This last festival of the year falls around Christmas, near the end of October. It was to worship our ancestors at the village temple. That day a fabulous banquet was prepared and many hogs were butchered, some boiled and some roasted, as a whole. After the food was offered to our ancestors, the pork was cut up, into bite-sized pieces. Part of the pork was saved for dinner, part was to be distributed to all make members of the clan in the village. Each male got one share; 60 and older got double shares. At dinner, all males aged 18 and up could attend. Those 60 and above received double servings.
In the village, an 18 year old boy was promoted to be a man, and a 60 year old man was promoted to be an elder. All the elderly in the village formed an unofficial council. That council was supposed to influence or determine the village affairs. If any youngster misbehaved, he would be punished by one of the elders or the council, with scolding or whipping. I never saw it done, but the simple presence of those old guys certainly exerted great influence on morality and stability in the village. In the country, we needed no police, no soldier, no law book, no birth certificate, no death certificate, no contract, no deed. That was the way it was. for thousands of years, social order had been peacefully maintained by such tradition.
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