Note 13 — LAWS AND CUSTOMS

When a raid had been decided upon, those who were to take part in it, having slept apart from their wives the night before, assembled in the morning at the ekyung’s house. There a cock and a pig were killed and a meal eaten. If the cock squawked when its throat was being cut it was regarded as a bad omen and the expedition was usually put off. Similarly, anyone who hiccoughed when he was eating the pork stayed behind, for if he went misfortune would befall him. The credit for every head taken was shared equally by the men who got in first, second and third spear, called respectively Lingta, Ethung and Kiwen. It did not matter who actually cut off the head. The head, fingers and toes were brought home wrapped in a cloth. When the party got within earshot of their own village they began to chant “O Shamashari!” (“O we have killed an enemy!”). The hearing of this in the distance was the signal for wild excitement and uproar in the village. All streamed out to meet the returning heroes and see the trophies, replying to each chant of “O Shamashari!” with “O Imaiyali!” (“O we are glad13”). From each head a few hairs were taken and put in a cleft stick which was set up outside the village gate. The meaning of this is obscure. Lhotas call it orrülama, deriving the word from orrü (“enemy”) and lama (“warm”), and say that it means “warming the earth with an enemy’s head,” so that the crops will grow and the village increase and multiply. The term may be compared with humtselama (post-warmer), the piece of the scalp which used to be nailed to the post of a new “morung.”14 The writer has made careful inquiries and can find no trace of any definite belief that the spirits of dead enemies were in this way made to act as guards of the village gate, though in some vague way they were believed to help the village. When the heads were being brought in, anyone who wished to do so and proposed to perform the proper ceremonies afterwards could touch them with his spear and thereby share in the credit of the raid. The procession of warriors went round the village, and halting in front of the house of each man who had taken part in the expedition sang for a few minutes. Then all the men went to the “morung,” where the old men brought them food and “madhu,” and sat and listened to their account of their exploits. Every man who had taken a head or jabbed his spear into one had to pour a little “madhu” on the ground and throw away a little rice before he could eat or drink anything. This was an offering to the spirits of the slain enemies. It was believed that if this was not done the “madhu chunga” and food would be knocked out of his hand by a blow from an invisible spirit. One man assured the writer that this did actually happen to him once when he forgot to make the necessary small offering. If there was time that day the heads were hung up at once on the mingetung. If not they were left in the “morung” till morning. Preparatory to hanging them up the man who had taken most heads in the village pushed a sharp piece of wood through each head from one ear to the other, so that a piece of wood about six inches long stuck out on each side of it. A man’s head was ornamented with the big cotton wool ear pads which are worn with full dancing dress. A long bamboo with a cane string ornamented with cane leaves on the end was leant against the branches of mingetung, and the head tied by the piece of wood running through it to the string, so that it hung about six feet from the ground. Anyone could assist at this. The fingers and toes were enclosed in bamboo basket balls and hung up like heads.15 Everyone who had jabbed the head or any part of the corpse could have a basket ball hung up as if he had taken a head. That day all who had taken heads or jabbed a corpse killed a cock. They had to sleep apart from their wives for six nights, and were forbidden to eat meat from a tiger’s kill. Further, a woman had to remain chaste while her husband was away on a raid.16 Any breach of this rule, it was believed, would cause her husband to be killed by the enemy. She was also forbidden to weave lest her husband’s foot should become entangled in jungle creepers and he should be caught and killed. The blood was not wiped off daos and spears till the day after the warriors had returned.