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The legend of the arrival of Ka Taben with her children in the Synteng country from a distant clime is interesting in that it perhaps indicates the possibility of the migration of these people, i.e. the Syntengs, in ancient times from some distant place to their present abode. Ancestor-worship.
Syntengs regard it as an honour to have had small-pox, calling the marks left by the disease the "kiss of the goddess"; the more violent the attack and the deeper the marks, the more highly honoured is the person affected. Mr.
Dancing forms the principal part of all the Khasi festivities, and is an important adjunct of some of their religious ceremonies. One of the greatest festivals in the Khasi Hills is the Nongkrem dance; it may be said to be as important an event to the Khasis as the Beh dieng-khlam festivities are to the Syntengs.
A family without daughters dies out, which among the Khasis is the greatest calamity, as there is no one qualified to bury the dead and perform the religious rites. Thus both the Khasis and the Syntengs have a plan of adoption. The male members of any family, if left without females, are allowed to call in a young girl from another family to perform the family religious ceremonies.
Amongst the Syntengs, occasionally, a widow is allowed to keep her husband's bones after his death, on condition that she does not remarry; the idea being that as long as the bones remain in the widow's keeping, the spirit of her husband is still with her.
The haversack of the men is of cloth in the high plateau and in the Bhoi country, but it is of knitted fibre in the Wár country. The Syntengs have a cloth bag, which they call ka muna. The Wár men dress very much the same as the neighbouring Sylheti Hindus. The Wár women, especially the Shella women, wear very pretty yellow and red checked and striped cloths.
The Syntengs also believe he is a kind of serpent, and there are some families and clans who keep him and worship him like a god. They sacrifice to him a pig only; they do not propitiate him with human blood as the Khasis do. Shaphang U Thlen.
When poisons are used, however, some fish are not affected by them, and others are only stupefied for the time being and afterwards recover. Food. They are fond of all kinds of meat, especially pork and beef, although some of the Syntengs, owing to Hindu influence, abstain from eating the latter. Unlike the neighbouring Naga, Garo and Kuki tribes, the Khasis abstain from the flesh of the dog.
He is not permitted to sleep, to eat, or smoke during his visit the idea being that as none of his earnings go to support the home, he must not partake of food or any refreshment. Here is a curious instance of etiquette preserving these clandestine visits long after the time when such secrecy was necessary. We may note another survival among the Syntengs.
In the Khasi Hills the god of small-pox is known under the name of u Siem ñiang thylliew. He is not, however, appeased in any way, the people calling on two other spirits, Thynrei and Sapa, to whom a fowl or a goat is offered. This section cannot be closed without some reference to the household gods of the Syntengs. The name of the woman was Ka Taben, and she was accompanied by her children.
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