About the Cloud People Again

Who are the Maos or Ememei, called the ‘Cloud People’?

The Maos are one of the tribes within the Naga family, originally settled in the northern part of Manipur state of north-eastern India. They have similar tribes as their neighbours – Angami and Chakhesang tribes in the north, Maram and Zeme tribes in the south and west and Poumai tribe in the east. These related tribes belong to the Naga family and they speak different dialects. The name ‘Mao’ was given to them by outsiders while they refer to themselves as ‘Ememei’ or ‘Memei’ in their own language. The term is also used as a short name for the extended area around the hill town called ‘Mao Gate’ where some of the old and original villages are situated.

The Naga tribes are spread over a vast tract of hilly terrain called the Naga Hills. Though they speak widely different languages, the Naga family is actually not a grouping of disparate tribal communities as they exhibit a wide range of common or similar physical and socio-cultural traits and practices that distinguish them from other neighbouring peoples. They are spread in the states of Nagaland, Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh in India, and the Naga Self-Administered Zone of north-western Myanmar (formerly administered as part of Sagaing Division of Myanmar).

But aren’t the ‘Cloud People’ from Peru?

While I call the Mao people as the ‘Cloud People’ according to what their legend says about their origin, I have learnt that there was another people called by that name. History says that a people of American-Indian stock built a pre-European civilization called the Chachapoya culture in the Amazonas region of modern Peru. They were conquered by the Incas shortly before the arrival of the Spanish. With their conquest by the Incas, their civilization was destroyed and they were forcefully resettled. Due to the harsh treatment of the Chachapoyas by the Incas and affliction with diseases brought by the Spanish, their population was decimated and the survivors got diffused into the larger population, remaining as just a genetic strain. The people by that name had long ceased to exist.

There is little first-hand information about the Chachapoyas; whatever is known of them as a people is from Inca and Spanish sources and of their culture from the study of archaeological remains. The name ‘Chachapoya’ itself was given by the Incas, believed to be a variant of sacha puya, meaning ‘People of the Clouds’, in Quecha language. They are today referred to as the Cloud People and also as Warriors of the Cloud. Early writers about the people described them as faired-skinned and blonde-haired.

The picture provides a view of a part of Mao country on a summer day from the vantage of one of their villages, which are usually situated on hill tops. The clouds have hidden the terraced paddy fields and farmland below.

(Photo courtesy: Rachel Charakho)

So, this blog on the ‘Cloud People’ is about the Mao people of north-eastern India and not the Chachapoyas of Peru. Posts in this blog are all about the culture, traditions and legends of the Mao people. For more information on why the Maos are called the ‘Cloud People’, see my earlier post – About the Cloud People.

(Follow this blog for more on the ‘Cloud People’ and their culture in subsequent posts).