Apatani tribal women wear cane blocks in their noses, in Arunachal Pradesh

From the archive record

A group of elderly Apatani tribal women dancing on streets of Ziro village in Arunachal Pradesh. They wear their traditional dress including cane blocks in their noses. The Apatani or simply Tanii, designate a tribal group of approximately 60,000 in Ziro in the Apatani plateau in the Lower Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh, India. Their language belongs to the Sino-Tibetian family. The Apatani, recognized by UNESCO as a potential World Heritage Site for their highly efficient agriculture without animals or machines, have been striving to protect their traditional ways in the face of modernization. Reciting their history orally, lacking written records of their pasts, the Apatani maintain their traditions by remembering their legendary and mythical beginnings. Although many Apatani wo