ABSTRACT
Grown-up girls of the village do not partake of the offerings on the ground that, should any children be born as the result of the service they, the children, will be claimed by outsiders. This means that, as the girls are likely to marry men of another village (though, maybe, a village belonging to the same town), they should not associate too closely with the " Qmumu " of their native village. Young married women, brought as brides from other places, and all men (strangers forbidden), may partake of the feast. Each woman interested in the " Omumu " ceremonies provides a cock. The birds are killed~ and the blood sprinkled, the priest, as he does this, invoking the blessing ofthe village ancestors, as many being called upon by name as can be remembered. The women then prepare the feast. During the course of it, the priest places the legs and heads of the fowls on the " Qmumu " and, again, calls upon the ancestors. Small children are then invited to take these sacrificial gifts and consume them. A husband partaking in the ceremony will call upon his own immediate ancestors by name.
