Akangjungla
Every aspect of life, including clothing holds much significance for the indigenous people. Indigenous clothing not only identifies the person who is wearing it but it is also a reflection of their history, heritage, social order, clan and status. It waves stories of the people and their culture. It is more than just making a fashion statement. The relevance of preserving and reviving indigenous clothing of the Naga people in today’s context is well-timed. The concept of continuing the beauty of culture and at the same time, the need for connecting with ‘one’s roots’ as a mark of uniqueness have paved way for modern fashion to blend in traditional clothing.
Here in Nagaland, #mekhelawednesday is trending in social media platforms; commend goes to the ‘Mekhela Wednesday’, an initiative to encourage working women to wear mekhela to their work place every Wednesday. The movement had originated from the Nagaland Civil Secretariat in Kohima. In a recent conversation with this newspaper, Meripeni Zares Ezung, Additional State Protocol Officer has shared that there were just about 20 of them including friends and colleagues joining the initiative, which she had not envisioned beyond the Nagaland Civil Secretariat. What really brought the attention to this movement were schools and colleges joining the trend especially in Kohima, Mokokchung and Dimapur.
Mekhela connect Naga people with their own personal stories. To tell her story on a ‘Mekhela Wednesday,’ Zares wore a mekhela that emerged out of her native village called Ezungpvui Mekhela which “honours an Ezung woman who took the enemy’s head singlehandedly with her ‘tsutem’ while weaving.” Some Mekhela tell stories of peace and reconciliation between warring clan and villages. As Zares puts it, “Mekhela is a symbol of our strength and courage and what a statement we women make by taking it to work.”
This movement has also encouraged the younger women to embrace an important part of the culture, which once was often pushed aside as tricky to dress in, uncomfortable and sometimes too expensive to effort one. The beauty and aesthetic of hand-woven or loinloom mekhela cannot be matched up by any other alternative, both in its essence and also in looks; yet with the option of handloom weaving and blend of modern fashion, today mekhela is widely worn and appreciated. There are dangers of indigenous clothing being misappropriated and devoid of its actual meaning, and movements like ‘Mekhela Wednesday’ in a very subtle manner is generating interest, creating awareness and educating the Naga women about the significance of mekhela. And as indigenous peoples, such movements also inspire and encourage the community to conserve their culture and proudly display their inheritance and ethnicity.
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