In the Andamans and Nicobars Part 29

A series of festivals indulged in begins with a day called _Kewi-apa_.

On this day, the people of M[=u]s clear a portion of the jungle in the interior, and decorate the spot with palm leaves, bringing from it _Siya_--the devil--to _Elpanam_. All the houses at _Elpanam_, and the s.p.a.ce there, are decorated. The people of Arong (a neighbouring village) and M[=u]s then go there and take part in a performance lasting all night, for which they have practised during the past month. Other villages come as spectators and guests. The next morning there is a feast, at which special materials are pigs and jungle crabs. When it is over, a wrestling match closes the ceremony.

On the third and following days, all the people, and those of the neighbouring villages, are engaged in preparing for the feast of _Kial_, to which many villages come as guests.

The day preceding the feast of _Kial_ is called _Mu-nung-ren_, or "day of preparation." Poles are brought from the jungle, tied round the houses at _Elpanam_, and covered with tender palm leaves, while new cooking places are prepared below each house. The interior of the houses and the compounds are decorated. From sunrise till dark the women are busy preparing _kusuhu_, a confection of yams, green and ripe plantains, coconut, and oil; and meanwhile, the men sing songs in honour of the large canoes, which, kept for the past month in the interior, are brought to _Elpanam_, immersed in the sea, and decorated.

Next day is the day of _Kial_, or "taking food." From morning till night the people are engaged in feasting their guests, in dining together in groups, and in sending to their friends and neighbours _kusuhu_, pork and fowls.

At midday a cry of supplication is heard from each building--"Let our house be always supplied with abundance of food; let us have many edible gifts from other villages; let there come new women to our village; let us be happy."

This day is one of much rejoicing, for the natives consider the _kusuhu_ one of their greatest delicacies.

Next day is called _Anoi-ila_--day of rest for the people.

Then, the eighth after _Kewi-apa_, comes the day _Ha-chu_, on which they take back the devil to the jungle with more ceremony. Having returned from this, they engage in a hunt, with the aid of dogs, for jungle pigs.

The day following is _Anoi-ila_; on the next, a second pig hunt takes place; and finally, one more "day of rest" ends the festival.

_Maya_, or _Vani-el-kui_, means "top decoration," and for this, long green bamboos are brought from the jungle and encircled with leaves from top to bottom. They are then fixed round the graveyard at _Elpanam_, to the accompaniment of ceremonies led by the _tamiluanas_, with spirit exorcising paraphernalia.

During the three days following, the people prepare two large rafts, of canoe shape, and equip them with sails of palm leaf, dry palm leaf torches, and bunches of "devil-expelling" leaves. This work is done by the young men and women, the _tamiluanas_ and other elderly people being engaged, meanwhile, in singing by turns, through night and day, in one of the houses at _Elpanam_. The _tamiluanas_ frequently come down and walk along the beach with their exorcising rods, and forbid the devil to enter the village.

The fourth day is called _Yintovna Siya_--expelling the devil by sails.

In the evening, the whole of the village a.s.sembles at _Elpanam_ with bunches of "devil-expelling" leaves, the women with baskets of ashes in addition.

A number of men, with an escort of _tamiluanas_, carry one of the floats to the sea, on the right side of the cemetery, and propel it some distance from the sh.o.r.e; when they return, another body of men despatches the other craft from the left side of the graveyard. The bearers, on reaching sh.o.r.e, are supplied with bundles of leaves, and as soon as the vessels reach deep water, the women throw ashes from the sh.o.r.e, and the whole crowd shouts, "Fly away, devil, fly away, never come again." Then all the decorated bamboos are removed, one after another, and all the leaves thrown into the sea; from each bamboo, as it is taken down, the devil is expelled.

Should the canoes sail off toward Chaura, much rejoicing is occasioned.

One seems to contain an evil, the other a benignant spirit. The latter may possibly return and inform the _tamiluanas_ that the devil has reached Chaura, and in token of this, there will be found near the graveyard a new Chaura pot, a chicken, a paddle, or similar objects.

If this occurs, there is a day of rejoicing, called _Amhai_, when pigs and fowls are offered as a sacrifice to the conquering spirit, and a grand feast and dance take place at night.

This is an annual ceremony, commemorated in turn by all the village, but unfortunately, as with their other customs and ceremonies, the islanders, whose knowledge of their origin is limited, can give no clear reason for its inception, although there must be a perfectly adequate one, and state only that they do it because it is "custom."

Festivals called _Maya_ and _Inturga_ are also commemorated to drive the jungle devils into the sea.

One of the most effectual means of _exorcising devils_ is by fanning with leaves. The M[=u]s racing canoe, having returned to the village soon after a death had taken place there, was not received in the usual manner. Two elderly men who were on the beach, waiting, ran down before the canoe could touch the sh.o.r.e, and hurriedly brushed it, and the men in it, with brooms. They then brought the canoe ash.o.r.e, and fanned it with coco-palm leaves, so that the dead man's ghost might not take possession.

When the north-east monsoon sets in, the sea is very rough on the east coast, and many people become seriously ill, the result being that there are always a greater number of deaths than usual in that part of the island.

All the villages there situated accordingly take in hand the process of _Tanangla_, which signifies "support" or "prevention."

In this, they fence _Elpanam_ with palm leaves, and festoon the houses and pathways with various kinds of shrubs and gra.s.ses. They also prepare huge images in human form, by twisting palm leaves round logs of wood, and place these about their houses.

An old man lost his teeth, and to celebrate the fact, gave a great feast to a large body of people who came to it from other villages. The giver was adorned with silver wire from head to foot, and made to sit in a _kantera_ (_mafai's_ chair) in honour of his departed grinders.

A man was bitten by a snake, with serious consequences. When he recovered, he invited his friends to a feast, and performed the ceremony of _Ke luing alaa_, which consisted in waving a lighted palm-leaf torch round his head.

The natives apparently possess the right to a.s.sume various social distinctions at will.

There is a cla.s.s of men termed _Sanokuv_ which numbers many individuals in its ranks. _Sanokuv_ seems to mean a bashful or delicate person.

These men will not eat any food cooked by others, neither will they use well-water, nor partake of pigs and chickens reared in the village, as they consider these unclean. The water they require they obtain either from a jungle stream, or by collecting rain. They will not drink toddy made from trees near the village, but draw it from distant palms.

Everything is partaken of from special vessels; toddy is sucked from a bamboo through a reed, of which the mouth-end is capped with a larger as soon as the drink is finished. They are, however, willing to accept bread, biscuits, and rum from others, but the latter is drunk from a new coconut sh.e.l.l, and never from a gla.s.s.

The whole proceeding seems to be a variant of the Hindu inst.i.tution of _caste_.

The _Mafai_ is another peculiarity of the Nicobar social organisation.

The Kar Nicobarese take great interest in the creation of _mafais_, and in conducting _mafai_ performances. They give much of their property, time, and labour to a _mafai_, and look on him as somewhat sacred. He is a man who, recovering from a serious illness, decides to do no work for some time to come; in fact, he continues to be an invalid, and henceforth neither obtains nor cooks food, but is supported by the community.

The word _mah_ means "sir," and is used to indicate one who is a superior, and is employed as a term of respect towards men and women of some age: the chief of a village, the head of a family, or parents, are styled _mah_. _Fai_ means "inspired." _Mafai_ therefore means "an inspired man," _i.e._, a seer.

A person may at the first stage of his recovery from a severe and long-standing illness, or an attack of delirium, inform his relatives that he has received a revelation, and therefore desires to become a _mafai_. This is communicated to the _tamiluanas_, and they, as well as other elderly people of the village, a.s.semble in his house, and after making a formal examination, p.r.o.nounce the verdict, _taf.u.knu chuat_--"sunken eyes."

A preliminary ceremony is then performed, called _Hanata_--"adorning the invalid." They spread round his couch "devil-expelling" leaves from _Mal_,[209] and decorate the cane wall of the house, at his side, with festoons, ta.s.sels, beads, wire, garlands, etc., placing near him spoons, forks, and other electro-plated ware, with a few bottles of toddy.

They twist silver wire about his neck, arms, and legs, and adorn him with necklaces, ta.s.sels, breastplate, and armlets, made of silver coins, and then place him in a large decorated chair with a Chinese straw hat on his head. A silver-handled stick (sceptre of the _tamiluana_) and a small dagger to kill the devil are given him, together with a bottle of toddy, furnished with a hollow reed to suck the liquid through.

He is now proclaimed a _mafai_, and information is sent to his friends and relatives in other villages, who all come with presents to see the holy man.

From this time forward, until he is thoroughly recovered, the people of his village, with other friends and relatives, provide his food and other necessaries by turns. This they do on a liberal scale.

There is a performance every night in the village, lasting till midnight, during which he sits on a chair in the midst of the ring of dancers, whom sometimes he may join. This exercise is to increase his strength, and he is freely supplied with toddy, as it is considered a tonic.

From time to time his neighbours take him, sometimes spontaneously and sometimes by invitation, from house to house and village to village, in procession, and give performances. _Ai-yu-a-kare_ is one of these, and means "going to a feast adorned with jewels."

He never walks, but is always carried in a _kantera_ (chair), which in shape resembles a palanquin, covered with chintz and decorated with spoons, forks, and soup-ladles. The chair is borne by a dozen strong men. The spectacle of a returning _mafai_ and his party is extremely comical, for, besides being fatigued by the night's exertions, every one is completely intoxicated.

The people venerate the _mafai_ exceedingly, and take him at midnight to the sick, that he may heal them by touch or by shampooing, when he pretends to extract gravel and stones from the bodies of the invalids.

So matters continue until the _mafai_ considers himself strong enough to work for his living, when, with the approval of the _tamiluanas_, he resigns his _mafai_-s.h.i.+p in a final ceremony called _Luinj-lare Mafai_--undressing the _mafai_.

The same man may eventually become a _tamiluana_ (one who chases devils), or he may become _Yom Ap_ and _Yom Elpanam_, _i.e._, "Grandfather or Guardian of Chaura canoes, and Guardian of _Elpanam_."

The _mafai_ is a peg on which many festivals and customs are hung. The following ceremony is one as occasionally carried out in the village of M[=u]s. It is called _Amutna Kuv_--revealing to the invalid.

The _tamiluanas_ of the village decorate themselves and go to a place called _Mal_, outside the village, and there clear a certain spot in the midst of thick bush. They take with them a few yards of red cloth, a cage containing a score of fowls, a basket of pork, and other things, and hide all under different bushes at some distance from the cleared spot.

To it, with a number of followers, they lead the _mafai_ in procession, and a dance with singing is held.

While the party in general is dancing, the _tamiluanas_ take the _mafai_ apart to one of the bushes and point out to him one of the concealed articles, telling him that it is a gift miraculously sent him by a deceased relative. All then return and join the dancing party. This action is repeated until all the articles are pointed out to the _mafai_.

The red cloth is then torn into strips and distributed to the men for loin cloths, and all the other objects are taken to the _mafai's_ house, while afterwards the people renew the singing and dancing for the whole night.