Paite People

The Paites are one of the constituting tribes of the Zomi who inhabit Burma, India and Bangladesh. The word paite means " a group of people marching " or 'Walkers' in a word,"Pai-walk" "te-people"). The Paites are a recognised scheduled tribe in Manipur as well as in Mizoram. The Paites concentrated in Manipur, a northeastern state of India.

The Paite tribe constitutes the fifth largest tribe in Manipur, out of the 33 tribes recognised as Scheduled Tribes by the Government of India. In 1956, under the list of tribes recognised and scheduled by the Government of India in Manipur, the tribes who were recorded by the Government as 'Paite' petitioned to be known and recorded according to their own distinct tribe name, which was granted to them, so in all 33 tribes, with their distinct tribe names, came to be recognized by the Government of India.

Almost all ethnic Paites follows Christianity, mostly Protestant denominations like Baptists, Lutherans, Penticostal, and non-protestant like the Church of Christ and there are a good percentage of Roman Catholics as well. They adopted Christianity in the 19th century with the intervention of British missionaries.