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

ye1 low or red and affected the development of the corn cobs, This was
associated with too much rain. The second was risk of jealousy from
people passlng by. Some Tamaphok Yakha felt that looking at another's
crops with any degree of admiration or envy could inflict damage upon
them. To prevent this, they erected cikpu - large clay pots painted
with eyes which they perched on a pole in their fields, a buffalo's
skull underneath. The eyes on the pot were said to deflect the bad
feeling. However, this tradition was coming to be regarded as old-
fashioned and only a few households bothered to maintain it,
Maize could be harvested from July onwards. The whole plant was
uprooted, and the cobs were taken off for human or avian consumption,
The top parts and leaves were set aside for the goats, and the !ower
stalks were cooked and given to the pigs, who also got the discarded cob
husks. Some of the maize crop was eaten straight away as a snack,
roasted dai!y on the fire, Some people used the maize cob !eaves to
wrap surt i for smoking, a1 though Nepal chestnut 1 eaves were preferred,
Stored, the maize cobs were either 'shucked' straight away, the grain
being stored to feed to birds or grind for flour at a !ater date, or
else the cobs were put on stands in the yard of the house or were strung
decorat ively around the eaves (as can be seen in Plate 18).
Maize was important nutritionally and symbolically because it was
the first staple to ripen during the summer and hence ended the 'hungry
season' between April and July. Before it could be eaten, a ceremony to
the ancestors (nua~i - elsewhere neffi or neffi - makkai cheche'lu'ma or
choche' 1 u'ma) was performed. It seemed that different families
performed it in different ways. Some took a cockerel out into a field
to sacrifice, spi 1 1 ing the blood on two stones. Our family claimed that