| caption: |
description of Pfesachadumi's 'morung' system |
| text: |
Today I worked at home and in the evening discussed the morung system with Rudai my Angami orderly. His own village is Pfesachadumi in the Eastern Angami country and there are five Khels and five gaonburas. There are no special young men's halls but all the boys and youths are expected to sleep together in little groups away from their parents. These groups contain from 3 or 4 to 10 to 12 members and are accommodated in various outer rooms of big men's houses. The boys start to go to them when they are ten years old and stay until they are married. Attendance is not compulsory and if a boy does not want to go he simply stays behind at his parents. But almost every boy goes as he misses a good deal of fun if he stays away. There are no initiation ceremonies. No formal leaders, no rules of discipline, no code of duties. The boys simply meet together in the evenings, share a fire, chat and joke and play with the girls. After the night meals at their parents they meet again and go to sleep. Rudai himself joined a (20) sleeping group when he was ten but stayed there only two years as after that he went to school. |
