I’ve been living in the
village for two weeks now,
and with the fields cleared
and ready for planting,
the villagers are preparing
for the Aran Festival.
My brother Lulu is off to the forest
to set traps
to work on his off to an Adi favorite.
Rat.
The rat rodents are abundant
in the dense forest
and they play an important part
in many Adi rituals.
I have to do my bit too,
so the camp takes me to the forest
to give me a lesson in Adi trapping.
Perfect.
So this is like a this is a stake.
That’s just been put in
just to make
a walkway between these two gaps.
So the squirrel,
rather than coming on to
the ground, can just walk along.
But of course, as he does walk along,
hey presto,
he’s a goner.
Yeah.
The Adi’s
snare traps for deer.
So that’s
what happens in a snatcher.
This trap can be enlarged
to catch deer or wild boar.
But few people seem to do it
these days.
The shotgun has arrived in Joisin
and has replaced traditional ways
of bagging the big game.
And this is for what?
This part of deer.
For deer for deer and tiger.
Tiger.
Tomorrow
I’ll be joining my guy
Tadjia
my brother Lulu, and some of his friends
on a two day hunting trip
to get meat for the Aran Festival.
But before we go hunting,
we must get a prediction from the Merry.
The Adi´s believe
that by contacting the spirit world,
the Merry can see into the future.
Yes.
Though it seems hard to believe
that a leaf can tell the future.
I find myself being drawn
into the Merry´s world.
Is that what you said,
No, the other hunters
are all taking guns,
but I’ve opted for a traditional bow
with poison tipped arrows.
So this is it.
We’re off now as the whole gang of us.
This is our big hunt before the festival.
And my prediction
is I’m not going to get anything.
So I want to prove the Merry role.
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