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Chapter Two. The Social Structure and its Units |
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immigrants and their origin and incorporation |
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Yet, there were many newcomers in Wakching, which, as a big and powerful village, had always attracted settlers. Of the eighty-two houses of the Thepong ward eighteen belonged to men who had either immigrated themselves or were descended from men who had come from other villages. Nine of them were originally from Chinglong, one of the villages tributary to the Thepong morung, and the remaining stemmed from Chingtang, Yongwang, and Chi. Those who had themselves moved to Wakching were still regarded as men of their village of origin, but their sons were already incorporated in the one or other of the Wakching clans. It thus appears that recruitment to Konyak clans was not exclusively through the principle of patrilineal descent but also through a mechanism of affiliation. First generation immigrants observed the rule not to marry into the clan which they had joined, but in view of their foreign descent they were allowed to marry girls of other clans of the same ward. The next generation, however, followed entirely the customs of the clan of adoption, and effected a complete assimilation to the local pattern of dress, ornaments, and tattoo. |
