| caption: |
tour with Mills in Ao country |
| caption: |
Ao village officials and clans |
| text: |
Among the Aos there is a small council of "Tatars" composed of "Minden" from each clan area. There are two or three councillors in each "Minden". Usually they remain in office for a generation but rules vary. So a body exists for hearing disputes and petty crimes. Yet cases often end up in the Subdivisional Court at Mukokchung. The clans are grouped into what Mills calls "phratries" in his book. The Mongsen and Changli groups which speak different languages each have three phratries. Each phratry consists of a number of clans. A man cannot marry a woman of the same clan as himself and furthermore he cannot marry a woman of the same phratry. But there is a Changki section who speak Mongsen but are deemed rather inferior people who have exogamous clans into which they cannot marry but have no phratries. |
