About Ningol Chakouba
Ningol Chakouba is the Meitei festival on which married daughters and sisters go back to their parents' home for a feast cooked in their honour. It falls on the second day of the lunar month Hiyangei, which in 2026 is Wednesday, 11 November 2026, and it is a public holiday in Manipur.
Ningol Chakouba is one of the largest festivals in the Meitei calendar, and it has almost no ritual. There is no puja to perform and no fast to keep. A married woman goes back to her mapam, her natal home, eats a long lunch that her parents and brothers have cooked for her, takes home a gift, and blesses the men of the house before she leaves.
The name explains the day. In the Learners' Manipuri-English Dictionary, a ningol is a woman or girl of a family or clan, and chakkouba is hosting a grand feast, from chak, cooked rice, and kou, to call. Both spellings, Chakouba and Chakkouba, are common.
How the date is set
The festival falls on the second day of Hiyangei, the Meitei lunar month that begins after the new moon of Diwali. That is why it is also called Hiyangei Nini Paanba, the second day of Hiyangei. It is the same lunar day as Bhai Dooj, and the two usually land on the same date. They can differ by a day, though. In 2023 the Delhi panchang placed Bhai Dooj on 14 November, while Manipur marked Ningol Chakouba on 15 November. The Manipur government fixes the date each year in its list of public holidays, so go by that list rather than a Bhai Dooj calendar.
Kut, the post-harvest festival of the Kuki-Chin-Mizo communities, is held on 1 November every year and so often falls in the same fortnight. In 2016 the two were on the same day.
The day, in order
- A week beforeThe invitation
The son of the house formally invites his married sister to lunch at the family home
- The day beforeBuying fish
The state Fisheries Department holds a fish fair in Imphal so families can buy fish at fixed prices; in 2025 it was at Hapta Kangjeibung
- MorningDaughters arrive
Married women come dressed in their best phanek and innaphi, with their children, carrying fruit, sweets and vegetables for the family
- MiddayThe feast
A long meal of several courses, with fish curry in more than one form at its centre
- AfternoonGifts and blessings
Parents and brothers give the women gifts; the women bless their brothers with long life and success
- EveningThe drive back
Khwairamband Keithel and the roads into Imphal, empty all day, fill up as women return to their husbands' homes
The food and the gifts
Fish is the one thing every Ningol Chakouba table has. Many Meitei Hindu families are Vaishnava and traditionally keep meat out of festive cooking, so fish carries the meal: curries, fried fish, and dishes made with ngari, the fermented fish that flavours eromba. Chak-hao kheer, a pudding of Manipur's black rice, is a common sweet. More families now add chicken, and demand is high enough that iced fish is trucked in from Guwahati, Kolkata and Hyderabad.
The traditional gift is handloom cloth. When costly gifts became common, civil groups in Manipur campaigned against turning the day into a display, and many women now decline expensive presents. The daughters, for their part, bring the season's fruit, which in practice means apples, oranges and bananas from other states, and these are shared out among relatives.
- Ningol
- A woman or girl of the family; on this day, the married daughters and sisters
- Piba
- A male member of the family; the brothers and sons who host
- Mapam
- A married woman's natal home, her parents' house
- Chakkouba
- Hosting a grand feast; literally calling someone to eat
- Hiyangei
- The Meitei lunar month that starts after the Diwali new moon
- Phanek, innaphi
- The Meitei woman's wrapped skirt and the shawl worn over it
- Ngari, eromba
- Fermented fish, and the mashed chilli and vegetable dish made with it
- Athenpot
- Gifts of food and fruit carried to a household on an auspicious visit
Where the custom comes from
Accounts of its origin differ, and none can be checked against a single early record. One version, carried in an IANS report in 2016, traces it to ancient Kangleipak, the old name for Manipur, when Queen Laisna invited her brother Poireiton to a meal. In that telling the first form was a piba chakkouba, a feast for the brother, and only later did it turn into a feast for sisters and daughters. Speakers at a 2015 event in Silchar dated an early version to the time of King Pakhangba, and credited King Chandrakirti with introducing the present form in the nineteenth century after he saw Bhai Dooj on a pilgrimage to Bengal.
What is clear is the direction of the visit. At Bhai Dooj the brother goes to his sister's house and she feeds him. At Ningol Chakouba the sister comes back to her parents' house and the family feeds her.
Who marks it, and how that has changed
The day belongs mainly to Meitei families in the Imphal valley, in the Barak Valley of Assam, and among Meitei communities in Bangladesh and Myanmar. Manipuri associations in Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Bengaluru and abroad hold a shared lunch, usually on the nearest weekend. In Pune in 2022 the men of the local association cooked the meal and the women arrived carrying athenpot on their heads, as they would at home.
Some NGOs, churches and tribal bodies have held lunches for women of all communities on the day. Since the violence that began in May 2023 the festival has been harder to keep. That year, with around 60,000 people living in relief camps, the World Meitei Council and several local bodies asked people to skip or scale down the celebration, and many families did not hold it. It was held across the state again in 2024.
The festival also has its critics inside the community. A Meitei writer argued in 2018 that one day of being served by brothers does not make up for daughters who left school to work while their brothers studied, or for married women told to stay quiet about trouble in their husbands' homes. That is worth knowing before you write. A wish that thanks a sister or daughter for something specific reads better than a stock blessing.
Iche, the fish is bought and Ima has been cooking since morning. Come early, bring the children, and stay till evening. Happy Ningol Chakouba.
Happy Ningol Chakouba, Ima and Ipa. Thank you for keeping a place for me at your table every year since I left home. The food is wonderful, but the hours with you are why I come.
Happy Ningol Chakouba, my dear. Your plate is set here even though you are far away. Eat something from home today and call us when you sit down, so we can eat together.
Consider this your formal invitation, one week early as the custom says. Lunch at home on Ningol Chakouba. Your only job is to turn up hungry and let us look after you.
Happy Ningol Chakouba. Hope the drive home is short, the lunch is long and the whole family is around the table this year.
Happy Ningol Chakouba. Ima, Ipa, thagatchari. (Mother, Father, thank you.)
Happy Ningol Chakouba. It was good to have you home. Iche, amuk laku. (Elder sister, come again.)
Do
- If you are the brother, invite your sister in person about a week ahead; a forwarded card does not replace the visit.
- Use the family's own words: Ima for mother, Ipa for father, Iche for an elder sister.
- For a friend who cannot go home this year, say you are thinking of them and their family, without a festive line.
Avoid
- Don't describe it only as "the Manipuri Bhai Dooj"; it has its own name and history, and the visit goes the other way.
- Don't ask a woman what her brothers gave her. Gifts are private, and many families keep them modest on purpose.
- Don't assume every woman in Manipur marks the day; it is a Meitei festival, and Naga and Kuki-Zo neighbours have their own.
How to wish someone on Ningol Chakouba
A good Ningol Chakouba wish is about coming home. From a brother or parents it is an invitation and a welcome; from a sister or daughter it is thanks for the meal and the years behind it. Mention the food, the journey or the people at the table rather than generic blessings. For someone who cannot go home this year, because of distance or because the family has been displaced, write something quieter that keeps their place at the table.
Write a few lines in your own words, pick a design and share it as one link on WhatsApp, Instagram or anywhere else. They open an animated card made just for them, with no app and no sign-up.
Language tip: English, Meiteilon (Manipuri), written in Meetei Mayek or Bengali script.
When is Ningol Chakouba in each year?
Ningol Chakouba is set by the Meitei lunisolar calendar, so it falls on a different date each year. In 2027 it falls 11 days earlier than in 2026.
- 2026
- 2027may vary by location
- 2028may vary by location
Frequently asked questions
When is Ningol Chakouba in 2026?
Ningol Chakouba 2026 falls on Wednesday, 11 November 2026.
What does Ningol Chakouba mean?
Ningol means a woman or girl who belongs to a family, and here it refers to its married daughters and sisters. Chakouba, also spelled chakkouba, means hosting a feast, from chak, cooked rice, and kou, to call. Together the name means calling the daughters of the family home to eat.
Is Ningol Chakouba the same as Bhai Dooj?
No, though it falls on the same lunar day in most years. At Bhai Dooj the brother visits his sister's home and she feeds him. At Ningol Chakouba the married sister returns to her parents' home and her parents and brothers cook a feast for her and give her gifts.
Who invites the sister on Ningol Chakouba?
By custom the son of the family, her brother, invites his married sister formally about a week before the festival. The lunch is held at her parents' or her brothers' home.
What food is cooked for Ningol Chakouba?
Fish is the centre of the meal, usually in several curries and fried preparations, along with Meitei dishes such as eromba made with fermented fish and chak-hao kheer made from black rice. Many families are Vaishnava and keep meat off the table, though more households now serve chicken as well.
Do unmarried daughters take part in Ningol Chakouba?
The day is built around married daughters who have moved to their husbands' homes, but the word ningol covers every daughter of the family, and unmarried daughters share the same meal. Community lunches outside Manipur, such as the one in Pune in 2022, give gifts to single women as well.
How do you wish someone a happy Ningol Chakouba in Manipuri?
Most people simply say "Happy Ningol Chakouba". To add Meiteilon, a daughter can say "Ima, Ipa, thagatchari", meaning mother, father, thank you, and a brother can invite his elder sister with "Iche, amuk laku", meaning come again.
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