| caption: |
shaman ; getting rid of the last post of a house |
| text: |
There is a kind of shaman in Oting, 'ahi-ba' if male, 'ahi-nu' if female. When I went for a stroll through the village in the afternoon I met Yongang who was just on his way to a place where some of his clan fellows were taking down the lonely post (148) of a house and were chopping them into pieces. Three of the workers he called his younger brothers. It transpired later that they are not his actual brothers but morung brothers. They were doing this work just for him. All the wood was carried to his house. The owner of the ground was dead and this way the descendant got rid of the remains of the old house. An imported axe, wedges and daos were used for splitting the trunks. The actual brother of his wife was also helping. Yongang then asked me into his house where he offered me an excellent yak (jack) fruit. |
