Ahuna festival: Sümi and Yimkhiung renew historic bond at Sürühuto

SÜRÜHUTO – The Sümi and Yimkhiung Naga communities renewed a friendship they trace back nearly nine decades as the Ahuna festival closed in Sürühuto town, Zunheboto district, on Saturday, November 14. The day hosted the Sümi-Yimkhiung Second Cultural Exchange, with the Yimkhiung Tribal Council attending as the festival’s special tribal guest.

A plaque marking the occasion was unveiled by Throngso Yimkhiung, President of the Yimkhiung Tribal Council, in the presence of Dr Vihuto Asumi, President of the Sümi Hoho, according to photographs from the venue sent to Nagaland.News. Video from the festival ground, also sent to Nagaland.News, shows a line of men in red vests holding a mithun on a long rope before a packed crowd.

What the Sürühuto plaque says

The black stone plaque reads: “The Sümi-Yimkhiung Second Cultural Exchange on the occasion of Ahuna Festival, 14 November 2026, Sürühuto Town, Nagaland.” Its inscription describes the exchange as “celebrating our shared heritage, strengthening brotherhood, and fostering unity and mutual understanding between the Sümi and Yimkhiung peoples.”

The closing day was part of the Ahuna cum Mini Hornbill Festival 2026, organised by the Sümi Hoho and hosted by the Suruhuto Area Public Organisation on November 8, 13 and 14, The Morung Express reported. Deputy Speaker of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly S Toiho Yeptho was the chief host, and Roads and Bridges Minister G Kaito Aye attended as the festival’s Ahuna Father.

Ahuna festival speeches recall Sümi-Yimkhiung history

Dr Asumi described Ahuna as the Sümi festival that marks the completion of the harvest, held every year on November 14. He said the friendship between the two communities goes back to the 1930s, and that the first cultural exchange took place at Chessore on January 16, 2017, according to the Morung Express account.

Two Yimkhiung legislators who serve as Advisors in the state government also spoke. S Keoshu Yimchunger, Advisor for Youth Resources and Sports, recalled the support the Sümi gave Yimkhiung people during the Naga national movement. S Kiusumew Yimchunger, Advisor for Fire and Emergency Services, Home Guards and Civil Defence, and Relief and Rehabilitation, also spoke on the historical ties between the communities.

Minister Aye used his address to urge Nagas to focus on present and future challenges, warned young people against alcohol and drugs, and pressed for self-reliance through farming. H Akiumong Yim, President of the Western Yimkhiung Hoho, said the relationship between the two peoples should not be shaped by outside considerations.

How the Sümi-Yimkhiung bond was built

The two tribes share a boundary in central and eastern Nagaland, with the Sümi heartland in Zunheboto district and Yimkhiung areas in neighbouring Shamator and Kiphire districts. Leaders on both sides have long pointed to the role Sümi pioneers played in carrying Christianity and education to Yimkhiung villages in the early 1950s.

That history was formally celebrated for the first time at Chessore village, then in Tuensang district, in January 2017. At that event, Eastern Mirror reported, the two tribal presidents unveiled a monolith and elders exchanged gifts, while then Sümi Hoho president Toniho Yepthomi spoke of “81 years of concord” since the relationship was re-strengthened in 1936. Throngso, who unveiled Saturday’s plaque as council president, was then the Yimkhiung Tribal Council’s vice-president and gave the welcome address.

Earlier this year, at the Tsüngkamnyo Mini Hornbill Festival in Shamator, Dr Asumi said the two communities had agreed to hold a friendship event every three years, alternating between Zunheboto and Shamator, Nagaland Post reported. Saturday’s exchange at Sürühuto, during the Ahuna festival, is the first since that announcement.

Why the Ahuna exchange matters now

The meeting came weeks after violence between the Yimkhiung and Tikhir communities in Kiphire district left one person dead and homes burnt. The Yimkhiung and Tikhir tribal councils have since agreed a 10-point peace plan. Available accounts of Saturday’s programme do not mention that dispute, but the Ahuna festival gave Yimkhiung leaders a public stage alongside their Sümi neighbours at a time when inter-tribal ties in the region are under strain.

Nagaland.News could not independently confirm the full programme of the closing day, or the size of the crowd. The organisers have not yet released an official account of the cultural exchange.