Lohe (Angami Naga term)
The Lohe is the prestige warrior's shawl of the Angami Naga people of the Kohima district in Nagaland, and the most iconic textile in Naga culture — its central black body flanked by broad red borders, with a central embroidered panel of stylized cowrie shells, chest ornament motifs, and geometric forms in white, is the visual signature of Angami identity worldwide. The Lohe is an earned garment: traditionally, only a man who had performed the prescribed feats — including in the headhunting era, taking a head — was entitled to wear it. Today the entitlement system persists in modified form: a man must be ceremonially recognized by the village khel (council) to wear the full warrior Lohe. It is woven exclusively by Angami women on a body-tension loin-loom using a pick-up stick patterning technique. The embroidered panel (the Naga Terhuno) is worked separately and attached. No two Lohe are identical — each woman's execution of the standard motifs carries her personal signature.
Risk level: Endangered · Not inscribed; recognized under Indian National ICH list
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