30 Hut ton Webster 



next day also. The devils, it is thought, are anxious to return 

 to their old homes, and in order to make them think that Bali is 

 not Bali but some desert island, no one may stir from his own 

 abode for twenty-four hours. Even ordinary household work, 

 including cooking, is discontinued. Only the watchmen may 

 show themselves in the streets. Wreaths of thorns and leaves 

 are hung at all entrances to warn strangers from entering. Not 

 till the third day is this state of siege raised, and even then it is 

 forbidden to work at the rice-fields or to buy and sell in the 

 market. Most people still stay at home, strivings to while away 

 the time with cards and dice."^® 



Ceremonies of ghost-riddance attended by seasons of abstin- 

 ence are found in other parts of the savage world. The in- 

 habitants of Kar Nicobar, an island to the northwest of Sumatra, 

 have an annual festival called ki-alah. For an entire month 

 previous to its celebration silence is observed throughout the 

 island, no fires or lights are allowed, no cheroots smoked. At 

 the conclusion of this period comes the grand feast to feed the 

 evil spirits and send them back to their respective abodes in the 

 jungle. It is a native belief that such spirits or "devils" visit 

 the villages at this season of the year.^^ Among the many gcnnas 

 or festivals accompanied by taboos, which are observed in Assam, 

 is one devoted to the praiseworthy object of finally laying to rest 

 the ghosts of all who have died during the year. This period of 

 propitiation takes place in the cold weather after the crops have 



^^ Frazer, The Go'.dcn Bougli.' iii. 80 sq. ; citirg R. van Eck, in Tijd- 

 schrift voor Ncderlandsch-Indi'e, 1879, n. s., viii. 58 sqq. Accord- 

 ing to another writer referred to by Prof. Frazer, the ceremony must 

 always be performed at the new moon. It seems likely that this time or 

 that of the " dark '" moon was chosen as being an occasion when spirits 

 are particularly active, perhaps by association of ideas, since the moon 

 during the period of her invisibility is commonly supposed to visit the 

 underworld (infra). The period of quiescence is clearly a means of 

 avoiding contact with the ghostly powers. The reason given for abstain- 

 ing from activity — to make the spirits think " that Bali is not Bali " — may 

 be taken as an attempt to explain a custom no longer understood. 



"Solomon, in Journal of the AntJirol^olog'ical Institute, igo2, xxxii. 216. 



30' 



