The Aos are a major Naga ethnic group native to Mokokchung District of Nagaland in Northeast India. Their main territory is from Tsüla (Dikhu) Valley in the east to Tsürang (Disai) Valley in the west in Mokokchung District. The Ao Nagas refer to themselves as Aoer, which means “those who came” from across the Dikhu river. They were the first Nagas to embrace Christianity and by virtue of this development the Aos availed themselves of the Western education that came along with Christianity. In the process the Aos pioneered among the Nagas in many fields. Christianity first entered into the Ao territory when an American Baptist missionary, Edwin W. Clark, reached an Ao village called Molungkimong in 1872. The total population of Ao Nagas in Nagaland is almost 227,000 according to the 2011 census. Ao Nagas are found in the northern part of Nagaland, mostly in the central Mokokchung District and also a few are found in the adjacent Assam state.
Nagaland’s Mokokchung district is home to Ao tribe. In Mokokchung District, their major expanse stretches from Tsüla (Dikhu) Valley in the east to Tsürang (Disai) Valley in the west. Some studies suggest that the Ao Naga tribe is thought to have originated and migrated from Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar. The Nagas are thought to be descendants of the Mongoloid ancestry (groups of people originating from Asia, excluding the Indian subcontinent and including Native American Indians) who later migrated to the hilly regions of modern-day Nagaland. The Mongsen and the Chongli are two racial groups that make up the Aos. According to one legend, the Aos emerged from “Longtrok” which means “six stones” as three men and three women: Thongpok and his sister, Lendina, Longpok and his sister, Yongmenala, Longjakrep and his sister Elongshe. They then established the “Chungliyimti” village, where they resided and remained for a long time. These six stones are still said to exist in the aforementioned village. The Aos eventually crossed the Dikhu River (a tributary of Brahmaputra River in Assam) on a cane bridge, leaving others behind. The ones who went ahead (the Aos) came to be known as “Aor” or “Ao” which means “going” or “gone”. Further, the Aos then settled in a place called “Soyim” which is now known as Ungma, before moving to another location known as “Koridang”. As the population developed, they gradually migrated over the five ranges of the land and established numerous new villages.
Ao Naga is one of the major and populated groups of the Naga tribe of Nagaland. Ao Naga tribes are one of the major tribes who possess a folk literature of their own. They are well known for multiple harvest festivals held each year. According to the 2010 census of India, Ao Nagas number 231,823. The real home of the Ao Naga tribes are the catchments of the 5 ranges in Mokokchung District of Nagaland lying between the river Dikhu on east and the plains of Assam on the west. Their main territory is from Tsula (Dikhu) Valley in the east to Tsurang (Disai) Valley in the west in Mokokchung district. Monogamy is the common form of marriage amongst them. Marriage between the blood relatives of family group is strictly prohibited. The Ao women are infamous for their permissiveness. The Ao Nagas have different morals unlike their neighbour clans. The Ao Nagas are rich in their folk literature. Their folk literature reflects the background of the people, their mind, character, religion, culture, superstitions and taboos. There are numerous legends and folk-tales about the origin of the people of Nagaland and other hill areas of North-East India. In the famous Ao folk-tale of “Longkongla” the hornbill’s feather turns into a stone, the stone into a bamboo vessel and later into a baby boy.
The Ao Naga tribes are one of major tribe of Nagaland. The designs of their textiles are represented animal bones, creatures, animals, fishes, birds, etc. The attires Ao tribe have designed with the combination of woven textiles and decorative objects. In earlier time, the clothes worn by the men and women Naga tribes keep varying from one group to another. The tribes can be distinguished on the basis of the distinctive design and color combination of their attire. However, their traditional attires have been declined due to modernisation and globalisation. Hence, there is need to understand the tribal textiles and costumes before they completely lost. This is an attempt to describe about the traditional textiles and costumes of the major Naga tribe of Nagaland that is the Ao Naga tribe
The settled Ao marriage system being that of clan exogamy, marriage between two persons of the same clan is prohibited and one can validly marry a person belonging to another clan only. Since time immemorial, there is intermarriage among the different clans of Jungli and Mongsen and a person belonging to one clan may marry a person belonging to any of the other clans. For instance, a descendent of Tongpok may not marry a descendant of Tongpok, but he/she may marry another from any of the other two clans of Jungli and all the clans of Mongsen. So also is the case with all the other clans. This was and is the accepted settled customary practice of the Aos. Despite these, attempts have been and continue to be made by a section of the Aos to club the Jungli and the Mongsen into one homogeneous group. This section, without rhyme or reason, clings to the opinion that the Mongsen is only a sub-group of the Jungli and that the different clans of the Mongsen are only sub-clans of the Jungli clans and this has been a contentious issue plaguing the peaceful coexistence between the two groups. Every now and then, like the false prophets of yore, the proponents of this preposterous opinion claiming false authority in ancient lore and history muddy the water bringing confusion among the ignorant masses and inflame passion.
Mokokchung Village, a village in Mokokchung district is an ancient village in the former Naga Hills, Nagaland, India. According to the folklores, the Ao Nagas emerged from ‘six stones’. These stones symbolise their forefathers and that location is named as ‘Longterok’ which means six stones. These stones are still intact at Chungliyimti in Tuensang district. From this village, the Ao tribe moved towards northern region crossing a river named Tzüla and settled at Soyim, also known as Ungma today. This was the first Ao Village ever known. After a few centuries, a group of people moved further to the north-east of Soyim and settled at a place named as Mokokchung, or today’s Mokokchung village. Many other Ao Naga villages came into being when people migrated out from this village including Ungma in the later part.
Mongsen Ao is a member of the Ao languages, a branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages, predominantly spoken in central Mokokchung district of Nagaland, northeast India. Its speakers see the language as one of two varieties of a greater “Ao language,” along with the prestige variety Chungli Ao. A chapter in the anthropological monograph of Mills provides a grammatical sketch of the variety of Mongsen Ao spoken in Longjang village. Coupe is one of the few acoustic studies published on a Kuki-Chin-Naga language (only three exist). Coupe (2007 is a reference grammar of the language, based on a revision of his PhD dissertation. Racially the Ao Nagas are Mongolians, therefore all Mokokchung villagers are Mongolians and is believed to have migrated from the far east ‘through’ Chungliyimti. There are five clans within the village — Pongener, Longkumer, Jamir, Atsongchanger and Kechutzar. Marriage within the same clan are prohibited and monogamy is practised. Each clan is treated equally.
World Mythology 
