Avoid

Quote

During the cutting, the women must be careful not to grasp along with the stalk a creeper (simpokabe, simpokawi), so many of which grow on the field. They must also not cut off a blade of grass with their knives in sport. They must not touch any tree trunks, stumps, and other things in the field, unless this happens unintentionally; in that case she has done this “like a child, and children are the playmates of monkeys” (joenoe noe boti). If by bad luck she has broken a branch by stepping on it, then she puts this in her little basket at her side and does not throw it away until she goes home in the evening. If she has stepped on a tree trunk, then she takes a sliver of it. The women must also not prick themselves on the sharp stubble. If, for example, she wants to pick a cucumber in order to eat it, she must press with her foot on the little stem of the fruit so that the latter comes off; for if she did this with her hands, then she would touch the leaves of the plant, and she may not do this. Cucumbers must be taken from that part of the field which has not yet been harvested, the so-called tomparae.

• Source: Adriani, Nicolaus. The Bare’e-speaking Toradja of central Celebes (the East Toradja): third volume. Amsterdam: Noord-Hollandsche Uitgevers Maatschappij, 1951.
• Culture: Eastern Toraja
• Location: Asia