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

LAHU NYI (RED LAHU) RITES FOR El)TABLISIDNG A NEW VILLAGE 185
6. You who are all-knowing, all-seeing, if you have kept your property here, please
take it and move away. ·
7. Oh, this evening, if I . dream.that . this will be~ troubled place, I do noi want [this
site].
8. If you give me this place, grant that it may not be a troubled place; let there be
no misfortune to the children or to the grandchildren.
9. Oh [grant to us] good blessings, health and prosperity, sound sleep and comfortable
sitting; let there be no trouble if I build my house here; if you have kept
your property here, please take it back.
10. Oh, oh, this evening, if I have troubled.dreams, Ido not want [this site]; if there
is to be health and prosperity, let me see nothing in my dreains.
As is· clear from the text (verses 3, 7, 10), the household head's dreams during
the night following this rite are crucial. If he has no dream, thi~ is considered the
most favourable omen that the site will be propitious (verse 10). But should he dream
of soil, a hole in 'the ground or a lot of red colour, it is a bad omen, as is a dream of
losing a figQ.t or digging up a brush-tailed porcupine (Atherurus macrourus; Lahu, fa~
peh-). These dreams suggest future ill health and misfortune and are taken to indicate
the locality spirit's displeasure at the proposed use of its site. If he has such a
dream, the household head will likely abandon this spot and search for another location.
The symbolism of most of the dream omens is fairly obvious. The soil and hole in the
ground suggest a grave, hence a death in the family.
Red suggests blood, and so
violent death. Losing a fight is obviously a sign of misfortune; but it is not clear to me
why a vision of digging up a brush-tailed porcupine is considered inauspicious,
especially as this animal is a favourite Lahu delicacy.ss · Perhaps its burrow also
suggests a grave; but my informants simply said that it portended sickness in the family.
To make quite sure that the supernatural world favours the house site, the
household head performs another rite. on the day when building is to begin.
Digging a
58. Two varieties of por()upine were choice meats among "tliese Lahu Nyi, viz. fa" pu na", the Old
World Porc~pi~e (IJystrix brachyurus) and fa" peh~ the Brush-taile4 Porcupine (Atherurus
macro~rus).