The male members of the Lotha tribe of Nagaland wear shawls indicating their social status. The social status of a person increases with the feast that he offers to the community.
A person who hasn’t offered a feast wears an ordinary shawl called ‘sutam’ which contains thick dark blue horizontal stripes on a white background. A man who has offered feast for the first time can wear the ‘phangrhup’ shawl, which contains some stripes. On offering the second feast, a shawl containing thicker stripes are worn. The third feast makes him eligible to wear the ‘ethasu’ shawl.
After giving a series of feasts, a ritual is held in which the man has to drag a stone. On the completion of this ritual, he is entitled to wear the ‘lungpensu’ which is an attractive costume containing 5 light blue stripes on a dark blue background and additional narrow strips on the borders.
