The Zeme-Naga people of Peren: a farming festival that doubles as a peace treaty

The Hega festival of the Zeme-Naga people is many things at once: a harvest feast, a seed-blessing ceremony, and — for as long as anyone remembers — a peace treaty between villages that quarrel.

This year’s Hega at Peren town drew delegations from across the district, who shared food, songs and, in two cases, a boundary dispute settled by elders over a shared meal.

The festival’s logic is elegant: you do not go to war with the people you have eaten with.