| caption: |
another village official; details re tattooing and initiation |
| text: |
The other man of honour from Dzimshei's clan is the Thep-wang-nok. That position is now held by Yong-mek, a very young man. At the Ou-nie-bu he and the Ang, Chinkak, go to their fields and bring back stalks of every kind of rice which grows in the place where rice has been planted for seeds. There they evoke Ghawang (notebook 3 p. 132) and then hang the rice ears up in a bamboo container on the wall of their house. (211) Yongmek and Chinkak also do the first planting and Yong-mek is the first to build his field hut. Even when people start rebuilding or renewing their village houses he has to initiate the work with a formal renewal of his own house. However it is sufficient for him to put up a new bundle of palm leaves on his roof. Tattooing of young people also cannot start until a small spot on the body of the Thep-wang-nok or on the body of someone of his family has been tattooed. I also found out some details about the initiation of boys and girls. (notebook 3 p. 122 following). |
