Mokokchung Village

Mokokchung Village
village
A view of Mokokchung Village
Coordinates: 26°19′35.18″N 94°31′54.43″E / 26.3264389°N 94.5317861°E / 26.3264389; 94.5317861
Country	India
State	Nagaland
District	Mokokchung
Elevation	1,350 m (4,430 ft)
Time zone	IST

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.

Mokokchung is the construction of Mokok and Chung, where Mokok means unwillingly and Chung means a group of people. Thus, the name Mokokchung would refer to a group of people who unwillingly departed from their settlement.

The founders of Mokokchung village were from Soyim. The Soyim people were requesting these founders not to go away from Soyim and had insisted them to stay together, but they did not listen and went away.

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.

The village is divided into two khels (or sectors) – the upper khel and the lower khel. Although this division is normally based on the Ao dialect("Mongsen" and "Jungli") spoken by the people in other Ao villages, the case is different in Mokokchung Village. Both the khels speak only "Mongsen" dialect.

The average lifespan of Mokokchung villagers is 85–90 years. As of today (April'2014), the oldest person in the village is a 108-year-old lady named Mrs. Kashila and she still moves without anybody’s support.

Total population as per the (ongoing) census of 2010 is 9450 and there are 1194 buildings with 1470 households in the village.

Mokokchung village is adjacent to Mokokchung town, at an altitude of about 1350 metres above sea level – at the highest point, Mongsen Salang – which bears the longitude 94º31.9072 E and latitude 26º19.5864 N.