| caption: |
killing and eating of pig |
| text: |
Two boys are bringing a pig on a pole to the Ang's house which they have just speared. It is not quite dead (57) and it takes a lot of effort on my side to get one of the boys to spear it once more through the chest. The pig is announced to be a salaam for me but a sense of relief appears on all their faces when I declare that I only want to take one leg. Soon the remaining parts are being cooked by the men on an improvised hearth in a room where the pounding table stands. I am waiting in vain for the ceremonial slaughter of the sacrificial animal in the Ang house for the O-ya-bu and finally am told in response to my questions that this time the Ang does not kill any animal for the O-ya-bu and that only four pigs are being sacrificed in the entire village. The Ang explains that during his illness he has made so many sacrifices that now he has to recover financially first. In all of Longkhai only four pigs were slaughtered today while in Wakching everybody apart from the very poorest sacrifices pigs for the Ou-ling-bu. The reason cannot be scarcity of pigs as the village is just swarming with the animals. |
