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.
Ceremonies for Rain.
The rainfall in the Naga Hills is usually adequate. Nevertheless
various rain-compelling ceremonies are practised, most of them of a
very simple nature. The usual one resembles that in vogue among the
Semas. A gibbon’s head and a small dead tserü fish, with its mouth kept
open by a piece of stick, are pegged down to the bottom of the nearest
stream. When enough rain has fallen the gibbon’s head is taken out, the
fish being left in the water to rot. Another common method is to dig a
little tunnel and pour in water at one end and let it run out at the
other. In Akuk a stick is rattled about to imitate the sound of rain in
the hole to which Deolung tied up his mithan, water being poured in
meanwhile. Sometimes children go about with “chungas” of water and
spray it from their mouths over passers-by and each other. Niroyo,
Wokha and their neighbours fell a tree across the path leading from the
village to the Road of the Dead. All then go home holding leaves over
their heads and saying that it is raining. To increase the flow of the
village spring in times of drought someone goes down at night to the
Doyang, and leaving an offering of four little bundles of meat and an
egg on the bank, brings up a little water in a “chunga” and pours it
into the village supply.
Individual Ceremonies.
[The Potsokam ceremony.] Many of the ceremonies performed by
individuals, such as those connected with agriculture, have been
described under their respective headings. Three main classes may,
however, be considered here, namely, those performed regularly for the
general welfare of the household, those which are connected with
illness, and those social “gennas” on which the status of the
individual Lhota depends.