-20.