That’s what I did months before arriving to this land of contradictions and surprise. If you’ve just done what you were told, you’ve seen all the photos of people dressed in almost aboriginal clothing, carrying spears, proudly displaying the skulls of vanquished enemies. So you’ve got an idea of what my anticipations were when we crossed over into what I thought was going to be a land filled with headhunters living in bamboo huts. Instead I found this:
A land of rolling hills, filled with catholic churches, fashionable people, kids with BMX bikes, and no headhunters. Everyone spoke English, and many people prided themselves on NOT speaking Hindi, the lingua franca in the rest of India, and what (along with English), allows India’s incredibly diverse population to communicate amongst themselves.
There were vestiges of Nagaland’s tribal culture here and there though; the Naga totem (above left, bottom right) adorned many buildings, and decorative spears and modern clothing featuring traditional designs were popular amongst the locals.
First appearing in the mid-20th century, by the 1960’s they’d all but wiped out Naga tribal culture, convinced everyone to switch to a different theology, one which didn’t require constant warfare, and taught them all English. Normally I would say that forcing one’s culture upon other people is a bad thing, but in this case, it really seems that it was only because of missionary influence that tribal Nagas ceased their warlike ways. So in the end, I guess yay imperialism! The Nagas really seem to have gotten a good deal out of it this time. They all speak fluent English, have a well-run education system, and have retained a cohesive community based around the church rather than killing each other. And above all, I was able to go there without fear of decapitation!
(Above: Headhunters?)
There were vestiges of Nagaland’s tribal culture here and there though; the Naga totem (above left, bottom right) adorned many buildings, and decorative spears and modern clothing featuring traditional designs were popular amongst the locals.
Aside from that and the live frogs being sold on the street, though, it was hard to believe I was in the violent land of human skull collection portrayed by Google Image Search. Until I went to the Naga State Museum and learned myself a few things.
Nagaland is made up of more than a dozen distinct tribal states, all of which, until about 60 years ago, were constantly at war with each other. Naga spirituality, summed up in a few words, was something like this: When you die, the more helpers you have to escort you on the long road to heaven, the better your chances of getting in and having a peaceful eternal life. The catch? The only way to acquire afterlife assistants is to kill people from other tribes while you’re alive and keep their skulls in your house. In this world, the more skulls you have, the more respect you get from your neighbors, and the more intimidated other tribesmen will be by your warrior prowess. You can imagine the kind of culture this sort of theology would engender. Nagaland was incredibly violent, with tons of different kinds of well-developed weaponry (some pictured above), and everyone was constantly on the lookout for pillaging neighbors.
Then came Christian missionaries:
First appearing in the mid-20th century, by the 1960’s they’d all but wiped out Naga tribal culture, convinced everyone to switch to a different theology, one which didn’t require constant warfare, and taught them all English. Normally I would say that forcing one’s culture upon other people is a bad thing, but in this case, it really seems that it was only because of missionary influence that tribal Nagas ceased their warlike ways. So in the end, I guess yay imperialism! The Nagas really seem to have gotten a good deal out of it this time. They all speak fluent English, have a well-run education system, and have retained a cohesive community based around the church rather than killing each other. And above all, I was able to go there without fear of decapitation!
