| caption: |
morung officials and village council |
| text: |
In Punkhung there are the following morung officials, the Ben-bas who kill all animals for morung gennas and who furthermore make the first stoke for the felling of the trees used in building a morung or drum. In two morungs these offices are hereditary in certain families. The Long-dza-dze, on the other hand does not have a Ben-ba at the moment as the last one who was an Au-kheang man from Wakching died and so far no successor has been found. In addition the Long-dza-dze morung has the Khudzushim of the Long-pong-shu clan and the Nekhong-dze has the Me-thong-shim. These two functionaries speak the law under the guidance of the Ang. Together with the Ang they form a sort of village council which meets in the Angs house. In addition the Khudzushim announces the gennas on the preceding day but the Ang himself decides the date for gennas. The Wang-dze and Long-dza-dze are exogamous units but the clans of the Ne-khong-dze do intermarry. As it concerns dancing and visiting the girls in their sleeping houses however and the leaf spreading at funerals, Wang-dze and Nekhong-dze form (94) a group with Long-dza-dze on the other side (see notebook 8 p. 25 following about ceremonies for bringing home heads). |
