Place · Naga heritage village · India
Kisama Heritage Village
The cultural heritage complex at Kisama 12 kilometres from Kohima, Nagaland, built in 2003 as a permanent exhibition ground representing the 17 major Naga tribes of Nagaland and their distinct cultural traditions — the Angami, Ao, Chakhesang, Chang, Khiamniungan, Konyak, Kuki, Lotha, Phom, Pochury, Rengma, Sangtam, Sumi, Yimchunger, Zeliang, Garo and Dimasa. Each tribe has a Morung (traditional dormitory-shrine) in the Kisama complex. The annual Hornbill Festival each 1-10 December (named for the hornbill bird central to Naga cultural symbolism) draws over 200,000 visitors to see traditional dances, wrestling, archery, and the Naga Chilli Eating competition. The festival is the state government's annual showcase of Naga identity.
- Function
- Religious institution & practice
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 25.610, 94.110
Connections (2)
- Site adjacencyKohima
The battle of Kohima was fought over a Naga hill town whose people were not consulted about any of it and who then carried the wounded, guided columns and buried the dead for both sides. The Naga account of 1944 is largely oral and is not the one in the regimental histories. Kisama, a few kilometres away, is where the Hornbill Festival now assembles the Naga tribes annually — the same population, presenting itself on its own terms.
- Alternative toKhonoma
Kisama is an assembled village built to display Nagaland's tribes to visitors; Khonoma is a lived village that fought the administration for forty years and then banned hunting on its own land by its own decision. The two together are the difference between heritage as presentation and heritage as a working institution, twenty kilometres apart.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Kisama Heritage Village”. Archaeological Survey of India and State Archaeology monument records, and the standard regional literature.
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