We have seen that nearly every Toda ceremony has its appointed day or days, and that the choice of these is often dependent on another Toda institution, the sacred day, either of the village or of the dairy. Every clan has certain days of the week on which people are restricted from following many of their ordinary occupations, although they are not the occasions of any special ceremonies. These sacred days are the madnol or village day, and the palinol or dairy day. Another occasion to which the same kinds of restriction apply is the arpatznol, the day of the week corresponding to that on which the father of a man has died.
The Madnol and Palinol
The madnol is literally the village day. Each village has its madnol, and in some cases it would seem that different villages of a clan might have different madnol, but in general the madnol is the same for the whole clan.
Certain things may not be done on the madnol:—
(i) ponkisthògadi, a feast may not be given (lit. feast may not divide, i.e., food must not be shared out).
(ii) kêdrvîtògadi, funeral ceremonies may not be performed.
(iii) kwadrtògadi, nothing may be given (from the village). Since buying implies the departure of money from the village, a secondary consequence is that nothing may be bought on the madnol, but if anything is given to an inhabitant of the village, he may bring it into the village on this day. [[406]]
(iv) Women may not leave the village, nor may women from other places come to the village.
(v) The people may not bathe nor cut their nails on the madnol, and the men may not shave. Clothes may not be washed, nor may the usual cleansing of the house with buffalo-dung be done. The ordinary meals may be prepared, but the people must not cook rice with milk.