SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 17 September 2025, Shift 3 · General Awareness · Question 2 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 11 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Fill in the blank: The hornbill bird, after which the festival is named, symbolizes boldness and _____ in Naga folklore.

(a)wisdom
(b)prosperity
(c)grandeur
(d)peace

Answer

Why

Correct — C. The festival is named after the hornbill, which the festival's official site calls 'the globally respected bird', displayed in the folklore of most of Nagaland's tribes.

Accounts of the festival describe the bird as admired by the Nagas for its grandeur and alertness. Grandeur is the word the blank needs: option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
wisdom — Accounts of the festival credit the hornbill with grandeur and alertness, not wisdom.
(b)
prosperity — Many Naga festivals revolve around agriculture, which makes prosperity tempting. But the quality credited to the hornbill itself is grandeur.
(d)
peace — Peace is the dove's symbol in common usage. Accounts of the festival credit the hornbill with grandeur and alertness.

Concept

Nagaland's tribes each keep their own festivals. The state government conceptualised the Hornbill Festival in 2000 to bring them to one venue, which is why it is dubbed the Festival of Festivals.

It runs from 1 to 10 December, mainly at Kisama Heritage Village near Kohima, with tribal dances, crafts, food, games and music.

The stem pairs grandeur with boldness. Accounts of the festival pair it with alertness instead, so match the word both share rather than the exact phrase.

Key facts

The Hornbill Festival was conceptualised by the Government of Nagaland in 2000.
It is held from 1 to 10 December, with Kisama Heritage Village near Kohima as its main venue.
It is called the Festival of Festivals because the state's tribes take part at one venue.

Study next

Tribal festivals of Nagaland such as Tuluni and TsungremongThe Naga morung, exhibited at the festivalThe great hornbill and India's other hornbill species

Common traps

Answering prosperity because the event is a festival: the stem asks what the bird symbolises, not what the festival celebrates.
Hunting for the stem's exact pairing: accounts of the festival pair grandeur with alertness, so look for the word they share.

Here a festival is tested through the meaning of its namesake. The cultural significance of 'Mim' in the Mim Kut festival is asked at 14 Sep 2025, 12:30, GA Q.1.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Culture — all 163 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.