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communal activities by morung groups |
| text: |
At any time the 'kienga' could act as a corporate body. As such, they organized dances, made and maintained the village pipelines, carved new water-troughs, and cleared the village paths; or, hired by an individual, carried the harvest or built a house. (Our wood came regularly from the lower morung; the charge was Rs 15/- for eighty logs, a morning's work for the 'kienga.)' On such occasions, members of all ages took part, from the elders to small boys, and the fee received went (85) into the morung's fund for feasts. At the great festivals and on similar public occasions the girls of the allied dormitory appeared. They served as waitresses, carrying beer to the men as they worked. Sometimes they went on formal outings, or picnics, with the bucks and boys; and it was they, of course, who were the main attraction of every dance. Since they married early and so gave up the art, they were seldom such skilled performers as the men; but the Zemi held that even if they couldn't dance, pretty girls were always worth looking at. |
