The farmer then takes the
Rice-soul and its basket and deposits it, together with the product
of the last sheaf, in the big circular rice-bin used by the Malays.
Some grains from the Rice-soul are mixed with the seed which is to
be sown in the following year. In this Rice-mother and Rice-child of
the Malay Peninsula we may see the counterpart and in a sense the
prototype of the Demeter and Persephone of ancient Greece.
Once more, the European custom of representing the corn-spirit in
the double form of bride and bridegroom has its parallel in a
ceremony observed at the rice-harvest in Java. Before the reapers
begin to cut the rice, the priest or sorcerer picks out a number of
ears of rice, which are tied together, smeared with ointment, and
adorned with flowers. Thus decked out, the ears are called the
_padi-peengant?n,_ that is, the Rice-bride and the Rice-bridegroom;
their wedding feast is celebrated, and the cutting of the rice
begins immediately afterwards. Later on, when the rice is being got
in, a bridal chamber is partitioned off in the barn, and furnished
with a new mat, a lamp, and all kinds of toilet articles.
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