| caption: |
central ceremony at the centre post of the Balang morung |
| text: |
After I had seen enough of this dance I went to the Balang morung where all three upper morungs were getting ready for a joint dance, but this dance is preceded by a ceremony which is the focal point of the entire Oulingbu. Representatives of the three morungs, who are however not the oldest men, gather at the centre post of the Balang morung. After they have enjoyed some rice beer they one after the other sprinkle the post and ask it to be their messenger to Ghawang. (134) The words spoken by the individual men are not all the same. I wrote down what Pongyong said which were the words of the old Ang clan and according to him the original phrases, but men of other clans are often slightly different. One after the other speaks up holding a leaf bowl with madhu and each one addresses the post urgently even in an excited manner as though he has to convince it first to bring the message to Ghawang. They speak as though to a person and finally sprinkle the post. |
