Friendship, conciliation and honour are in the Naga blood. Even the word friendship – “Temba” (an Ao word for friendship) – is a very sacred among Ao community, or for that matter, the Naga tribes. That’s why, a guest, however, lowly or high is a guest and ought to be protected or treated well…
Stories abound of such friendship between villages, tribes, clans and different communities. Sungratsu village (approximately 20 kilometers away from Mokokchung) relived that ancient calling for friendship as the brethrens from the Sangtam community from the Angangba village (Tuensang district) joined together in celebration of an age-old honor called friendship that was forged in the year 1927, when a Sungratsu citizen and an Angangba village citizen met, and made friendship over the transaction of a Mithun. The story lives on.
The Morung Express presents a pictoral panorama of the event called ‘Aksü”.
This kind of ‘Aksu’ held between different villages, clans and even communities, and perhaps it is one of the best methods of reviving the age-old relationship called ‘Naga friendship’.
Photographs by Imrongkumba Aier; Compiled by Longrangty Longchar
