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The Shirui Lily Festival in Manipur began after a two-year break due to ethnic clashes.
Shirui Lily Festival
The festival is held in Ukhrul district, Manipur, dominated by the Naga community.
Held annually in May, the Shirui Lily Festival is more than a floral celebration; it is a platform that bridges the region’s ecological significance with its cultural richness.
It was English botanist Frank Kingdon-Ward who discovered the three-foot tall, bluish-pink bell-shaped lily in Manipur for research in 1946.
The Lily won the merit prize from the 1948 Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) at a flower show in London because of how unique it was.
The Manipur government declared Shirui Lily as the state flower in 1989, today it is considered endangered owing to intense tourist activities and invasion of an invasive bamboo species.
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