| caption: |
central ceremony of Oyabu |
| text: |
In Longkhai the boys only enter the morung when they are about fifteen. The smaller boys do not work in gangs yet but with their parents. By coincidence I discover a detail of the central ceremony for the Oyabu (compare diary entry for 23rd February, p. 67) which during my last visit I could not discover despite all questioning. When Hayang is addressed and asked for fertility of the fields which the women and young people are not supposed to hear, the older men also say "As the man couples with the woman, thus may the seeds fertilize the fields". Yet I had tried as much as I could then to get the true phrase but this passage had been kept from me. |
