The Epuetha ceremony. The story goes that the evil spirit Khyuham, when shut up in a hole in the earth by Rankhanda, exacted a promise that he should be appeased by a yearly sacrifice. In fulfilment of this the Lhota householder, year by year just before the Thruven “genna,” kills a small boar in his house and puts into a carrying basket twenty-three little pieces of the meat, a handful of rice husks, an egg, a handful of boiled rice and a “chunga” of “pita madhu.” The ceremony is performed in the lhurhui room, by an old man who has done no “gennas,” called in for the purpose. Holding a “chunga” of “saka madhu” in his hand he prays for the welfare of the household, and after spilling a little on the ground drinks. He then pounds up some ginger, the usual magical disinfectant, in a leaf and pours a little “pita madhu” over it. While he is doing this members of the family scrape all their daos and spears one against the other. Then the old man, addressing Khyuham, says, “We have given you all the things in this house. Do not harm anyone,” and as he speaks sprinkles a little of the ginger and “pita madhu” about the room, laying what is left in a leaf at the foot of the main post of the house, that is to say the post between the lhurhui and the mpongki. This done he takes up a brand from the hearth and the carrying basket containing the twenty-three pieces of pork and other things, and goes out of the house, calling on all evil spirits to follow [[133]]him. As he goes the household throw after him ashes and burning brands, another powerful type of magical disinfectant, and shutting the door quickly keep it closed for a few minutes. The old man goes into the jungle just outside the village fence and there lights a small fire and spills a little “pita madhu” on the ground. Setting the egg up on end he puts on each side of it a little heap of rice husks on a leaf, six little sticks, six little pieces of ginger, and six scraps of meat. The “chunga” which held the “pita madhu” is by this time empty. This he splits with his dao and watches how the two halves fall. If both fall inside up or outside up the omen is good, but if one falls one way and one the other it is bad. The two halves are then laid on either side of the egg, and the old man having eaten the rest of the rice and meat goes straight to his house. He must not enter the house where the ceremony was performed again that evening. In the morning he goes back to return the carrying basket and receives a small handful of rice as his fee.
Ceremonies for Illness.
A Lhota when sick usually attributes his illness to the malice of an evil spirit (tsandhramo), who has either introduced some foreign matter, such as hair or a little stone, into his body or has caused his soul (omon) to desert him at a certain place. In any case a ratsen has to be called in, who can see and “extract” any foreign body which may be the cause of the trouble, or can say at what spot his soul left him and is likely to be lurking. To enable the man to regain his soul a soul-caller (montsai) is required, who must be an old man who has done no social “gennas.” If it is on his own land that the man’s soul has left him a dog must be sacrificed. The montsai and the sick man, if he be well enough, go down to the spot indicated by the ratsen. If the sick man be too ill, as is often the case, a near relation goes, who may be either a man or a woman among the Southern Lhotas, but must be a man among the Northern Lhotas. On arrival at the spot the montsai lights a fire, [[134]]and killing the dog by knocking it on the head, singes it and cuts it up. On his right the montsai puts ten pieces of meat and ten pieces of ginger on two leaves, and nine pieces of meat and nine pieces of ginger on two leaves on his left. The paws, ears and nose are cooked in a pot which has been specially brought for the purpose, and left there in the pot. The rest of the meat is the montsai’s perquisite. He goes back to the village, repeatedly calling the sick man’s soul by the man’s name to follow him.
When the ratsen says that it was at some place in the jungle or on the village path that the patient’s soul left him and is being kept away by a tsandhramo, an interesting ceremony with a scapegoat chicken is performed. The montsai and a relation of the patient go to the spot where the soul is said to be, taking with them a carrying basket containing two “chungas” of “madhu,” sixty pieces of plantain stem blackened with soot, twelve pieces of burnt wood, sixty little bits of pork, a small chicken, a cowrie, some ginger, some taro, some heads of a species of wild mint called rarakham, which is believed to be an infallible antidote against evil spirits, and a burning brand. Throughout the ceremony the patient’s relation is a mere spectator. Assuming that the “genna” is being performed on a path, as is usually the case, for the patient was probably travelling along a path when the tsandhramo took possession of his soul, the montsai places equal portions of the ginger, rarakham, meat, plantain stalk, burnt wood and taro on either side of the path. This he does sitting facing away from the village to which the patient belongs. He pours the “madhu” from the smaller of the two “chungas” onto the ground, and lays the empty “chunga” down with its base towards the village. The carrying basket is split in half, and half put on either side of the path. The montsai now drinks the contents of the large “chunga,” and splitting it with his dao lays his dao on the ground with the blade away from him. Then six times if the patient is a man, or five times if she is a woman, he drops the two halves of the split “chunga” together onto his dao, asking each time, “Will he live or die?” If both halves come to [[135]]rest on the same side of the dao the illness will be a long one. If one falls on one side and one on the other the patient will either die or get well soon. Next having tied the chicken’s wings together over its back and fastened a cowrie onto its leg, he tosses it up and catches it six times for a man and five times for a woman, and undoing its wings lets it go into the jungle. He then takes his spear and jabs the butt into the ground a number of times, in order that the tsandhramo may think that a large number of men have come to call back the sick man’s soul and so be more ready to let it go. Finally, he calls out the name of the patient eight times, and says, “O so and so. We have let a chicken go for you. Come back, come back.” On his way back to the village he must keep on calling the sick man by name, and on arrival at the patient’s house he says, “I have called so and so. Has he come?” and one of the inmates will answer, “He has come.” The montsai’s fee for this ceremony is a small basket of rice. This account is of the ceremony as performed by the Northern Lhotas. The only difference the Southern Lhotas make is that instead of sixty pieces of pork they take down either a crab or a jungle rat or squirrel, which they laboriously divide up into sixty tiny pieces. The reason for this is that they regard it as essential that a whole animal, however small, should be offered. This employment of a scapegoat chicken is common to Lhotas, Aos, Semas, Changs and probably most Naga tribes.
If a man be only slightly indisposed on his return from a journey the ratsen will tell him that a tsandhramo is detaining his soul at such and such a place on the path along which he came—always a spot conveniently near the village—and that an offering of eggs is all that is required. The sick man will then either go with a montsai or alone to the place. There the montsai, or the patient if he goes alone, puts on either side of the path a big leaf and an egg, and on the leaf taro, ginger, boiled rice, burnt wood and cotton, chilies, or whatever he may have been carrying when his soul was enticed away. He then goes home, calling his soul in the ordinary way. The cheapness of this [[136]]method of regaining his soul appeals to the Lhota, who performs the ceremony on the least provocation. In cases of long illness more persuasion is required to induce the soul to return. A meal is prepared in the house, great care being taken that no stranger touches it, and put wrapped up in leaves in a carrying basket with a new cloth and the patient’s ornaments. This is taken to the montsai’s house, who that night meets the patient’s soul in his dreams and tries to persuade it to return by pointing out that food and new clothes and ornaments are all ready for it if only it will come back. If it cannot be persuaded to return by these inducements the patient is doomed.
A person suffering from intermittent fever or some similar slight ailment gets rid of it as follows. He gets up from his seat in his house and puts any bits of rubbish, such as sticks or leaves, into an old carrying-basket. Taking up this load he says aloud, “I am going out to get some things.” Having reached the outskirts of the village he hangs his load on a bush and says, “Watch this; I am coming back very soon.” He then leaves the load with the illness watching it, as he thinks, and returns to his house by another path. Semas practise a similar custom for ophthalmia.
The Social “Gennas.”
There remain to be described the social “gennas,” which play such an enormously important part in Lhota life. Beginning from the first small “genna” they increase in costliness and importance till the ceremony at which two stones are dragged is reached. Almost every one of them entitles the doer to wear a distinctive cloth. The wealth and consequently the importance of a man is gauged by the number of these social “gennas” he has done, for the Lhota, like all Nagas and members of not a few other races, is a great respecter of wealth. It is therefore the ambition of every man to perform the full series if he possibly can. At the first stone-dragging ceremony one stone is dragged, and at the second, third and so on two stones are dragged. There is a limit to the number of times the stone-dragging [[137]]ceremony may be done, which varies in different villages, but is so rarely reached that it practically exists only in theory. The only man the writer has ever come across who has reached the limit is Wonchă̤̱mo of Pangti, who has dragged twenty-five stones. The only course open to him now if he wishes to do any more social “gennas” is to “become a boy again” and sleep in the champo and begin the whole series again from Wozütana, the first small “genna.” This he does not propose to do. Though cases have been known in the past of men reaching the limit, there is no tradition of anyone who began the series again.[19] The “gennas” are public feasts which the whole village attends, but the man who proposes to do one must never announce his intention beforehand except in a whisper to his nearest friend and the necessary religious officials. This custom is strictly adhered to. Even a Lhota in Government employment who wishes to go to his village to perform a social “genna” will never say when he applies for leave what he wants it for. Were a man to announce that he was going to do one of these ceremonies and then not be able to do so it would, it is believed, entail a serious illness or some other misfortune.