The Naga are an ethnic group comprised of at least 39 tribes native to North-Eastern India and North-Western Myanmar. Numbering over 2 million people, the different tribes share similar culture and traditions, and form the majority ethnic group in Nagaland, with a sizeable population in the Indian regions Manipur, Arunahal Pradesh and Assam.
Many Naga tribes traditionally exhibited a strong patriarchal, warrior-like and headhunting culture. The village area, distinctly divided among neighbouring groups, was fundamental to Naga identity. Each village was divided into a certain number of clan territories known as khels, in which nearly all homes reared pigs and each had its own distinct physical and social identity. Monogamous marriage was common and fidelity was a highly prized virtue. Within the khel, the family unit was fundamental to Naga identity.
Found within each khel was a self-governing body called a morung which aimed to protect the village by training young men to be warriors and channel their fertility back into the community. The morung was typically the second most decadent building in the village behind the central town hall, and was usually located near the entrance to the village, effectively acting as a guard tower.
Beginning at puberty, young boys and girls were admitted to their respective gender dormitories. Elders conveyed the Naga culture, customs, and traditions to these youths through folk music and dance, folk tales and oral tradition, and wood carving and weaving. Important community events, such as announcements of meetings, the death of a villager, and warnings of impending dangers were made from the morungs by the beating of log drums.
All Naga tribes are expert craftspeople. Their dwellings are made of ornately carved wood and straws, and are lavished in (predominately red) colour.
Both men and women wore extensive amounts of jewellery, utilising beads with variety, profusion and complexity, along with a wide range of materials, including glass, shell, stone, teeth or tusk, claws, horns, metal, bone, wood, seeds, hair, and fibres. In many Naga tribes, the intricate detail of one’s woven shawl would typically dictate their social status, and individuals within a certain khel or community would each wear similar jewellery, amplifying their own identity and distinguishing them from neighbouring tribes. Within each khel there was a skull house which each man was expected to help fill, which exhibited the victories in battle of individual men.
In modern times, colonisation and economic development of the land on which the Naga reside has resulted in dramatic changes to the centrality of the khel and the family unit. The morung has since vanished, leaving many youths to experience difficulty connecting to their culture. With increasing tendency to adopt Indian ways of living, high respect for elders and the associated systems of cultural transmission, as well as the social structures of the khel and the village have been upended and replaced with a more detached, nuclear way of family life.
pixelskylines
annaxmalina
blakekathryn
jacobvanloon
kaledo-art
snowghoul
gummygunk
dededos
