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Concept
Naga people
Summary
Nagas are various ethnic groups native to northeastern India and northwestern Myanmar. The groups have similar cultures and traditions, and form the majority of population in the Indian state of Nagaland and Naga Self-Administered Zone of Myanmar (Burma); with significant populations in Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam in India; Sagaing Region and Kachin State in Myanmar.
The Nagas are divided into various Naga ethnic groups whose numbers and populations are unclear. They each speak distinct Naga languages often unintelligible to the others, but all are loosely connected to each other.
The present day Naga people have historically been referred to by many names, like "Noga" or "Naka" by the Burmese and Ahoms which means "people with pierced ears", "Hao" by Manipuri and "Chin" by Burmese. However, over time "Naga" became the commonly accepted nomenclature, and was also used by the British. According to the Burma Gazetteer, the term 'Naga' is of doubtful origin and is used to describe hill tribes that occupy the country between the Chins in the south and Kachins (Singphos) in the Northeast.
History of the Nagas
The Naga people love colour, as is evident in the shawls designed and woven by women, and in the headgear that both sexes design. Clothing patterns are traditional to each group, and the cloths are woven by the women. They use beads in variety, profusion and complexity in their jewelry, along with a wide range of materials including glass, shell, stone, teeth or tusk, claws, horns, metal, bone, wood, seeds, hair, and fibre.
According to Dr. Verrier Elwin, these groups made all the goods they used, as was once common in many traditional societies:
they have made their own cloth, their own hats and rain-coats; they have prepared their own medicines, their own cooking-vessels, their own substitutes for crockery.
Craftwork includes the making of baskets, weaving of cloth, wood carving, pottery, metalwork, jewellery-making and bead-work.
Weaving of colorful woolen and cotton shawls is a central activity for women of all Nagas.
Official source
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