ABSTRACT
Although a girl expects her boy to remain constant to her, there are various ways in which an over-rigid fidelity is qualified. During the seven days of Sohrae, boys sometimes exchange their village girls by mutual consent. They must not do it too openly or in the face of their permanent lovers. If a girl gains another boy and her own lover fails to get a girl, she does not brag about it to him. The first spectacle that sometimes leads to extra-village romances is the pata or hook-swinging. This festival which is Hindu in origin occurs only in certain villages and takes place either in mid-April or when a Santal bhogta or devotee discovers a new ‘Mahadev’ stone. When the swinging is done as a festival, crowds from all the neighbouring villages come in.
