Oyantsoa is followed by the ceremony of “calling the Rangsi”
(Rangsitsa), which takes place when the rice has begun to sprout,
before the season of thunderstorms sets in, for the thunder would
prevent the Rangsis from hearing the voices of those calling them. The
Puthi kills a big pig in his house, and taking a bamboo mat, some of
the boar’s meat, an egg, a fowl and a little rice goes with the whole
village a short way down the path up which the first Lhota settlers
came to found the village. The chicken is killed and the omens taken
and the egg and meat laid out on the ground exactly as in the Amungkam
and Rangsikam ceremonies. The Puthi then spreads the mat in the ground
and sprinkles a little unhusked rice over it. Then beginning with
Honohoyanto, Kisiyo and Dilungcham he calls out the name of every Lhota
village, both extinct and existing, and summons its Rangsi to come and
give rice to his village. Meanwhile the whole village, every man, woman
and child having brought a rice basket, sets the baskets on the ground
and beckons to the Rangsis who are supposed to be trooping up in
obedience to the summons. The baskets are held as if someone were
pouring rice into them and then covered quickly with a cloth. All go
home in single file with much grunting, as if they were carrying heavy
loads, the Puthi bringing up the rear. Arrived at the village everyone
carefully pours the imaginary rice out of his basket into his rice
house. Among the Northern Lhotas the young men of the village on the
day before this “genna” make a point of trying to steal water from some
other village’s supply to put into their own. If they are caught they
must submit to a good hiding.
[The Yenga.] The assistant of the Puthi, who accompanies him at all
ceremonies and carries his load, is called Yenga. He must be an old man
who has done no social “gennas” and is appointed for life. In villages
where there are two Puthis each has his Yenga. He receives a share of
the meat at all “gennas” and one small basket of rice from every house
in the village once a year. In cases where the only or both Puthis are
ill the Yenga may perform ceremonies as if he were Puthi.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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