Ceremonial hat

During festivals and ceremonies, Naga men transformed everyday objects such as hats, baskets and spears into elaborately designed ornaments. While some tribes were relatively uniform in their hats, the Konyak-Naga were guided by the principle: the more striking and imaginative, the better. This led to surprising solutions and expressive qualities in ritual headgear.

The application of animal materials follows the desire to appropriate the characteristic features of certain animals - for example the strength and courage of the leopard or boar, the invincibility of the elephant or the beauty of the hornbill. The red of the dyed goat's hair conveyed the idea of strength or blood, but also of the fire that consumed enemy villages. The feathers of the hornbill on the hats are a sign of social status among all Naga groups, albeit with different meanings depending on the group. Among the Angami, for example, a feather once referred to a captured head, among the Ao to a sacrificed buffalo. Among the Khiamniungan, two feathers indicated that the wearer had hurled the first spear at a slain enemy, while among the Sangtam they were an indication that the third of a total of five feasts of merit had been held. Today, personal taste determines the choice.