The ceremony of cutting and bringing home the
Soul of the Rice was witnessed by Mr. W. W. Skeat at Chodoi in
Selangor on the twenty-eighth of January 1897. The particular bunch
or sheaf which was to serve as the Mother of the Rice-soul had
previously been sought and identified by means of the markings or
shape of the ears. From this sheaf an aged sorceress, with much
solemnity, cut a little bundle of seven ears, anointed them with
oil, tied them round with parti-coloured thread, fumigated them with
incense, and having wrapt them in a white cloth deposited them in a
little oval-shaped basket. These seven ears were the infant Soul of
the Rice and the little basket was its cradle. It was carried home
to the farmer's house by another woman, who held up an umbrella to
screen the tender infant from the hot rays of the sun. Arrived at
the house the Rice-child was welcomed by the women of the family,
and laid, cradle and all, on a new sleepingmat with pillows at the
head. After that the farmer's wife was instructed to observe certain
rules of taboo for three days, the rules being in many respects
identical with those which have to be observed for three days after
the birth of a real child.
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