Swemye – House Opening

Two recordings in which Swemye Sangwal speaks about new house construction according to the old customs. These consist of the following sound files: SDM28-20100111-01_SM_T_Swemye_HouseOpening.wav SDM28-20100111-02_SM_T_Swemye_HouseOpening_Singpho.wav The details of these recordings are as follows: SDM28-20100111-01_SM_T_Swemye_HouseOpening.wav; Duration 11’48” SDM28-20100111-02_SM_T_Swemye_HouseOpening_Singpho.wav;Duration 4’57” Items in paretheses are added by Kamchat Longri and his wife. Last nights, new house construction, in the old customs, there was a house opening - ntaq tingson sang ‘entering the new house’. In the custom of the times of the grandfathers, in the time of Măhtum Măhta, there was a buffalo sacrifice. A tree stick (bamboo) would be planted and this would be used for augury. (These might be crossed as in the festival ‘altar’ at Phulbari). The buffalo’s legs would be tied, And the augury would be performed with alcohol. The buffalo would be stabbed with a lance (paq in some Tangsa varieties) under ths shoulder. And this would kill it, Then its stomach would be split and and carried up into the new house. Its skin would all be skinned and the meat would be distributed by the dumsa to the whole village for cooking. And then the liver and heart would the first to be prepared for augury. And then he would say to the Nat Gun (mătuet măte² in Lochhang), “Is the augury good? by pouring alcohol and then asking about the future health &c. The dumsa would then call all the family, and tie their wrists with thread – ri git (Lochhang jah khah). The dumsa would get a lăhkwi tree and make thread of it, (rai hi³ rai bin² in Lochhang). This would be used for the thread tying. First the father of the house would have his wrists tied, saying to the nat gun “Let it be right, let it be good, that there be no disease, no illnes, no problem. Let the produce (nai mam) be good, let enough money be received. Let there be no disease (ana roka). Let it be good for all the country and people.” And saying that it is good, “From today it will good,” and thus the augury is done. (A small portion of each part of meat and other dishes will be presented to the Nat Gun)