The pagan tribes of Borneo - Get a Free Blog Here

112 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap.
fully preserved for this purpose in a special basket.
The basket contains grains of padi from good
harvests of many previous years. This is supposed
to have been done from the earliest time ol padi
planting, so that the basket contains some of the
original stock of seed, or at least the virtue of it
leavening the whole. This basket is never emptied,
but a pinch of the old padi is mixed in with the
new, and then a handful of the mixture added to
the old stock. The idea here seems to be that the
old grain, preserving continuity
generation after generation
with the original seed padi of
mythical origin,^ ensures the
presence in the grain of the
soul or spirit or vital principle
Pjg j5 oipadi. While mixing the old
with the new seed grain, the
woman calls on the soul of the padi to cause the seed
to be fruitful and to grow vigorously, and to favour
her own fertility. For the whole festival is a celebra-
tion or cult of the principle of fertility and vitality
—that of the women no less than that of the padir
The women who have been delivered of children
during the past year will make a number of toys,
consisting of plaited work, in the shapes of various
animals filled with boiled rice (Fig. i6). These
they throw to the children of the house, who
scramble for them in the gallery. This seems to
be of the nature of a thank-offering.
At this time also another curious custom is
observed. Four water beetles, of the kind that
skates on the surface of the still water, are caught
on the river and placed on water in a large gong.
Some old man specially wise in this matter watches
1 See Chap. XVII.
- The same connexion of ideas is illustrated by the practice of sterile
women who desire children sleeping upon the freshly gathered ears in the huts
in the fields.