[Reaping ceremonies.] The crops ripen about August, those in the old fields being ready first, and as soon as Mshe etak is over everyone may cut his rice as soon as it is ready. On the day when he first goes down to cut his crop each man performs at his field-house a ceremony called Liritang in honour of the Rangsi. [82] He takes down with him “Rangsi’s load” (Rangsi’ha) containing a cooked pig’s head, a gourd of “madhu,” an egg, a little salt, some cooked rice and the leaves of sangsu (a long thin leaf), lhetyak (a hairy leaf), and orungu (a small leaf, white on the underside). Having arrived at his field-house and seen that all who are to help him that day have come, for no one may come once he has begun the ceremony—he lights a fire with a fire-stick, takes four blades of thatching grass from the roof and bends them double, and places six grains of rice on the threshold (likingko) of the field-house. He then cracks the egg over the six grains of rice and pours the contents into the leaf in which he wrapped it when he left his house. This leaf he ties to the post of the field-house, taking it home when he goes in the evening and either giving the contents to his children or eating them himself. He then lights the thatching grass at the fire, and holding the orungu, sangsu and lhetyak leaves with the thatching grass in his right hand, goes outside the house and waves them with a sweeping motion from left to right, the smoke from the thatching grass thus driving evil spirits away. He then says the following [83] traditional words:— Orung-na ranga ranga phang (orungu, asking, asking remain). Lhetyak-na tyaka tyaka phang (lhetyak, sweeping, sweeping remain). Sangsu-na sangsu lithana, sangsu lithana oro tamtam chudechia (sangsu, sangsu, changing, changing with sangsu, coming in a stream pour out). This is said to mean—for the words are not clearly understood by the Lhotas themselves: “Orungu leaves pray the Rangsi continually to give me a good crop; lhetyak leaves sweep the grain into my field-house, and sangsu leaves come one after the other and pour rice in a stream from your loads into my field-house.” The man then re-enters the house and sprinkles the floor with “madhu” from his gourd while he repeats the following words:— “Satung rampeng Rangsi tchhüchi rhempi Rangsi, lipphu “Fish-trap hunter’s deity, water-side wanderer’s deity, hillside liteng Rangsi, tsatso rüku mpito Rangsi company’s deity, hurt wounded men’s all deities rencheli” come out of hiding.”