CARNIVALS IN MANY LANDS 241 



these masquerades, and are never permitted under any 

 circumstances to see the masquerade outfit, save when 

 an individual is regaled in it ; for they must be kept 

 in the belief that the creatures represented, or rather 

 their shades, are really materialized before them, and 

 that the garb and the being inside of it are one and 

 inseparable, for of course the outfit always covers the 

 entire body of the dancer. Occasionally, however, the 

 old women are let into the secret. This indicates that 

 the secret societies existing everywhere among civilized 

 peoples, admitting men only to their membership and 

 excluding women for ever, and who take the most 

 absurd and monstrous oaths to guard their childish 

 secrets from other men and from their own wives, 

 sisters, and mothers, are of savage origin in principle. 



The carnival begins with a procession of the 

 masqueraders through the encampment, who, having 

 previously stolen away to the jungle and secretly 

 donned their uncouth regalia, suddenly appear, and with 

 a loud cry ' Han hm ! Han hm ! ' rush toward the 

 village, while all the villagers ejaculate loudly, in reply, 

 ' Nakum rare! Nahum rare! ' (' Here they come ! 

 Here they come ! ') The procession is almost riotous, 

 for the men throw billets of wood about in every 

 direction. The parade over, all these imitation birds, 

 bugs, and beasts, or the materialization of their ghosts, 

 retire again to the thicket, remove their gear, and, 

 becoming real men once more, quietly re-enter the 

 village and the savage banquet is brought on. 



After some hours of ' eating and drinking and making 

 merry ' the masqueraders again rush forth from the 

 wood to begin the dancing. It consists of a peculiar 

 hopping, turkey-step, and rocking the body from side 



16 



