A VILLAGE FESTIVAL 135 



the village. The boars were seized, and a struggle 

 with the animals ensued, but the two huge brutes 

 were bound up with rattan, chalk meanwhile being 

 rubbed into their eyes, apparently in order to blind 

 them. The women set up a tremendous wailing, 

 and appeared on the scene plastered in wet mud from 

 head to foot. The two boars, on each of which a man 

 sat astride, were now hoisted up and carried to the 

 altar, on which the animals were tightly lashed. Then 

 amid much shouting, tomtomming, and fanatical 

 displays,' the boars were clubbed to death. As soon 

 as life was extinct, the women cut the carcases free, 

 and, puUing them to the ground, threw themselves 

 on the dead bodies, wailing loudly, and plastering 

 themselves with wet mud in ecstasies of grief. This 

 continued for some ten minutes, when the men, many 

 of whom were covered with mud and uttered strange 

 dirges, picked up the bodies, and the whole assembly 

 following suit marched into the river, where a much- 

 needed washing took place. Just previous to this 

 a three-year-old child, painted red and crying loudly, 

 had been roughly seized and dragged towards the 

 dais, and for a moment we thought something more 

 serious than a boar sacrifice was about to take place. 

 But we were much relieved to see that it was only 

 having its ears pierced. The whole performance 

 lasted about an hour and a half. 



" The afternoon was given over to innocent play, 

 the women and girls — many of them quite pretty — 

 chasing the men up to the river side and into the 

 water. This is one of the few ceremonies when the 



