Kwaak Taanba or Kwaak Jatra or Loidam Kumsaba or Crow freeing festival is an indigenous festival of

Manipur Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two regions of Myanm ...

, in which the King of Manipur sets free of a

crow A crow is a bird of the genus ''Corvus'', or more broadly a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. Crows are generally black in colour. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not pinned scientifical ...

, from his custody. The day falls on the 10th lunar day of Mera month of the

Meitei calendar The Meitei calendar ( mni, ꯃꯩꯇꯩ ꯊꯥꯄꯥꯂꯣꯟ) or Manipuri calendar ( mni, ꯃꯅꯤꯄꯨꯔꯤ ꯊꯥꯄꯥꯂꯣꯟ) or Kangleipak calendar ( mni, ꯀꯪꯂꯩꯄꯥꯛ ꯊꯥꯄꯥꯂꯣꯟ) or Maliyapham Palcha Kumshing ( mni, ...

. The festival accompanies several rites and rituals, along with various divine dance and music performances held at the Sana Konung, the

Royal Palace This is a list of royal palaces, sorted by continent. Africa * Abdin Palace, Cairo * Al-Gawhara Palace, Cairo * Koubbeh Palace, Cairo * Tahra Palace, Cairo * Menelik Palace * Jubilee Palace * Guenete Leul Palace * Imperial Palace- Massa ...

of Manipur at

Imphal Imphal ( Meitei pronunciation: /im.pʰal/; English pronunciation: ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Manipur. The metropolitan centre of the city contains the ruins of Kangla Palace (also known as Kangla Fort), the royal seat of the fo ...

. The setting free of the crow is performed at the Thangapat, the Royal

Moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

, in

. The main purpose of the festival is to bring

prosperity Prosperity is the flourishing, thriving, good fortune and successful social status. Prosperity often produces profuse wealth including other factors which can be profusely wealthy in all degrees, such as happiness and health. Competing notion ...

and

good luck Luck is the phenomenon and belief that defines the experience of improbable events, especially improbably positive or negative ones. The naturalistic interpretation is that positive and negative events may happen at any time, both due to rand ...

in the region. It's performed since time immemorial.

Earlier form

Earlier, the festival was known as Loidam Kumsaba and instead of

, the

pheasant Pheasants ( ) are birds of several genera within the family (biology), family Phasianidae in the order (biology), order Galliformes. Although they can be found all over the world in introduced (and captive) populations, the pheasant genera na ...

bird (locally called Nonggoubi) was used for the festival.

References

{{Reflist Festivals in Manipur