The Journal of the Siam Society Vol. LXXI, Part 1-2, 1983 - Khamkoo

LAHU NYI (RED LAHU) RII.~S FOR EST AB:LISHING A NEW VILLAGE 177
· S. Oh, we buy;·we barter [this place]; we· of this community buy and barter [this
.. pl~.ce].
6. Three times in one day and three times in one night shield and protect each on~
of us from the points of iron, the points of copper, 48 shield and protect us all from
points of wood;49 shield, protect and save us all from sickness and death by
[sharp] points.
7. Oh do not break the hands of anyone of us, do not break .the legs of anyone of
us; we do not wrong· you, you who know all things; we bring for you beautiful
beeswax candles and beautiful 'rice, we reach under your feet and under your
hands.
8. We of this community, today, here at his place, buy and barter this hill.
9. The whole village community will live here, the hpav yavso will live here;;oh, if
you have your-dwelling place here, ple~se move away.
10. Oh, Oh, please move to the bottom or to the .top [of this place], oh Prince, pure
, Prince of this place.
Only after this simple rite has been performed may the villagers get down to
the job of clearing the ilew -site, provided the day is right. The Lahu Nyi whom I
studied would avoid beginning such operations on two specific days : lav nyi or "tiger
day" and mvuhv nyi or "horse day".Sl .Because the presiding animals are fierce or
strong, it is said that beginning work on either of these days would invite injury from
knives, axes, bamboo and wood during the felling operation. The new and full moon
days (shi- 1}yi "merit days") are also avoided, for these are days of prescribed rest and
ritual observance (cf. Walker 198lb). But apart from these, there are QO restrictions.
48. A poetic refei"ence. to the knives and axes which will.be used to clear the site.
49. That is, "May the trees which we cut not hurt us".
50, As noted earlier, hpav yav is a Shan title, indicating that the headman has several village
· communities under his jurisdiction. But here it is used only for poetic effect, referring to
the ordinary village headman (hk'a" sheli_ hpav), who may or may not also hold the rank of
hpav yav.
51. The Lahu follow a twelve day cycle, each day named for a presiding animal. Many Asian
peoples (cf. Davis 1976: 11)--most nota]lly, of course, the Chinese--use a duodenary system
in reckoning years, days and even hours, and usually each unit in the cycle is named for an
llnima!, A.!thou(lh som~ t.!lltu (cf. Youn~ s.a. : 75) follow !l12-~ear c~cle, ·the L!\hu I $ftJdie4