Note 21 — Chapter XIV · BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD CEREMONIES

The ceremony of tersamptpimi is performed on the day after the funeral, this day being called karvnol, and as in the ceremony of naming, the chief part is taken by the child’s maternal uncle. The uncle comes to the village where the child is living, bringing a stake of wood of the wild rose21 called kadakmän. He splits the piece of wood into two pieces, each of which is called ketkark, and putting the hair of the child between the two ketkark, he cuts off a lock. If the child is of the Tarthar division, the hair is cut with a piece of sharpened iron called kanab,22 while the hair of a Teivali child is cut with an ordinary knife (turi), but both kanab and turi on this occasion receive the special name of tersampki. After cutting the lock of hair, the uncle puts it on one side together with the ketkark and the tersampki, and if the boy has not already been named, the name is now given by the uncle and a calf promised.