The stunning jewelry of Nagaland India is presented as a photo-essay HERE.
Do add pictures from your collection and any other bits of information to the article.
Jaina Mishra
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Yes Harald, you are right - I missed noticing this armband.
I saw on one of your pictures a ivory bracelet being worn. See your picture here below. I remember having seen more pictures with man wearing these I thought on an other link of yours, but I am not sure.
Yes - probably.
Those trips I took were in my role as a photographer and at those festivals my focus was 'people'.
The costume and jewelry focus came during the desktop work of analysing my photos by which time it was too late ask the many questions that came to mind.
I will bear your comment in mind on my next trip and collect more information. Thanks.
p.s. I do not recall the ivory bracelets you mention - is it the one with cowrie shells?
Thank you for your reply. Some jewelry may be heirloom indeed like the ivory mans bracelets. With the bronze jewelry we have to be careful many were fakes were made for the collectors. You see them in the shops of Europe.
Hello Harald,
These pictures are from the Hornbill festival of 2010 and the Chalo Loku festival of 2012. There were about a dozen tribes at the first festival and about 6 in the second. Besides these there are several other Naga tribes spread over that region. I have not seen the book, but I am guessing this might be one of the reasons for the difference.
Many of the pieces worn were heirloom pieces especially the ones with hunting trophies but some were reproductions. You could also look at the cultural photo gallery my main website wovensouls.com and view all the pictures of both these events. With that set of photos you might find an answer to this question.
Nice photo's, when were they taken?
Is the jewelry they wear rather recently made? It does not look like the jewelry in, for instance, the Nagas by Grata Somaré and Vigorelli.
Yes, these were taken at the Hornbill festival a few years ago and maybe one or two are from the Chalo Loku festival of the Nocte Nagas in Khonsa, Arunachal Pradesh.
In all my travels in the North East, the Indian Army was always present in the background - but I have always found them to be very helpful and non-intimidating.
The Nagas themselves were a amazing group of people. In spite of their fierce reputation I found them warm & welcoming and their social etiquette quite exemplary. The people were as impressive as their costumes & jewels. Truly wonderful experience!
Maybe the supply of these pieces has dried up recently, but most of my pieces were acquired on that trip in 2010.
Great photos Jaina! Were they taken at the Hornbill festival? I was there last year - fascinating, but also found all that army presence somewhat disturbing. Absolutely no old jewellery to be found there of course, and I'm told that old pieces are scarce even in the remoter parts of Nagaland.
My only finds were a couple of strings of navy blue beads, which were ID'ed as possibly from the 1970's or older.
The basement of the state museum, which is a couple of kilometres outside Kohima, had some wonderful examples of the full range of Naga jewellery, I thought.
Thank you for adding this, I love Naga jewelry and there is very little about it.