[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]

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Tl-IE “MAKING or MAN " 641
dead, but they seem nevertheless to bear something of the same
relationship to the clan neerew as the “ Making of Man “ ceremony
(the Nagho Tilabwe) bears to the clan nogha in Mewun, and they
will therefore be considered here. '
THE Neerew Rahulemqk
The Neerew Rahulemp is a festival which takes place once
every year during the yam harvest on the same day throughout
the whole of Seniang, the pivot of the ceremony being the village
of Rahulemp. The actual day on which it is performed is
determined by the ï¬Årst appearance of the new moon in the
month of Nemll Neereu/. The centres of astronomical knowledge
in Seniang are Rahulemp, Mbwilmbar, and Nemep, of which
the most important is Rahulen-lp, which has in its nembrmbrkan
the " Star stone " and “ Moon stone â€ù. It is the duty of the
clan magicians of Rahulemp and Mbwilmbar to‘ keep a tally
by means of notches on a tree in the sacred place of each oi these
two villages of the days of the new and full moons and of the
months. When the rising of the new moon of the month Nemil
Neerew becoma shortly due these clan magicians calculate the
exact day on the evening of which the new moon will appear.
They then convey this information to the district at large by means
of the gong-language, the message being beaten out on the gongs
of Rahulemp and Mbwilmbar} This day of the new moon is
called Naai Neeraw.
On the day preceding the Nani Neerew the new yams are
brought into the villages in preparation for their distribution
on the following day. Before this no yams may be taken from
the gardens and this tabu applies also to all foodstuffs planted
in new gardens‘ Were anyone to violate this prohibition he
would inevitably die,“ and all members of the community would
be very angry with him. In the early morning of the N aai'Neerew,
while it is still dark, the Neerew Rahulemp rites begin by one
man in every village getting up and going to beat the gangs.
He beats the rhythm of the highest Nimangki grade made by
every dead villager who is remembered. The men of high rank
are inevitably remembered longer than others, and the gongbeat
‘These two villages are some distance apart and are oi diflerent
clans. (Map III.)
“ The sanction is a ritual one ; the people do not kill him for this oï¬Åence ;
he dies as a result oi it.—A, B. D.
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