The Story of Hekko
Hekko
'Hek' means to challenge and 'ko' means tiger. Therefore, the word "Hekko" means "Challenging the tiger." There is a folk story in Nagaland which talks about "Aami" (The Man) and "Aakho" (The Tiger).
Story: Once upon a time, humans and animals lived together. They had a disagreement about their superiority. The humans challenged Aakho and the challenge came to be known as Hekko.
The people in the Mokokchung district of Nagaland play a game named Hekko, which is a well-known sport today.
Presently, it is played as a team game between two teams: Aakho and Aami. The strongest people in the village are identified through this game.
There are 11 players in each team. The toss before the game decides which team will be called Aami and which will be called Aakho.
To play, a circle is first drawn, and the Aami team has to stay within the circle by making a human chain, while the Aakho team stays outside the circle.
At first, two members of the Aakho team enter the circle and try to push the Aami players outside the circle. When an Aami player is pushed out of the circle, he is out and cannot enter again.
The Aami team also tries to catch the players of the Aakho team by surrounding them. When an Aakho player is caught, he is not released until he says "Joko" (surrender). When one player gets caught and surrenders, another player from the Aakho team enters the circle. Whenever a team gets a player of the opposite team out, it gains points.
The game of Hekko gets over when one of the following three things happens: All the members of the Aakho team get caught. All the members of the Aami team are pushed out of the circle. The time runs out.
The team with the maximum points wins the game. The fastest player of the Aami Team is awarded the title of "Khozuba" and the strongest player of the Aakho team is awarded the title of "Khotiba."
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