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GENNA

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 596 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GENNA , a word of obscure origin borrowed from the See also:

Assamese, and used technically by anthropologists to describe a class of social and religious ordinances based on sanctions which derive their validity from a vague sense of mysterious danger which results from disobedience to them. These prohibitions—or See also:system of things forbidden—affect the relations, permanent and temporary, of individuals (either as members of a tribe, See also:village, See also:clan or See also:household, dr as occupying an See also:official position in the village or clan) towards other persons or See also:groups of persons and towards material See also:objects which possess See also:intrinsic sanctity. The See also:term is extended to the communal See also:rites performed by the village, clan or household, either as magical ceremonies or as prophylactics on See also:special occasions when the social, commensal, conjugal and alimentary relations of the See also:group affected are subjected to temporary modifications. These practices and beliefs are observed among the See also:hill tribes of See also:Assam from the Abors and Mishmis on the See also:north to the Lusheis on the See also:south, all linguistically members ' See Gerald See also:Campbell, See also:Edward and Pamela See also:Fitzgerald (1905).of the Tibeto-Burman group, and among the Khasis, members of the Mon-Khmer group. Genna and See also:taboo (q.v.) are products of an identical level of culture and similar psychological processes, and provide the mechanism of the social and religious systems. Permanent Gennas.—The only universal genna is that which forbids the intermarriage of members of the same clan. In some cases in See also:Manipur animals are genna to the tribe—i.e. they must not be killed or eaten—but tribal differentiation is, in practice, based on dialectical distinctions rather than on tribal gennas. The village as such possesses no permanent gennas, but the clans, as the See also:units of See also:marriage under the See also:law of See also:exogamy, have distinct elementary gennas, especially the clan to which the See also:priest-See also:chief belongs. The most important individual gennas are those which protect the priest-chief from impurity or contact with " sacred " substances such as the flesh of animals used in sacrifices. He may neither eat in a See also:strange See also:house, nor utter words of abuse, nor take an See also:oath in a dispute, except in his representative capacity on behalf of his village. The first-fruits are genna to the village until he eats, thus establishing an opposition between him and his co-villagers. Married and unmarried See also:women are subject to alimentary gennas; thus unmarried girls are forbidden the flesh of any male See also:animal or of any See also:female animal dying gravid.

See also:

Ritual Gennas.—Ritual gennas are held annually to See also:foster the See also:rice crops, all other See also:industries and activities being genna (for-bidden) during the cultivating See also:season, to secure See also:good See also:hunting, to avert sickness, especially epidemics, to take omens, and to See also:lay finally to See also:rest the ghosts of all that have died within the See also:year. The village See also:gates are closed, men and women eat apart, and conjugal relations are suspended. Special village gennas are. held when See also:rain is needed, when a villager See also:dies in any manner out of the See also:ordinary, as women in childbirth, when an animal gives See also:birth to still-See also:born offspring, and when any permanent genna has been violated. Clan gennas are held for all ordinary cases of See also:death. Household gennas are held on the occasions of birth (when the See also:aliment and conduct of the See also:father are specially regulated), naming, See also:ear-piercing, the first See also:hair-cutting, sickness, and, in certain areas, See also:tattooing. Individuals are subjected to temporary gennas as warriors both before and after a See also:head-hunting See also:raid, pregnant women, married persons at the beginning of their married See also:life, the wives of the priest-chief, and those who from ambition or See also:pride of See also:wealth seek to perpetuate their names by erecting a See also:stone See also:monument, an See also:act which confers the right to See also:wear the distinctive clothes of the priest-chief which otherwise are genna to the whole village. Ritual gennas are of varying duration. Some last for a See also:month while others are See also:complete in two days. As religious or magical rites, they prevent danger or establish and restore normal relations with See also:powers which are potentially harmful or require placation.

End of Article: GENNA

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