1920. |] R. O. WinstEptT: Rice Ceremonies. 121 
egg, a quid of betel and a lump of benzoin. A ring 
wax is slipped over the top of the reaping-knife (Répala iuai) 
which is then fumigated and sprinkled with yellow rice 
and rice-paste. The seven ears are wrapped in a white 
cloth before being placed in the basket. Not till three days 
after this formal taking of the seven ears that keep the 
rice-soul may the actual harvesting be started. 
The (st¢mangat padi) rice-soul before it descends to earth 
is described as nur hayatu’llah and after being planted as nur 
maniah. 
These accounts should be compared with other accounts 
recorded in Skeat’s “ Malay Magic.” One may note that, 
while marriage ceremonies in Upper Perak differ considerably 
from those in the south of the Peninsula, these rice cere- 
monies are those practised everywhere. 
The charms translated in this paper require little com- 
ment. ‘The sea that is black, the sea that is green, the sea 
- that is blue and the sea that is purple” symbolize the dark 
earth of rice-fields cleared for sowing, the fields green with 
the young rice-plants and changing tint till the crop is har- 
vested. 
