| caption: |
carved birds on house horns; Sema dress; woman gaonbura |
| text: |
On a hill high above Iganumi the people of Iganumi were expecting us. The gaonbura here is an older woman who carries the red cloth with pride and is astonishingly competent at regulating the village affairs. Iganumi actually is a Sema village. The people here speak Sema and are culturally a mixture between Sema and Eastern Angami. (58) While the houses are completely like those of the Angami, little carved birds have been attached to some house horns. Their manner of dress is already influenced by the Sema. Some men only wear a small loin cloth which loosely hangs from their belts and the married women leave their breasts frequently uncovered, at least while working. On the other hand, they wear the big brass earrings and the blue cloaks of the Eastern Angami. The gaonbura, however, had a genuine Sema cloak of black cloth and embroidered with circles of cowrie shells |
