“A swallow has fallen, striking the ground,
Striking the ground in the middle of our house-yard;
But ye, O Shadows and Spectral Reapers,
See that ye mingle not with us.”
When reaping, they must cover their heads and must face the sun, no matter what hour of the day it is, in order to prevent their own shadows from falling upon the rice in the basket at their side.
Pounding the first of the padi.—I witnessed this ceremony three days later, at about 9 A.M. The three baskets filled with the first reapings were removed from the mat on which they had been placed, and their contents emptied out upon a new mat, to each corner of which four rice-ears were tied, and trodden out (di-irekkan) by the owner of the field. Then the rice was poured back into two of the baskets, and the straw of the rice “heads” was plaited into a wreath.[219]
Drying the first of the padi.—Preparations being complete, the two baskets full of newly-cut rice were carried down the steps and out to an open part of the field, a little way from the house, and there spread on a mat in the sun to dry. To spread it properly is not an easy matter, the operator (who in this case was the owner), standing on the mat and spreading the grains with a long sweeping motion of the hand from one side of the mat to the other (the process being called di-kekar, di-kachau, or mĕmbalikkan jĕmoran). In the present case several objects were placed in the centre of the mat, consisting of—
- 1. A basket-work stand (one of those used for the cooking-pots, and called lĕkar jantan).
- 2. A bowl of water deposited upon this stand and intended “for the Rice-soul (sĕmangat padi) to drink when it becomes thirsty with the heat of the sun.”
- 3. A big iron nail.
- 4. A candle-nut (buah k’ras).
- 5. Six trodden-out rice “heads,” a couple of which tied in a slip knot (simpul pulih) are fastened to each corner of the matting.
Pounding of the rice from the three baskets.—When the rice had been sufficiently dried, it was once more collected in the baskets, and carried back to the house to be pounded.[220] That operation took place the same evening, when the rice was pounded and winnowed[221] in the ordinary way, the only noteworthy addition being the tying of bunches of the grass called sambau dara to the upper ends of the long wooden pestles which the Malays use for the pounding operation.
Disposal of the empty rice-stalks from the three baskets.—The chaff thus obtained was deposited in a heap by the owner of the field in a place where three paths met, crowned with a wreath made of the empty rice-stalks, and covered by a big stone which was intended, I was told, to keep it from being blown away.