Christmas 2011 in Nagaland - Vishepu (I)

Everyone will tell you that Christmas time in Nagaland is best spent in a village. The towns and cities tend to empty out. It's just as well I wasn't in Zunheboto town because there was a situation involving two UG factions, so people weren't even setting off fireworks on Christmas Eve, which is the usual thing to do.

You might remember that last year I was in the village of Natha New, which is actually just next to Zunheboto town. This year I spent Christmas in Vishepu, since my friends I. and N. had come back from Australia to throw a Christmas feast for the village.



As with all Christmas feasts, preparations start weeks, if not months, ahead. But it's in the week before the feast that most of the village is mobilised for the feast. One important thing is pounding rice into rice flour.



Here, two kinds of rice flour (normal and glutinous) are mixed and water (and some salt and sugar) is added to make a a kind of dough. This is then wrapped in banana leaves and boiled or steamed (though some are baked in a fire). The result is Sümi sho or 'Sumi bread'. Personally, I like it when they fry it, although I've had some very good steamed Sümi sho.



What's a feast without the meat? And a real feast in Nagaland involves the slaughter of at least one mithun. The fellow here got a bullet through his skull on Christmas Eve morning. I got to witness the killing only because the person knocked on my door at 5.30am looking for ammunition (he was looking for the guy who was supposed to be sharing my room because he apparently knew where the ammo was kept.)


And being Nagaland, there's lots of pork.


This wasn't all the pork, because a few pigs were slaughtered a few days earlier and the meat distributed all over - I.'s sister even came to where I'm staying in Zunheboto to deliver a portion.


Finally, with the food all ready for the feast, there's the entertainment as well. Here the guys were setting up bamboo poles with meat and money hanging from the top. Teams then compete to climb up the pole to get the prizes. It's a game I saw last year in Natha New. Also, the poles are greased with pork fat, since watching the guys slide down the pole as they try to climb up is probably the main highlight of the game.

The road to Zunheboto

Most people coming from Kohima to Zunheboto take the Chozuba road (which most people pronounce as 'Chazuba') which passes through the town of Chozuba in Phek district. Technically, it's a state highway, but you wouldn't know from the condition of the year. However, this year they've started work on widening the road. As a result, most of the sumos are avoiding the road and opting for the 'shortcut' which takes the Wokha Road and involves fording the Langki River. So this time I haven't a chance to see the condition of the Chozuba road.

On Monday, we went down to the village of Chishilimi to watch a rain invocation ceremony (sorry guys, still no rain). To get there, we needed to take the Chozuba road past Satakha, up till the village of M Tsügho (aka M6 - the name of this village could be another blog post) which is the last Sumi village before one enters Chakhesang land / Phek district. This gave me the chance to see what work was being done.

You can see excavators have torn into the side of the hill to make way for the new road. In some parts, it looked like they were making the road as a wide as 4 lanes, which seems ridiculous given that the most travelled road in Nagaland between Dimapur and Kohima is still only 2 lanes wide.


As you can see, the dust from passing traffic is terrible.


But the view is still pretty awesome. The town on the ridge should be Satakha, although to the left, on the same ridge, I think you can almost make out the villages of Khukiye and Lukhai.

Tomorrow I'm off to the village of Vishepu for a Christmas feast thrown by friends who've come back from Australia. Not sure when I'll post again - maybe just before New Year's.

Happy holidays everyone!

'Tis the season to get married (II)

In Nagaland, November to January really is the season for weddings here. Just ask my friend Cana who's been singing / planning / attending weddings for the past few weeks almost non-stop. I'd be interested to see what the official statistics are for the state (like the average no. of weddings per day in the month of December). Last year I ended up at a Rengma wedding, then a Lotha wedding in Kohima on the same day. I was also invited to an Angami wedding on Wednesday in Bara Bosti in Kohima, but my friend managed to organise a ride back to Zunheboto for me that morning.

All the major local papers have also reported on Friday's 'mass wedding' at the Ao Baptist church in Dimapur as a means of keeping wedding costs low, and Yan Murry at the Naga Blog has written a post calling for more 'mass weddings' in the state: Mass Weddings need to be encouraged in Naga society.

But if people want to have their big Western style weddings and have the money to afford them, who's going to stop them? It's a massive industry all over the world. My friends in Melbourne even run an online magazine dedicated to weddings (around the world) called Little Wed Hen. (Sorry guys, I didn't feel like I knew the couple well enough to cover their wedding for your website.)

Anyway, on Thursday I had the privilege of attending a special wedding here in Zunheboto. Well, I didn't know the bride or the groom until the day before the ceremony, but I did know the wedding planner, the wedding celebrant, and friends from Australia had come back to attend the wedding (being the first cousin of the bride). I also met the wedding singer, who was in the car I was in coming to Zunheboto. I didn't realise he was a bit of a celebrity in these parts. (Sorry Alobo, if you're reading this.)

For the couple's privacy, I've decided not to post any photos of them or the ceremony itself. I've just added a few photos to give a sense of the place, and to show off the suit I bought recently in Dimapur. It still needs some tailoring, but it looked very decent for the price I paid. Also, it's a pain to upload photos at my current internet speed.

Back to the wedding: the bride is Sumi, which is why the wedding was held in Zunheboto. Her husband is Zeme, another Naga tribe. His home village is in Tamenglong District in Manipur. Such 'mixed' marriages aren't uncommon these days - one wedding I attended last year was a mixed one too. (I use scare quotes here because most outsiders / Indians from the mainland would probablu consider all Nagas to be the same anyway.) Mixed marriages is another interesting topic that people have spoken to me about (like 'why Sumi girls don't want to date Sumi guys'). Maybe in another blog post.

The wedding itself took place in North Point, Zunheboto, behind the government college and very close to where I usually stay when I'm here. It was a sunny afternoon and quite warm. The wedding tent was set up the day before in the bride's father's house.



I arrived with the wedding celebrant (whose house I'm staying in), his wife and daughter. (I've already said sorry to her if people thought I was the boyfriend.) For the record, it's nice to arrive with the wedding celebrant, because there's no chance of you missing the ceremony.



During such ceremonies, it's usually customary for all 'international' guests to be introduced to the entire congregation. Thankfully, I was spared the embarrassment this time, (since I barely knew the bride and groom), because the reverend didn't think of me as an outsider anymore.

There were the usual wedding vows. Alobo Naga, who's a friend of the bride, sang two songs and after the ceremony there was the usual feasting. I took some photos with the team in charge of the wedding decorations. They were busy most of the previous day and evening, as well as the morning of the wedding itself. (The night before, I had simply sat by the fire looking bored while they toiled away.)

Finally, you might have noticed I've apologised quite a bit in this blog post. I suppose the last thing I should apologise for is the fact that because I live in Australia, I've missed most of my Singaporean friends' weddings over the past few years. Doesn't seem fair for me to attend the weddings of relative strangers, does it?

On the road: Nagaland (II)

So I'm stranded in Kohima for the foreseeable future. My ride from Zunheboto never materialised, but at least I'm not in a hurry anymore. I was originally meant to go to a village called Chishilimi tomorrow to watch them perform a traditional rain invocation ceremony (although it's an odd time of year to do it). Also, getting around the state in hired vehicles at this time of year is an absolute nightmare because everyone's going home for Christmas, including people living outside the state as well as people finishing their Christmas shopping in Dimapur.

In the meantime, to mark the fact that I'm not moving out of Kohima, I thought I'd post some photos from when we drove from Zunheboto to the village of Khetoi and few weeks back to watch some of the villagers rehearse for the Hornbill Festival.

We had to descend into the Tizu River valley, then come up again towards the town of Aghunato, following the road to Kiphire, which is the main town of the district (of the same name) to the east of Zunheboto district.




The Tizu flows south and then east, eventually ending up in the Chindwin which flows into the Irrawaddy. The first major river to the west of Zunheboto town is the Doyang which flows north into the Brahmaputra. That means that most of Zunheboto district is actually part of the watershed between these two major river systems.

A picnic by the river would be nice. If only there was time.

And transport.

Dilai Gate Sunday Market out of Dimapur

I'm meant to be going down to Dimapur at some point today, if my ride from Zunheboto actually comes to pick me up from Kohima. (We're meant to be picking up some people in Dimapur before heading back to Zunheboto tomorrow.) Anyway, to mark my potential arrival in Dimapur on a Sunday, I thought I'd share some pictures that I took 2 weeks ago when I was in Dimapur. (It's pretty photo-heavy, so apologies to people with a slow internet connection.)

The friend I was staying with in Dimapur brought me to the Sunday market just outside Dilai Gate on the road to Diphu, which technically means it's in Assam, not Nagaland. There's a sign that says 'A K Market' but most of my friends (even the ones in Kohima) know it as the Dilai Gate Market.



It's pretty much strewn next to the side of the road, which happens to be a national highway...


At the market, you can find your usual vegetables.


Gourds.


Local varieties of ginger and garlic.


And little chillis - these are more like bird's eye chillis, they aren't bhut jolokia / Naga King chillis.


Lots of spices


And other dried stuff. I noticed a lot of dried fish especially.




People were frying up sweets and selling them, alongside different kinds of bhujia.


They also had baskets for sale.


There was a somewhat carnival atmosphere, with one man selling balloons.


And another one selling cotton candy. (Note the massive truck on the right - did I mention this was on a national highway?)


Some ladies were making pithas (made from rice flour and coconut) as well. Maybe someone can tell me the name for this type of pitha.


Then of course, there were the more exotic 'meats'. My friend reckons these are silk worms, but they look slightly different to the ones I ate when I was in Diphu.


There were beecombs, filled with tasty grubs (I imagine).


And some jungle spiders - I have tried spider before, when I was in Zunheboto last year, but I don't know if they were the same variety as these. There were also grasshoppers, but I can't seem to find photos of those...


The less exotic meats were much more popular. There was fresh fish from the many rivers and lakes of Assam.


There were live chickens for sale.


As well as dead ones.


Almost all the butchery was done on site. I saw a few goats having their throats slit.


We had goat curry for lunch that day.


The most popular meat was (surprise, surprise) pork. Here, unlike with the chickens and goats, there were mini-barricades set up to keep customers out of the pig butchering area. I was told that the reason for this was that previously, people would rush in and grab the choicest parts so the barricades were set up to keep pushy (we'd say kiasu in Singapore) customers out.


So there you have it. A typical Sunday morning in Dimapur.

Except, well, without going to church...

Angamis, Aos, Sumis and Lothas - Identity

Last week I caught a taxi back from Midland in Kohima. Some Sumi friends accompanied me to the taxi stand to help me negotiate a fare, but I was headed for Bara Bosti, the original Kohima village, which is almost exclusively Angami for historical reasons. The taxi driver, who turned out to be Lotha (another major tribe of Nagaland) was confused and asked me if I was Angami or Sema (Sumi).

It's quite a telling question - even in 'mixed' cities like Dimapur and Kohima, tribal identity is still very important to most people. Most people want to know what tribe someone else is from. Given that Nagaland's not a big state and I suppose this is also about identity negotiation within the very heterogeneous social fabric of the place. Even within each tribe, people will be curious about the village or clan you're from? Last year in Zunheboto, I was asked Khuuno ghami kea? 'Which village are you from?' when I first met someone, before my friend had to explain that I wasn't even from Nagaland.

Often people can tell someone's tribe by looking at physical features, picking up on sociolinguistic cues, or knowing the other person's name. As a last resort, they might just ask someone outright what tribe they're from (like I was asked). I've been told many times that physically, I'm too tall to be a Sumi. Also, despite all attempts at getting a tropical tan, my skin is still 'too fair' to be either Angami or Sumi. One Angami friend reckons that I have the height and facial features of an Angami, but my 'fair' skin makes me look more like an Ao.

These 'rules' (for want of a better word) often strike me as fairly arbitrary. It's true that I tower over most people in Zunheboto (the headquarters of the Sumi-dominated district), but I've met Sumis who I'd consider to be just as 'fair' as me. It's also not as if all Angamis are tall - given that the capital city Kohima is in Angami territory, better nutrition in recent history might have resulted in some people gaining in stature, but only in certain pockets of the population.

My Sumi, Angami and Ao friends often have things to say about the 'character' of people from other tribes. They're gross generalisations, but I find such perceptions of other tribes interesting.

To avoid offending any particular tribe, I'm just going to rely on a song composed by an Angami person named Zutakherie. It's a pretty famous song in Nagaland (I can't find any videos of it on Youtube though). The title can be translated as 'Residents of Kohima' / 'People living in Kohima'.

Kohima te thakia khan composed by Zutakherie

Kohima te thakia khan
Nisa lake phutani,
Wokha pura ahia khan
chalak, chalak ahise,
Mokokchung thakia khan
style kuri ahise,
Zunheboto pura ahia khan jagara,
Sop jati Kohima te jama kurise,
Kohima Nagaland capital,
Naga manu misa-mishi ofis te najailebi
tolop pai - Nagaland city kuribole.

Loosely translated (suggestions, especially for the last two lines, are welcome since my Nagamese isn't good):
Kohima residents
Get drunk and feel proud
People coming from Wokha
Are very cunning / come with their tricks (?).
Mokokchung residents
Come in style
People from Zunheboto come fighting / arguing.
All tribes gather in Kohima,
Kohima the capital of Nagaland.
Nagas casually don't go to work / office
(But still) draw a salary - (in so doing, they are) making a Nagaland city.

So there you have it:
The Angamis (the traditional residents of Kohima) are drunkards, the Lothas (from Wokha) are liars and tricksters, the Aos (from Mokokchung) are overly concerned with fashion, and the Sumis (from Zunheboto) are a rowdy violent bunch.

All according to the song of course.

Hornbill Festival 2011 - Favourite things

So now that the Hornbill Festival is over for 2011, with the final bonfire and mass dance.





To mark the end of the festival, I thought I'd put together a list of favourite things from this year:

Rice beer: Angami
Now I don't drink, but my friend had been sampling the various rice beers from different tribes. She decided that the one from the Angami house was her favourite, and I'll take her word for it.

Singing: Chakhesang
I'd put a video up if my internet connection wasn't so slow. Also, I don't think I have a particularly good video of any of their performances. But there's something about the harmony that I find very pleasing. Even many of my Sumi and Angami friends will tell me that the Chakhesangs are some of the best singers in Nagaland.


Shawl design: Khiamniungan
This particular shawl design is actually quite similar to one particular Sumi shawl that I have. The most noticeable difference is that the Khiamniungan has many more of those rectangular red patches. Those red patches on the black background make it the most appealing shawl for me.


Morung models: Ao
Every festival, each tribe needs to have people stand around their model morungs to take photos with tourists. I'm calling them 'morung models'. This year, I thought the young Ao guy and girl made a particularly cute couple, even if they're not a couple in real life. They even thanked me when I took and showed them this photo, so I had to say that I was the one who ought to be thanking them. (It's sort of fitting too, given that the word 'morung' comes from the Ao language.)


Full outfit: Lotha
This Lotha man kindly posed for my photo, although I think he'd been asked to many times during the week. For some reason, it actually reminds me of some sort of military uniform. I thought it really suited him. And the beard didn't hurt either.


Hospitality: Sumi
Well, you might say I'm a little biased here, and you'd be right. Canato did let me leave my stuff at his stall all day while I went walking / hiking around. But also on my visits to the Sumi morung / house, I'd be offered milk tea and Sümi sho 'Sumi bread'. The man in the photograph with me is one of the chief of Khetoi village, which we visited a few weeks ago so we could watch them rehearse for Hornbill Festival. He usually leads the performances, and when we went to visit his village, he was tasked with introducing us over the loudspeaker. On the 2nd last day of the festival, I was very touched when he asked to take a photo with me. However, since the photo was on my camera, I quickly printed out a copy for him to take home.

Above the Kisama Heritage Village

On Day Five of the Hornbill Festival, I decided to take a short walk up the hill behind the Kisama Heritage Village. It wasn't sunny but I felt the need for some proper exercise and I'd rather it to be cool when I have to do exercise. (One reason I enjoy staying with my friends in Bara Bosti here in Kohima, is that I have to climb up the hill to get back.)

So after running into a Sumi friend who then pointed me in the direction of the path up the hill, the sign I found said that it was 1.85km to the top of 'Mt Kisama'. I'm a little confused about this, because later there was another sign that said 'Mezabo Hill'. I'm going to have to find someone from Phesama village to explain this...



The walk itself was pleasant enough. Some parts of the track were quite slippery. I didn't have shoes with good traction, so I ended up taking more time to come down than I did going up.




Just a little way up the hill and I was already treated to a great view of the heritage village, with the nearby village of Kigwema (I believe)on the ridge in the background. Below the village, the terraced fields are pretty impressive (and pretty too).




At the top of the hill, which seemed to be called 'Mezabo', there was a nice little picnic area that seemed to be maintained by the nearby village of Phesama.






There was also a little lookout pavilion next to the picnic area.


From the lookout, I could see Phesama below and Kohima in the distance. Sadly, the whole valley was covered in cloud / mist at the time, so the photos weren't great.


On my way back down the hill, I spoke to some of the Assam Rifles soldiers who were on duty. A Bengali guy from Kolkata sat me down and offered me a cup of black tea. My knees needed a break and I was starting to feel cold, so I said yes. Also, I try not to reject any offers made by men holding semi-automatic weapons.

We spoke for a few minutes, mostly in English and he told me how he'd been posted to Nagaland for the last 7 years. I ended up taking a photo with him and with the younger soldier who was on duty with him. The younger guy was from the Khiamniungan tribe, a 'minor' Naga tribe from the eastern part of the state. Incidentally, I have to admit that Khiamniungan men's shawls are my favourite among the Naga tribes, but sadly I didn't know how to say it in Nagamese.

In the end, the young guy took out his mobile phone and took a picture of us as well. I'm glad he did - after all, why should foreigners be the only ones with photos to show their friends back home?