Rengma is a Naga

Naga people

The term Naga people refers to a conglomeration of several tribes inhabiting the North Eastern part of India and north-western Burma. The tribes have similar cultures and traditions, and form the majority ethnic group in the Indian state of Nagaland...

 tribe found in Nagaland

Nagaland

Nagaland is a state in the far north-eastern part of India. It borders the state of Assam to the west, Arunachal Pradesh and part of Assam to the north, Burma to the east and Manipur to the south. The state capital is Kohima, and the largest city is Dimapur...

 and Assam

Assam

Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...

 states of India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. According to the 2001 census of India, the Rengma population in Nagaland was 50,966 i.e. 2.9% of the total Naga population.

History

Like other Naga tribes, there are few written historical records of Rengmas.

According to the local traditions, the Rengmas and the Lothas

Lothas

Lotha is the name of a major Naga tribe inhabiting the Wokha district of Nagaland, India.-History:Scholars have presented several theories about the migration of the Lothas and the other Naga tribes, based on vocal explanations passed on from one generation to another:Migration from eastern...

 (or Lhotas) were once part of a single tribe. There are also oral records of a mighty struggle between the combined Rengma villages, and the Lotha village of Phiro. There are records of the Rengmas' conflict with the Angami Nagas.

Slavery

Slavery

Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...

 used to be a practice among the Rengmas, and the slaves were known by the names menugetenyu and itsakesa. By the time the British arrived in the Naga region, the slavery was a declining practice, and no Rengma appears to have been a slave during this time.

In Assam, the Rengma tribals are found in the Mikir Hills

Mikir Hills

Mikir Hills are a group of hills located to the south of the Kaziranga National Park. It is part of the Karbi Anglong plateau.-See also:* Mikir...

 subdivision. Compared to the Mikirs, they are relatively recent immigrants from the eastern side of the Dhansiri.

Subgroups

The Rengma Nagas are divided into two groups: the Eastern Rengmas, and the Western Rengmas.

Traditional clothing

The traditional Rengma clothing consists of various types of clothes, which are indicative of the status and position of the weavers. A man who has not been able to offer a great feast, or has never killed an enemy, may wear an ordinary type of cloth called rhikho. Rhikho is a white cloth with four narrow black bands. The number of black bands varies with the age of the wearer. Moyet tsu is another ordinary type of cloth, worn by the young men. It is a dark blue cloth with a very broad median band, and embroidered with a thin zigzag pattern in red at the edges. Alungtsu is a cloth for well-to-do men, who have not yet offered a great feast. Teri Phiketsu is a shawl

Shawl

A shawl is a simple item of clothing, loosely worn over the shoulders, upper body and arms, and sometimes also over the head. It is usually a rectangular or square piece of cloth, that is often folded to make a triangle but can also be triangular in shape...

, which requires the wearer to perform the head hunting ceremony.

Rengmas make yellow dye from the flowers of a tree, and also practise painting on cloth.

Ngada festival

The harvest festival

Harvest festival

A Harvest Festival is an annual celebration which occurs around the time of the main harvest of a given region. Given the differences in climate and crops around the world, harvest festivals can be found at various times throughout the world...

 of the Rengmas is called Ngada. It is an eight-day Ngada festival that marks the end of the agricultural season. Ngadah is celebrated just after the harvest, towards the end of November. The village high priest (Phesengu) announces the date of commencement of the festival.

The schedule of the festival is as follows:

Day	Event
Day 1	Preparation of rice-beer
Day 2	Collection of banana leaves from the forest.
Day 3	Women visit the graves of their deceased relatives, and place rice-beer wrapped in banana leaves on the graves. The Nagas believe that the souls of the deceased visit their relatives during Ngadah, and rice beer is a symbolic offering to the souls. The rice-beer is then tasted by the eldest member of the household, followed by others.
Day 4	Early in the morning, the male members gather at their respective morungs or dormitories (known as Rensi), early in the morning. They come with their own rice beer and meat, and a have a meal. The women do not take part in the morung feast. In the noon, all the male members go around the village with their ceremonial and warrior fineries. They are followed by women, who carry rice-beer in mugs and bitter gourd containers, to offer them drinks.
Day 5	The male members visit all the houses in a procession, singing songs related to Ngadah. Each visited house offers something as a token of their appreciation.
Day 6	People visit houses of other villagers, and eat and drink.
Day 7	People collect firewood, banana leaves and vegetables for the feast, from the forest.
Day 8	A grand feast is arranged, and whole village feasts on the collection from the fifth day. According to the traditional Rengma belief, the souls of those who died in the previous year leave the village after the grand feast, and go to the land of the dead. The end of the festival is marked with three rites: an agreement with the fire Fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. Slower oxidative processes like rusting or digestion are not included by this definition....  in order to avoid fire accidents, an agreement with rat Rat Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus... s to avoid destruction of crops or household goods, and a rite to expel the evil spirits.

During Ngadah, the Rengmas also perform a folk dance, with traditional warrior attire.

Other tribal customs

The Rengma tribals bury their dead, and place the spear and the shield of the deceased in the grave. The funeral ceremonies end with lamentations and feasting.

Further reading

• Stirn, Aglaja & Peter van Ham. The Hidden world of the Naga: Living Traditions in Northeast India. London: Prestel.
• Oppitz, Michael, Thomas Kaiser, Alban von Stockhausen & Marion Wettstein. 2008. Naga Identities: Changing Local Cultures in the Northeast of India. Gent: Snoeck Publishers.
• Kunz, Richard & Vibha Joshi. 2008. Naga – A Forgotten Mountain Region Rediscovered. Basel: Merian.