This wonderful headgear symbolizes a bamboo culture that is lifted from being common to highly specialized as soon as artful hands are free to work it. Bamboo, a plant available in abundance in almost all the northeastern states in India, forms the very basis of many types of traditional tribal handicrafts.
Dyed goat's hair adds a touch of colour that reinforces the aesthetic strength and identity value of the piece for the Kabui Naga tribe. Usually, such headgear would be worn in the course of certain ritualistic activities or festivals or tribal ceremonies which defines ownership status, valor, and cultural pride towards one's tribe. The artistry involved in making the headgear eloquently speaks the age-old tradition of weaving and dyeing. Not merely an ornament, it symbolizes the artistic legacy of the tribe.
To learn more about the cultural artifacts of Indian tribes, one may visit the National Museum, which is home to the ethnographic collections of the country-the collections that conserve and display many objects representing the diversity of tribal heritage in India.