Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/300

 first of all uttered the indispensable béseumélah ("In the name of Allah"). As they plant they follow the direction of the wind. The newly planted padi is supposed in this way to acquire the requisite slant, which is regarded as a guarantee of its shooting up straight and strong later on.

The pula-season falls in keunòngs 5 and 3, or sometimes, when the rain is unusually late, in keunòng 1.

A custom the meaning of which has been wholly forgotten, but which is still pretty generally followed, is that of planting in a clump in the umòng a handful of the seedlings remaining over in the nursery after the planting out is completed. This is called inòng padé. The word inòng in modern Achehnese means "woman," "female," but sundry expressions in the folk lore indicate that it must have also had in ancient times the signification of "mother." In all large herds of buffaloes or oxen and flocks of goats or poultry, there is usually one, tamer than the rest, which acts as leader of the flock. This is called the inòng and is never sold or slaughtered, for that would bring ill-luck to the rest. If a gold-washer finds in a stream a nugget somewhat resembling a living creature in shape, he keeps it as inòng meuïh, convinced that it will bring him luck in his subsequent quest for gold. So also with those who prepare the famous healing draught made from the root of the peundang; when a piece of root of similar form is found it is called by them inòng peundang. In like manner the inòng padé though it is of course unable to attain its proper growth owing to its being planted together in a clump, probably had the same significance for the growth of the padi, though it has now gradually faded from the popular mind. One is involuntarily reminded of the indung pare or "rice-mother" of the Sundanese, a truss of ripe padi taken at harvest time and fastened together in a peculiar way. It is placed in the padi-store underneath all the other trusses with sundry traditional ceremonies, and is not removed from its place till the lapse of time has made it undistinguishable from the rest.

On swampy ground the tabu-system cannot be applied, and a nursery must be made in a somewhat drier spot close by. When time presses, the system is modified as follows. The seed is wetted and spread out