A fest to celebrate a local rice wine

The GI tag and the newly introduced Vista dome to Haflong promises more than the usual crowd for the Judima fest in Assam

With Judima, a traditional rice wine from Dima Hasao district of Assam, earning the Geographical Identification tag earlier this year, heading to a festival that celebrates this unique drink of the Dima community seems a good decision. Getting to Halong in Dima Hasao will give you a chance to not only try lots of Judima with ethnic food but also get a glimpse of the art, crafts and culture of the Dima Hasao people.

The three-day festival from December 17-19 is one of the newer festivals in the region. “Judima fest was first held at the Dibarai village six years ago. This year it will be held at Gunjung, a town 29 kilometers from Haflong town,” says Naushaad Husain of Adventura that specialises in eco-tourism in the Northeast region.

Like every year, the organisers are expecting a good footfall from all northeaster states. Uttam Baithari, one of the initiators for Judima’s GI tag says, “We usually get a good footfall, but it is expected to go up this time owing to several reasons including the GI tag and the new Vista dome railway. The theme for events in this edition is agriculture. We are working on putting up agri products of the district, a live demo on making organic pesticides and manure and a workshop on seed conservation. There will also be other regular events like traditional performances of storytelling, ballad singing, dance and sports as well as adventure activities such as trekking, biking, zip-lining and paragliding. Some fusion bands featuring local musicians will be performing too.”