THE YAKHA: CULTURE, ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT IN ...

some of the pieces were starting to get rather rancid, although this did
not seem to dampen everyone's enjoyment of them.
While I did not see Brahmin and Chetri miir k6Tne rituals themselves,
as far as the Yakha were concerned several key aspects were different.
Apart from the day they conducted them, what happened during the rituals
was said to be different. According to the pradhiin vii-c Brahmins and
Chetris only sacrificed goat, on a household by household basis. Rather
than using the carcass to make a circle of blood around the sacrificiai
area, the head was brought in from outside and put in the far left hand
(looking from the main entrance) corner of the kichen.
Kami and Damai families, interestingly, were said to have rituals
more similar to those of the Yakha: at least, they were held on the same
day, after the Yakha had completed theirs (and the Damai musicians
involved in making music for the Yakha were consequently able to attend
to their own affairs) and were arranged on the basis of a group of
houses. According to the Kami woman friend whom I visited discreetly on
our first village Dasai-, their customs during the period were the same
except for the fact they did not drink tun.~bii.
The fourth day (vi.18~6 dashama) was marked by Tikii laffGune, when the
male household head gave a Tike blessing to all friends and relatives
who came to visit. This seemed to be more like what Brahmins and
Chetris did, although they were said by the Yakha to mark the occasion
with the recitation of religious texts. The ritual for this took place
in the front porch, which was cieared and smeared with clay and cowdung
to clean and purify it, and a small brass lamp and water container
(m) filled with saipatra (marigolds) were put out on a plate of dry
husked rice. Marigolds were very much the f loral symbol of Dasai- and