The Aimol, after burning the jhums, celebrate a feast they call “Lo-an-dai.” Three fowls are killed and eaten in the khulpu’s house, and rice beer is drunk, but no gong-beating or singing is allowed.
After the harvest, feasts corresponding to the Lushai “Polkut” are held, but among the Purum a feast called “Shanghong” has to be celebrated in October, just when the grain is filling in the ear. Every householder has to bring a small sheaf of the green rice, which is presented to the village god, and feasting and drinking goes on for three days, during which time the village is “sherh.” The Kolhen, before reaping the crop, carry the khul-lakpa or lup-lakpa out of the village towards the fields with beating of drums, and later drink at his expense.
The Kom call the harvest festival “Lam-kut.” It lasts three days. No sacrifice is performed, but the young men and girls dance and drink together.
Among the Chawte the custom is practically the same as among the Purum, save that the feast only lasts one day.
The Lamgang and Anal harvest festival is practically the same. In each case the best crop in the village is reaped by the whole community going to the field with dance and song, and subsequently the lucky owner of the crop has to entertain the village for three days. It would appear that all good Lamgangs and Anals must pray to have the second best crop. On the second day of the feast the consumption of meat and tobacco, the carrying of water and wood, and working with axes or hoes are tabu. The feast closely resembles the “Buh-Ai” of other clans. The Aimol custom is very different from that of the other clans. All the men go out in search of game, the flesh of which is eaten in the evening, and drums are beaten and songs sung while the rice beer circulates freely, in contrast to the feast at the sowing time. Dancing is, however, tabu. The harvest feast is called “Sherh an long.”
The Lamgang have an extra feast, or rather period of rest, when the grain is all garnered, when for ten days no one may enter or leave the village, and no work can be done, the whole energies of the community being concentrated on eating and drinking well.
2. Feasts Corresponding with the Thangchhuah Feasts of the Lushai.—The idea of “Thangchhuah” is found in some form or other in all clans. Even in those clans who have no very clear conception of a special abode for the spirits of those who have earned good fortune in the world beyond the grave by feasts and killing men and animals here below, we find feasts the giving of which confers on the giver special consideration among his fellow-villagers and entitles his corpse to special funeral honours. All these feasts seem more or less connected with the erection of some form of memorial—either a post, such as the Lushai “she-lu-pun,” which finds its counterpart among several Old Kuki clans, but among them the erection of the memorial is the important part of the ceremony, whereas among the Lushais the killing of the animal is the more important and the feast is named after that, not after the planting of the post; or a stone or a heap of stones, or a paved platform. All these are erected during a man’s life and are quite distinct from the memorials erected in memory of the deceased, and thus connect the Lushai-Kuki race with the Nagas, among whom the erection of stones is a very important function.
The “Mi-thi-rawp-lām” is not included in the Thangchhuah series by any of these clans—in fact, it seems to be omitted by all clans not living under Lushei chiefs. These all have a special annual ceremony to lay the ghosts of those who have died during the preceding year. The explanation of this seems to be that among the Lushais the clans have all been broken up and are scattered in different villages, and therefore an annual clan ceremony is not possible, and it has become a virtuous act for some wealthy member of the clan to celebrate the feast in honour of the dead of the clan. Among the clans which have retained their corporate existence the annual ceremony is natural, and therefore it is excluded from the Thangchhuah series.
The Tikhup can earn consideration after death by giving a single feast. The young men and maidens collect a big heap of stones and arrange a seat of honour near it for the giver of the feast, who is carried down on a litter. The young folk dance and sing and drink before him, and then he is carried back to the village and has to present a mithan to the young men, who feast on it for a day and a night at the house of their leader. A song is composed in honour of the giver of the feast, which is sung at all subsequent feasts.
The Lamgang, Kom, Kolhen, and Anal put up wooden posts, the Chawte erect a post and pave a piece of ground in front of it, while the Aimol put up a stone and make a pavement. Mithan and pigs are killed, and a feast given which lasts several days, the cost being met by the person ambitious of fame.