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first day of the festival |
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The first day of the Ou-nie-bu is called Tabhak-bu (rice-cutting day), the second Ching-wem-bu (sprinkling the village day). Today on the first day Yong-mek, the descendant of the village founder, and the Ang are supposed to go to their fields and bring back a bit of every kind of rice, but only Yong-mek went while a man called Wangdzou went to fetch the rice for the Ang Chinkak. He comes from Chi and arrived with Chinkak's father at Wakching. Yong-mek's rice is hung up in his house, the Ang's in the Ang's house. It seems that this is done silently. The rice is taken from a small spot which had been specially planted. |
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When I got to the village the pig slaughter was already in high gear. (252) Two big pigs were lying tied up in the The-phong morung and one could hear squeaking and grunting everywhere. We arrived a few minutes too late at Shankok's house. The mithan he had bought from Chi had just been killed. Strangely enough it was done on the back platform of the house. The animal was still lying on its right side with its feet tied up with strong rattan ropes |
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(253) Two extra hearths with three stones each had been put up in the long side room of the house and there the boys were now cooking rice and meat. No ordinary vegetables may be eaten today only ginger and bamboo shoots, both of which the boys and girls get from the jungle. In addition to the mithan eighteen pigs were killed in the The-phong khel. One of them in Shankok's house. The other khels killed five to six pigs each and Aug-kheang, Ang-ban and Balang each a cow in addition. |
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I then walked to the Balang khel to watch the slaughtering of a cow. A small pathetic animal had been tethered to a house but first the people next door killed a pig. They tied its legs together and carried it on a bamboo pole into the morung, stayed there a few moments and then returned with it. Cattle, that is cows, do not need to be taken into the morung first. For the Ou-ling-bu the pigs have to be left in the morung for an entire night and day. |
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(254) The killing of the pig is basically done in the same way as at Shiong (see p. 203 following). Only here the woman of the house pours water over the pig. The clan elder kills it with a panji and for that receives heart and kidneys. The pig was killed in the house directly at the door. Only two leaves were thrown in front of the door (notebook 6 p. 46 & 48). The cow too was dragged into the house and tied to one of the door posts |
