NAGALAND’S TRIBAL CULTURE

Posted April 16, 2015

Running for a week every year from the 1st December, Nagaland’s Hornbill Festival is a cultural extravaganza that showcases the culture of the state’s 16 warrior tribes. The festival was set up to help preserve tribe traditions and also encourage intertribal activity. A look at a few of Nagaland’s tribes shows just how different these groups are from one another.

Ancestry forms a huge part of any tribe in Nagaland and this is no different for the Konyak tribe. The Konyaks reside in the district of Mon, which is Nagaland’s most northern district. This tribe believes that their forefathers are descendents of Noah, something that is reflected by the rulers of villages referring to themselves as ‘Angh’, which means ‘the beginning of everything.’ The Konyak are Nagaland’s most populous tribal community and were known for their practice of head hunting.

Residing in the central district of Mokokchung are the Ao tribe, who were one of the first Naga tribes to convert to Christianity. Despite this conversion, religious tradition still permeates everyday life with aspects of the Ao’s animist religion still being practiced in tandem with Christianity.

In the southwest is the Kohima district, which is the state capital of Nagaland. Kohima is originally the homeland of the Angami, a tribe with a fierce warrior culture. The Angami traditionally lived on top of hills to them spot invading enemies more easily, something that contributed to their fierce resistance of the British during the colonial period. In Angami communities, property is shared equally amongst sons and daughters. Unlike many other tribes, primogeniture is not practiced in this community; instead, a family’s property is shared equally.

If you would like to be a part of the Hornbill Festival this year, please click below to find out more.