$0. 26.— 1883.] PADDY CULTIVATION CUSTOMS. 



81 



prepared and the crop reaped and placed on the threshing-floor, five 

 persons separate the straw (from the paddy) with five deti — 



Deti, deti, what deti ? 



Gold deti, silver deti, 



Katupila, nika, demata, kobbe, koson deti. 



Taking five of these deti, 



Five (men) stand and toss the corn : 



Two (men) drive the bullocks : 



The god looks on : 



Cultivators work . 



May manifold return attend this royal kamata this 

 (harvest) time ! 



Compare the Harvest song ( Huttari) of the Coorg ryots 

 (Gover's Folk-songs of Southern India, p. 121) : — 



" First they pray that God's rich grace 

 Still should rest upon their race. 



Waiting till the gun has roared 

 Milk they sprinkle, shouting gay, 

 Pole! Pole! Devare! 



Multiply thy mercies, Lord ! 



(II.) — The AmAkete Ceremony. 



It is interesting to find an analogous custom, mutatis mutandis, 

 existing to this day in many rural districts of England, aud 

 markedly Devonshire and Cornwall. 



The custom of "crying the neck" — a relic of old heathen 

 worship, whether of Teutonic or Celtic origin, to the goddess who 

 presided over the earth's fruits — is thus described in Mrs. Bray's 

 "Traditions of Devonshire" : — 



" When the reaping is finished, towards evening the labourers 

 select some of the best ears of corn from the sheaves. These they 

 tie together, and it is called the nack. The reapers then proceed 

 to a high place. The man who bears the offering stands in the 

 midst, and elevates it, while all the other labourers form them- 

 selves into a circle about him. Each holds aloft his hook, and in 

 a moment they all shout these words : Arnack (or ah nack), 

 arnack, arnack ; wehaven (pronounced ivee-hav-en), wehaven, 

 wehaven. This is repeated three several times." 



Arnack, meaning " a bunch of ears of corn," when thus coupled 

 with wehaven expresses either a wish for a prosperous (Norse, 

 velhavende) harvest, or the joy that its labours are ended (we- 

 have-it). See Notes aud Queries, 5th Series, Vols. VI., IX. 



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