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Dying custom of wooden heads to represent real heads taken |
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I am sending these four wooden heads separately because they want a little explanation. I heard quite by chance that when one E. Angami village pays a ceremonial visit to another men who have taken one or two heads carry one of these models with them and boast about it (men who taken several have skin "faces" on their shields). The model is either carried by hand or with a loop of string round its neck and represents a definite individual's head. Very few original ones exist now and in any case are never by any chance parted with, as they must go on the taker's grave. (You will see the resemblance to the stone funeral figures I sent you from the same village). So I ordered a modern copy, which is definitely accurate and reliable. The man brought in 4 so I sent them. It is really in a way another form of the human-headed breast plate from Pfutsero I posted a week or two ago. |
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Anyone collecting in the Naga Hills now ought to concentrate on dying customs... |
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These models are apparently never displayed at village festivals. They are carefully kept in their owner's house - since the loss of one is serious - and only taken on ceremonial visits, where presumably someone can be found willing to listen to a story of a deed of valour with which the hero's village was bored years before! |
