Wangala 2026: the hundred-drum dance thunders through Garo Hills

At Asanang, the traditional seat of the Wangala festival, a hundred drums beat as one while dancers in feathered headgear moved through the day-long thanksgiving to Misi Saljong, the goddess of fertility.

Wangala marks the end of the jhum harvest, and elders use the gathering to pass on songs, dance steps and the rules of the community grain storehouse to a new generation.

The festival has grown into a magnet for photographers, but organisers insist the drums still lead — the cameras follow.