104 MR. C. A. SHEERING- ON 



marriage ceremony (to be described later) consists in the bride and bridegroom breaking 

 a dalang and eating it. 



The ears of the child are pierced at an early age, as men, when old, are partial to 

 ear-rings and pendants, and women at all times wear ornaments in their ears. In the 

 case of a girl the women make a ceremony out of the custom and formally eat parched 

 grain (pu). 



After the birth of a man-child it is the father's important duty to present it together 

 with two dulungs at the saithan, or shrine of the god, on the annual festival of milu 

 diangmo (from milu, spite, and chungmo, throw away), which is held for the special 

 purpose of averting the evil eye, and removing the jealousy of the gods, from the crops 

 and baby-boys. The saithan, or god's place, is a little chamber a yard in length and 

 the same in breath, and two or more yards in height, in which there is a white stone, viz.,- 

 the familiar ling, and on the top of which there is a small branch of a tree adorned 

 with narrow strips of white cloth (daja) which flutter in the wind. The villagers gather 

 together at the saitthan bringing with them plants of every description from the fields, 

 and flour made from the phapar (called sili), and when all are assembled the plants are 

 twisted and plaited into a wreath, and a venerable elder, chosen by popular acclamation, 

 is placed on a commanding spot and given a sickle, and near him is placed the sili or 

 flour. It is the duty of the old man to strike the wreath in such a way that the flour 

 sinks into the interior and intermingles with the leaves, and to exclaim : " Begone, the evil 

 eye and the jealousy of gods and men." The wreath is then taken to the nearest 

 cross-roads, and after the discharge of fire-arms is left at the parting of the ways. 



In the case of a first-born male child in certain villages of patti Byans such as 

 Garbyang, Budhi, and Kuti, and the Nepalese village of Tinkar, the father holds an 

 annual festival called barani, or barui, at which with considerable expense he feasts the 

 men of the whole village with boiled rice, and next morning they resort to the saithan, 

 taking with them a long slender tree, cut just above the roots, thirty to fifty feet in length 

 and with branches springing from the top (called darcho), which they erect in front of 

 the shrine. These shrines can generally be recognized from a distance by means of 

 these poles, or darchos. The little boy is then brought, dressed in his best and on the 

 back of his mother, and the father presents five sheep and two dalangs to the god. 

 The sheep are to be killed with one stroke of the kukri, and should the striker fail, the 

 onlookers immediately mulct him of a four-anna piece for every failure. 



In the patti Chaudans the father has to present his boy-baby formally to the elders 

 {punch) with two " dalungs," and they with equal formality overlook the boy. This 

 ceremony usually takes place in the months of Suwun and Bhudon on some date which is 

 mutually convenient, and a different date is fixed for each parent in the village who 

 wishes to present a son born that year, and each presentation implies a feast to the 

 elders. 



As a boy grows up he is taught some profession, and, at the age of twelve years, he 

 is expected to be fit to enter upon his own line of life. As long as his father lives he 

 is compelled to place his earnings in his care, but should he outrival his parent and 

 brothers in business capacity, he is given great freedom of action. With regard to joint 



