The Funerals of Children
The body of a still-born child is buried at the same time as, and together with, the afterbirth, without any ceremonial. In one case which occurred during my visit, this was done by the woman who assisted at the delivery. The body was buried in the early morning on the day on which the mother underwent the ceremonies attending removal to the seclusion-hut.
If a child less than two years of age dies, both funerals are held on one day. The etvainolkedr takes place in the morning, the marvainolkedr in the afternoon; a buffalo is killed at each, and the azaramkedr is held on the following morning as usual. If the child is very young, less than a month old, a male buffalo only may be killed, but if the father chooses, two buffaloes may be killed as at the funeral of an adult.
Thus, the child of Piliag and Sintagars (52) died while the mother was in the seclusion-hut, and two ordinary buffaloes were killed. On this occasion, the two funerals were held on the same day as that on which the child died, owing to the death having taken place on one of the appointed days for a funeral of the clan. When the youngest child of Podners (47) died, only one male buffalo was killed for both ceremonies.
When a male child dies who has not cut his teeth nor been through the ear-piercing ceremony, the funeral is not held at the usual funeral place for males, but at another. Thus the Karsol do not take the body of such a child to Taradrkirsi but to a place called Punpali.
When I attended the funeral of a girl named Sinerani (52), the daughter of Kuriolv of Kuudr, both ceremonies were performed on the same day, and a number of incidents occurred which were very interesting as illustrations of many of the practices which have been described throughout this chapter. The child was about two years [[392]]old and had not yet been betrothed, but as soon as she was dead it was arranged that she should marry her matchuni, Keinba (68), a little boy about four years of age, the son of her mother’s brother, and this boy occupied a prominent position among those taking part in the funeral rites. Owing to the marriage of the dead child to this boy, the dead child would come to be one of his clan, the Keadrol, and there seemed to be no doubt that, according to strict custom, the funeral should have been held at the funeral place of this clan. Kuriolv, however, arranged that the funeral should take place at Kurkalmut, the funeral place for women of the Kuudrol, but as the girl did not properly belong to this clan the funeral hut was not erected within the circle of stones at this place, but outside it.
The beginning of the funeral ceremonies was delayed for some time because the little boy, Keinba ([Fig. 57]), had to be taken by his father, Perpakh, in search of the wood and grass out of which to make the bow and arrow to be used in the pursütpimi ceremony, and they had to go far to find the proper plants for the manufacture of the mimic weapon.
After this delay the ceremonial took its natural course till the buffalo which had been caught by the Taradr men was being taken to the place appointed for its slaughter by the side of the funeral hut. The people had great difficulty in making the buffalo move, and at last it lay down on a boggy piece of ground, and the efforts of all failed to make it go further. The diviners, Midjkudr and Mongudrvan, were then called upon to ascertain the cause of the obstinacy of the buffalo, and then followed the performance which I have already described (see p. [252]).
The reasons given by Midjkudr were not very clear, and there seemed to be a good deal of doubt as to what he had really said, but the following appeared to be the chief reasons given:—
The buffalo, Kursi, which had delayed the proceedings, was the property of Kuriolv and was descended from a buffalo which had belonged to Teitchi, Kuriolv’s grandfather. Since this buffalo was thus family property, it should go to the sons, and ought not to be killed for a daughter, and especially for [[393]]one who now belonged to another clan. Kuriolv ought to have used a buffalo which he had acquired in his own lifetime. Midjkudr went on to say that Kuriolv, having done wrong, must pay compensation to the dead, and told him to give the buffalo named Perov. As a sign that he would do so, Kuriolv performed the kalmelpudithti salutation to Perner, the grandfather of Keinba and also through Sintharap, of the dead girl.