Zeme Naga

Zeme Naga is a group of Naga people from northeastern parts of India. They also speak a language of the same name (see Zeme language). Other names include Ozemi, Nzemi, Zeme, Zemai, Zemei, Ziama, Jemi, Yemi, etc. The term "Zainme" means people, but depending on what tribe you belong to different words can mean different things. The Zemes that are inhabiting in Nagaland call themselves Zeliang and those of the Manipur borders are called Zeliangrong. There are many different tribes that speak Zeme Naga even though it is a endangered language. The tribes who still use this language are spread out among different parts of India.

There are now about three different sections to the Zeme Naga The Pereses – the section of the Zemes who profess the traditional Zeme faith more or less unaltered; the Herakas – the section of the Zemes who profess the reformed brand of the Zeme religion propagated by Jadonang and Rani Gaidinliu, and the Christian coverts. In North Cachar Hills, the majority of the Zemes now profess Heraka. Unlike the Dimasas, the Zemes have never been much influenced by Hinduism until the days of Heraka reforms. Elements from both Hinduism and Christianity have been incorporated among the Zeme Herakas. The Heraka system, which is originally conceived at the socio-religious milieu of Manipur, has absorbed many Hindu as well as Christian elements.""

Zemi, Nzemi, Zeme, Zemai, Zemei, Ziama, Jemi, Yemi, etc. are the different way the name of the tribe is spelt by different writers. In North Cachar Hills ‘Nzeme’ (nesal ‘N’ is sounds before many words in Zeme vocabulary) is the original name of the tribe. The term ‘Zainme’/ ‘Nzainme’ stands for ‘people’. ‘Zeme’/ ‘Nzeme’, as this group of people call themselves, probably derived from the term ‘zainme’. The original name of the tribe was ‘Zemai’/ ‘Zemei’. The contemporary term ‘Zeme’ is a corrupt form of the same. The Zeme Nagas are again known by different names among different other Naga tribes. The Angamis call them ‘Mezama‘. They use the same word, but with slight tonal variation, to call the Rengma Nagas.

The only tribes of the southern group which are located inside the Naga Hills administrative district are the divisions of the Kacha Nagas, the Zemi, Lyengmai, and Maruoung-mai. These tribes are stituated to the south of the Angamis and have been very much influenced by them, the Zemi having been long virtually subject to the Angami village of Khonoma. The Angami dress is worn, though the kilt is merely put round the body and not fastened between the legs, and in some villages the exogamous clans have the same names as those in Khonoma…The languages are quite distinct from the Angami, and each of the three divisions has its own. These Kacha Naga tribes seem to be closely allied to the Kabui tribe in Manipur, and some of the Kacha Nagas are situated as far south as the North Cachar Hills.

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