Note 25 — RELIGION

Occasionally big forked posts (tsongzü), ten or twelve feet high,25 are put up instead of stones to commemorate a mithan sacrifice. The usual reason is that suitable stone is not available, but the Nyimshamo kindred of the Othui clan in Yekhum are a unique example of a kindred which is forbidden to set up stones and must always set up posts instead. The reason given is simply that they have never been allowed to have anything to do with the village oha. The kindred came from Yemkha on the Sema border and may represent an immigration of Semas who still retain their own customs, but there is no tradition to that effect.