Having carefully extracted these poor
souls, the men carry them away tenderly and set them free in the forest
or the long grass.
[The wild mango tree not allowed to touch the ground.]
On the day before the festival one of the fasting men cuts down the
chosen mango tree in the jungle with a stone adze, which is never
afterwards put to any other use; an iron tool may not be used for the
purpose, though iron tools are now common enough in the district. In
cutting down the mango they place nets on the ground to catch any leaves
or twigs that might fall from the tree as it is being felled and they
surround the trunk with new mats to receive the chips which fly out
under the adze of the woodman; for the chips may not drop on the earth.
Once the tree is down, it is carried to the centre of the temporary
village, the greatest care being taken to prevent it from coming into
contact with the ground. But when it is brought into the village, the
houses are connected with the top of the mango by means of long vines
decorated with the streamers. In the afternoon the fasting men and women
begin to dance, the men bedizened with gay feathers, armlets, streamers,
and anklets, the women flaunting in parti-coloured petticoats and sprigs
of croton leaves, which wave from their waistbands as they dance. The
dancing stops at sundown, and when the full moon rises over the shoulder
of the eastern hill (for the date of the festival seems to be determined
with reference to the time of the moon), two chiefs mount the gables of
two houses on the eastern side of the square, and, their dusky figures
standing sharply out against the moonlight, pray to the evil spirits to
go away and not to hurt the people.
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