Migrations of the Village Buffaloes
My account of the ceremonial accompanying the migration from one village to another is unfortunately very incomplete. The following accounts were given by Teivali men, and I cannot guarantee that they hold good for both divisions and for all clans.
FIG. 29.—TO SHOW THE METHOD OF CARRYING THE CONTENTS OF THE DAIRY. THE BOY KALMAD (64) IS CARRYING THE ‘PATATPUR’; KARSÜLN (15) THE ‘ERTATPUR.’ IN FRONT OF KALMAD IS THE ENTRANCE OF THE PEN AT KARS CALLED ‘ALTHFTU’ (see p. [649]).
When it is decided to move to a fresh village certain men are chosen to help in the removal, and are told to come on the appointed day, which must not be one of the sacred days of the village (see [Chap. XVII]). On the morning of this day [[126]]the palikartmokh abstains from food. He does the ordinary work of his dairy, and gives out buttermilk and butter to the women as usual. He then calls to the chosen men who have come to the village, and they stand outside the door of the dairy. The palikartmokh comes out, holding in his right hand the milking-vessel (irkartpun) and churning-stick (madth). He stands facing the sun, and salutes holding the vessel and churn to his forehead, and says “ekirzam meidjam,” the kwarzam of Teikirzi and Tirshti. Then all present pray, using the prayer of the dairy. The palikartmokh puts the milking-vessel and the churning-stick at the back of the dairy (the palimerkal), and then brings the other dairy things, carrying out those of the patatmar first and then those of the ertatmar. Two stout sticks are prepared, each called pütusht, and the various objects of the patatmar are fastened on one stick and those of the ertatmar on the other, in the way shown in Figs. 29 and 30.[2] When the things have been fastened on the sticks, all go to the front of the huts of the village and take food, after which the procession starts. It is headed by the buffaloes, followed by the dairyman and the men carrying the dairy vessels. Each of the latter carries the staff on his left shoulder and has the right arm out of the mantle. The man carrying the things of the patatmar walks in front of the man carrying those of the ertatmar, as shown in the figures. After the buffaloes, the dairyman, and the dairy vessels, there follow any men who are accompanying the procession, and if all the inhabitants of the village are migrating, the women and children follow the men.
On leaving the village the women and girls may have to go for a certain distance by a different path from that taken by the buffaloes, but during the greater part of the journey there does not seem to be any regulation to prevent the women following in the wake of the sacred animals.
FIG. 30.—1. A. The madth. B. A patat. C. Another patat. D. The parskadrvenmu. E. The irkartpun. 2. A. The axe. B. The fire-sticks. C. The majpariv. D. The pòlmachok. E. The ertatpun. F. A tek. G. The lamp.
On reaching the new village, the palikartmokh purifies [[128]]the dairy by throwing into it water mixed with tudr bark.[3] The dairy things are taken off the sticks at an appointed spot. The palikartmokh salutes the sun with irkarthpun and madth as in the morning, and then all pray. After the prayer, the palikartmokh takes some ferns (taf) and puts them on the place within the dairy where the things of the patatmar are to stand, and these are put in their places on the ferns. The things of the ertatmar are then arranged in the same way. The palikartmokh makes fire by friction, lights the lamp, and then goes to milk the buffaloes. If he has brought milk with him, he will churn it. Meanwhile a ceremony called nòtiteiti will have been performed by a little girl about six or seven years of age in those cases in which all the inhabitants of the village are migrating. Before leaving the village from which the people are coming this girl will have been given food in the dairy. On reaching the new place, the girl plucks three blades of the slender grass called kakar and goes to the front of the dairy and sweeps the threshold with the grass. She does this with her right arm outside her cloak, and when she has swept she bows down with her forehead to the threshold three times. If there is more than one dairy, she sweeps the threshold of each. The palikartmokh then gives her a small handful of butter and the girl goes to the huts. Up to this time the women will have been waiting near the village, but when they see that the girl has performed her ceremony, they go to the huts and prepare the food called ashkkartpimi.[4]
When the palikartmokh has finished milking, he also prepares food, and when it is ready he throws some into the fire, tòrtütrsersthi, “food into the fire he throws,” and then gives out the food to the people, and they eat both this and that prepared by the women.
FIG. 31.—THE DAIRY OF KIUDR WITH THE ‘PALIKARTMOKH’ ETAMUDRI (58); ON THE RIGHT OF THE DAIRY ABOVE AND TO THE LEFT OF THE HEAD OF ETAMUDRI IS THE STONE CALLED ‘NEURZÜLNKARS,’ BY WHICH THE ‘PATATMANI’ IS LAID.
At some places the ceremonial is more complicated than at others, the degree of elaboration depending on the sacredness of the dairy to which the buffaloes are going. When they migrate to the especially sacred village of Kiudr the extra [[129]]complexity seems to depend on the presence of the bells of the dairy of that village. When the palikartmokh reaches Kiudr, he puts the dairy things he has brought with him at the back of the dairy. Another palikartmokh goes into the inner room and brings out the bells called patatmani and lays them by stones called neurzülnkars at one side of the dairy (see [Fig. 31]). He enters again and brings out four ertatmani, which he lays by the side of another group of stones called neurzülnkars (see [Fig. 32]). The second palikartmokh then purifies the dairy with tudr bark and puts the vessels which have been brought to Kiudr in their places on a bed of ferns in the way which has been described. After all the vessels are in their places, he takes the patatmani to the dairy stream, while the first palikartmokh brings tudr bark. The tudr bark is pounded and the juice squeezed over the bells. The two patatmani, having thus been purified, are then put on a forked stick and carried to their usual place in the dairy. The same [[130]]procedure is repeated with the ertatmani, which are strung on a piece of bamboo and hung on another piece of bamboo which projects from the wall on the ertat side of the dairy. Then milk is put on the patatmani and buttermilk on the ertatmani as usual.
FIG. 32.—THE ‘NEURZÜLNKARS’ OF KIUDR, BY THE SIDE OF WHICH THE ‘ERTATMANI’ ARE LAID.