ABSTRACT
THERE is no exact moment at which a moran settles down. Sometime after the initiation of a new age-set and after he has started to behave in a more reserved manner acceptable to the other elders, he joins them – perhaps even at their suggestion – in their gossiping and discussions. As his moran adornments are begged from him or become tattered with age, he does not acquire new ones. Unobtrusively, he assumes the attire of an elder: at first he shaves off his long hair and replaces his ivory ear-rings with brass ones; and then he gets himself a larger cloth which can be worn over the right shoulder and reaches down to below his knees; at this point he may also begin to carry a longer heavier staff and stop decorating his head with red ochre, except on infrequent ceremonial occasions. He would not, however, carry a fly-whisk made of some animal's tail until his age- set are on the verge of becoming firestick elders. At no point does he assert himself in any of these ways, as this would show an essential lack of respect which he, as an elder, would be expected to have.
