Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 25, 1914.djvu/511

 Collectanea. 477

all the other tribes, including the western or Chakroma portion of the Angami tribe, raise their rice crops by /hiiming,^ the Angamis raise their rice crop on irrigated terraces. The terraces are excavated with great labour and skill from the hillsides, and are watered by means of channels carried along the contour of the hills for long distances and at excessively easy gradients." After describing their tribal, marriage, and death customs, Mr. Gail writes : " The Angamis have j^ractically no religion. They recog- nise a Supreme Creator called Terhopfo or Kepenopfo. They also believe in the existence of evil spirits, which reside in rocks, trees, and pools of water. These are usually propitiated in cases of illness by offerings of fowls, pigs, or cattle. ... Of a future state after death their ideas are extremely vague. They certainly believe that the soul does not die with the body, but what becomes of it they cannot say." Their chief festivals are the Terhengi and Sekrengi. The Terhengi is celebrated soon after the completion of the harvest, and is, in fact, their Harvest Home."* "As the Terhengi marks the end of the year's work for the Angami, so the Sekrengi marks its commencement, being held shortly before the new year's work in the fields is begun. Both festivals last for ten days, and both are occasions for the unlimited consumption of zn (rice beer), pork, and beef." At this time wealthy Nagas give big feeds, in the not vain hope of handing down their names to future generations ; and to commemorate these feasts, huge stones are dragged, often for long distances, on rough wooden sledges, and are erected by the side of the road near the village. The giver of the feast also becomes entitled to put over his house the large wooden horns, which are such a conspicuous feature in most Angami villages. "At the Sekrengi festival dogs are killed and eaten in great numbers. I have often enquired the reason for this, but have never been able to get a satisfactory answer. Besides these two main festivals, many other minor ones are celebrated during the year, the chief of which is that held just before the new paddy harvest begins."^

"By periodically cutting, burning the jungle, and sowing ihe seed in the ashes.

■• See the next instalment of these tales.

^Census Report, Assam, 1891, vol. i., pp. 237 et seqq.