Nagaland Tribes

Location

Nagaland is the state that is known as the hill state and is placed at the far north eastern part of the country. It is bordered by the state of Assam in the west, Arunachal Pradesh and some parts of Assam to the north, Burma in the east, and Manipur in the south. The capital of the Nagaland is Kohima and the largest populated city of the state is Dimapur.

The Naga Tribes in India

The entire people of the Naga tribes belongs to the Indo Mongoloid family. Basically there are fourteen major tribes and they as named as follows:

• Angami
• Ao
• Chakhesang
• Chang
• Khemungan
• Konyak
• Lotha
• Phom
• Pochury
• Rengma
• Sangtam
• Sema
• Yimchunger
• Zeliang

The people of Pochury tribe were used to be part of Chakhesang but they are now spitted out from the group. Nagaland which has these hill tribes had no term applicable to the whole race.

The People

There Nagas are of sub medium height, having the low facial features, the hairs are straight, the color of the skin is brownish yellow. The eyes of the Naga people are significantly of the mongolian form.

Cultural Aspect of the Naga People

Regarding the dresses of the tribe, the clothes that are worn in Nagaland by the men and the women are completely different. The dresses of the people are designed according to the some occasion. The shawl that is used in the dress of the tribal people is called as the Sutam, its a white colored cloth that is having colorful stripes and designs.

Dance Culture

During the festival, marraiges and the harvest in the Nagaland the tribal dances are performed. The most coarse dance of each tribe of the Nagaland is the War dances and the dances during the festival are common. The dancers normally wears the colorful clothes and jewelery.

The festival of the tribes

The Nazu festval is famous by the tribal people which is known to be the most merrymaking festival of the Pochury tribe of Nagaland. This festival is famous for the 10 days in the month of February prior to the sowing of seeds for the year. Songs and dances are performed in the festival and the people enjoys every bit of this occasion. Khupielilie dance is performed by the women folk of the pochury tribe. This festival is interesting that people from all age group enjoys the festival and is ritualistic also.

The dress worn by the dancers

The dancers wears the dress which is called as the Ascunyi, its a ribbon like head dress, Kiileniinyi its the mekhala worn from chest down till the calf, Achulhreits an ornamentation which is worn around the waist over the Kiilleniinyi, Akhi (Armlet), Akhusa (Bangle of forearm) and gorgeous necklace called as the Asker.