gennas for name-giving, ear-piercing, and hair-cutting are also as a rule household gennas, though McCulloch states that "in February (of each year) there is a festival of three days continuance in which the ears of the children born after the last festival of this nature are pierced. This festival loses its interest for those who have frequently participated in it, and is looked forward to chiefly by those for whom it is new."[1] I am not sure from this whether or not the festival is looked forward to by the babies, but my reason for quoting the passage is to show that it may mean that this was a village genna like the other festivals which he was describing, not, as I found it elsewhere, a household genna. I find that at Maolong, a Kabul village, there is a village genna for unmarried boys and girls held annually (which may be a rite of initiation, and, if so, demands further investigation), and one for cutting the children's hair. As an example of the variety in local custom, I may say that my notebook shows that at almost the next village the child's hair is cut during the birth genna, and that the ear-piercing takes place during November or December at the mangla tha, the genna when the annual ceremony on behalf of the dead is performed. But there is no departure from the rule that the birth genua proper extends to the parents only, and is purely a household affair. The marriage gennas are similarly private matters, but the clans of the contracting parties take part in the rites. The smallest social unit that takes part in a death genna is the clan, while there are occasions on which the participation of the whole village is obligatory on account of the manner of the death of the departed tribesman.
There are some odd items of information about children which may perhaps be mentioned. There seems to be a general agreement that twins, boy and girl, forebode bad luck. Some say that twin boys bring good luck to the
- ↑ Op. Cit., p. 53.
