| caption: |
packing up to leave ; Metlou reading the omens |
| text: |
The rainy weather today made it not too difficult to pack today. I am less drawn towards the village. Almost all day long the gaonburas sat around my place hoping for things I would leave behind. They also helped tie up the individual collection specimen to carrier loads. Slowly, slowly the chaos cleared up and the boxes began to get filled. Metlou brought a few banana leaves to interpret the future for me. This is not at all a magic event with rich ceremonial but it happens quietly and unobtrusively. A piece of banana leaf is torn in strips which remain connected on one side. Then these strips are wound around the finger and are finally twisted in such a way that one no longer can tell their correct sequence. Of the six strips two are picked out and the conjurer then interprets the omen depending on which ones they are. |
