| caption: |
Chapter Twenty-seven. Return to Nagaland |
| caption: |
sexual permissiveness still unaffected by Baptists' puritanism |
| text: |
Though the puritanism preached by the Baptists may ultimately affect the freedom which the young of both sexes traditionally enjoy among Konyaks, in Tang there were still enough young boys and girls who gathered in the evenings for flirtation and singing. When after the day's work they returned from the fields, they dressed up in their colourful ornaments, and then repaired to the large side-hall of the Ang's house. There they sat down in small groups, lit fires and then spent hours with singing and joking. Couples who wished for more privacy had ample opportunity for more intimate encounters, for all along the long hall there were small semi-circular cubicles fitted with a bamboo bed, and they were used by lovers in the same way as the granaries of Wakching. The Ang's house thus fulfils the function of a youth-club and dormitory open to boys and girls of all classes. |
