Collection of bones
Early next morning a party of villagers who had assembled at the funeral
house left for the cemetery. The party was met at the cremation site by
seven monks invited to officiate. The funeral pyre was found to be still
smouldering after three days. Water was sprinkled on it by a brother of
the deceased's wife, an ex-abbot, in order to put out the live coals. Then
the collection of the bones began. A monk initiated this activity by first
picking up a bone and putting it in a pot. Then all the others followed.
While collecting the bones, they raked the ashes in order to find the
coin that had been placed in the corpse's mouth. (`This coin, after the
burning of the corpse, is used to counter phii (spirits). Before using it
for this purpose certain magical spells have to be recited (sek-katha).' It is
used as a medallion.)
The bones were all collected in the pot, in the bottom of which a hole
had been bored by the ex-abbot. Then the young people present (luug-laan
of the deceased) washed the bones by pouring scented water into the pot.
(This ritual act is described as the laan asking the forgiveness of grandparents
(laan somma pu, somma ya), and is reserved for the luug-laan.)
Two male elders (one being the ex-abbot) then thoroughly washed the
bones. After this, `siblings' of the deceased made a human figure from
the ashes. They first made it with the head pointing to the west, then
reversed it. (The west is the direction of death; when the `body' is
pointed to the east it means rebirth and the emergence of a living human
being.) While this was taking place a classificatory brother of the deceased
dug among the ashes to uproot the ends of the two posts of the funeral pyre
construction. (`If the remains of the posts in the ground are not pulled out,
the
winjan of the dead will hover around near the place of cremation.')
The deceased's son then covered the mouth of the pot with a piece of
white cloth, and secured it with a thread, one end of which, about two feet
long, was left dangling. A lighted candle was placed on the rim of the
pot's mouth and the pot placed on the chest of the figure made with the
ashes. `The candle lights the way. The pot is placed on the chest because
the heart is there.')
The monks then approached the figure, stood near its head, and chanted
three different suad. During one of them, the deceased's classificatory
brother poured water on the ground to transfer merit to the deceased
(yaadnam). The monks also chanted suad acirang. (According to the
abbot this chant refers to the impermanence of human life, which is
compared to firewood which decays with time.) During this chant the
monks held the thread attached to the pot (see Plate 1b).
Then a son of the deceased made a hole in the cloth covering the
mouth of the pot with a knife (`to let the winjan escape'). A hole was dug
in the ashes, the pot was put in it by another son of the deceased and covered
with ashes while his brother held the thread. All the males present then
collected branches from the surrounding forest and used them to cover
the place where the pot was buried.[6]
This concluded the bone-collection ceremony. In this second phase of
the mortuary rites the winjan has been purified and despatched to heaven
and subsequent rebirth.
