Besides the ceremonies intimately connected with agriculture which have already been described, there are certain other public ceremonies of a more general character. The year officially opens with the Pikuchak “genna,” but before that is performed the omens for the whole village are taken at a ceremony called Sirosi.

The Sirosi ceremony. The procedure at Pangti, to take an instance, is as follows. The men of the village all assemble in front of the senior Puthi’s house, the boys of each champo bringing meat in new baskets and “chungas” of “madhu.” The two Puthis in full dress lead the way a short distance down the path to Okotso, each holding a “chunga” of “madhu” in his right hand. A short distance beyond the village fence they sit down and together say the dranda, praying that their enemies may make peace and come and eat with them, that tigers may not kill their cattle nor hawks their chickens, and that the village may flourish and grow big. This prayer is offered facing away from the village, and at the end of it each Puthi pours a little “madhu” on the ground. Some meat and “madhu” are distributed, and all go up to the village again and a short way down the path to Are, where the same ritual takes place. On the Are path, just below the place where the prayers are said, is a small clump of big trees growing close together. Between their stems is the traditional spot at which omens are taken at Sirosi. The prayer ended all the boys rush down the hill shouting, and hurl bamboo spears at the trees. Then all go down and scrape the earth clean at the proper spot. Here each Puthi sets up an egg on end, asking that the good or evil fortune of the coming year may be revealed, and takes the omens by cutting chips from a green twig and watching how they fall. The future is really believed to be revealed by the kinds of insects which are caught near the egg, and all sit and watch while the boys hunt industriously in the grass. Locusts mean that sambhur hunting will be good (for they have big legs). Stick insects are interpreted as showing that many men will take new wives, [128]but will have no children by them. Small white insects show that the crops will be poor, and so on. When a few insects have been caught, and their significance has been expounded by the Puthis and old men, all go home.

The Pikuchak ceremony. The Pikuchak “genna” marks the beginning of the agricultural year. The Northern Lhotas do it before clearing the jungle on their fields, and the Southern Lhotas after. In any case it must be done before the rice is sown. The Puthi announces the day on which the ceremony is to be, and every champo buys meat, and each champo in turn the cock which is to be sacrificed. On the night before the “genna” sexual intercourse is forbidden. On the day all the men of the village assemble at the place where the opya is set up. In front of the opya the Puthi sets up a miniature opya, and in front of that again puts an egg on the ground with a leaf on each side. On the leaf to his right he puts ten little bits of pork and ten little bits of ginger, and on that to his left nine little bits of each. He then recites the dranda, holding the cock in his left hand, and a dao in his right. This dao belongs to the youth who caught the cock the night before, the champo whose turn it is to provide the cock having selected some days before a youth whose duty it is to go to the house of the seller of the cock and catch it on the evening before it is sacrificed. This youth must abstain from all intercourse with the opposite sex from the time he is chosen to the end of the ceremony. The dranda being ended the Puthi cuts the cock’s throat, takes the omens from its entrails and ties it on to the miniature opya. The old men sit down and eat some of the meat which the boys from the champos have bought and all go back to the village with much chanting. Parties of boys walk singing six times round each champo. The rest of the day is given up to feasting. Next day is kept as an emung and no one goes to the fields, but a party, consisting of boys and one or two old men, go out on a mock head-taking raid. First they go to the opya, where one of the old men sets up a miniature opya and makes the same offerings of an egg, meat and ginger as were made the day before. Then the party goes into the jungle and throws spears at trees [129]and shouts as if engaged with the enemy. Then all return to their champos, in some villages openly, in other villages by roundabout paths and in dead silence. Finally after sitting in the champo for a little, as they would after a raid, all go to their houses. It is believed that this mock raid ensures good crops and hunting and a high birth-rate for the village.

The Rangendri ceremony. After Pikuchak, but before the crops are sown, a “genna” called Rangendri is performed, at which imitation heads are hung on the mingetung. The Puthi collects rice and with it buys a pig which he kills outside his house. Going outside the village fence he lays thirty tiny pieces of the flesh on each of two leaves and prays that inasmuch as the warriors of the village are following the customs of their forefathers, good fortune may come to all. Then a few men of standing make globular bamboo baskets, such as are used for fingers, ears, bits of scalp and other trophies of Naga warfare, and hang them up on the mingetung. These are spoken of as “heads,” and each man who hangs one up sacrifices a fowl and feasts the village as if he had really taken and hung up an enemy’s head. The performance of this “genna” does not permit a man to wear any of the ornaments of a warrior, but entitles him to have one representation of a head put on his grave for each time he does it.

The Tuku ceremony. The agricultural year closes with the Tuku ceremony. Five days after he has given notice of the “genna” the Puthi goes round with his Yenga and collects unhusked rice from every house. Men married in the course of the year have to make an extra large contribution, and receive in return a special blessing from the Puthi when he visits them on his round. Two days later he collects husked rice in the same manner. With some of the unhusked rice he makes “pita madhu,” and with part of the rest buys a pig. The eighth day from that on which the unhusked rice was collected is known as kichan. On it the Puthi spears the pig at the opya, or among the Northern Lhotas just outside the village fence. The stomach is eaten there by the Puthi and the old men, and the rest of the meat divided up and distributed, those who gave most rice naturally getting most [130]pork. The pig must not be singed to get the hair off or the crops will fail. From the day when the unhusked rice is collected to kichan nothing must be killed or sold in the village, and no meat from a tiger’s kill must be brought in. The day after kichan is called remphi or tuku inshuk. On it animals and fowls may be killed and the day is given up to feasting, the working companies especially who have worked together during the year holding little feasts to which they have all subscribed, or visiting the houses of the different members. Next day emung is observed. On it the ornaments and all erections on graves are thrown away.18 No rice may be cut after this “genna.” Tuku emung being intimately connected with the dead, it is chosen as a time for taking omens which will show who is to die in the course of the year. The night before the boys of the champo sprinkle ashes carefully round the entrance to their sleeping-rooms. These are examined for tracks very early in the morning before anyone has gone out. Should a track be found fitting the foot of any of the boys it is believed that that boy’s omon has gone to the Land of the Dead, and that he will assuredly follow it before the next Tuku emung comes round.