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It was up in the mountains |
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We had this ceremony every year |
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We had it and everyone from miles around came in for it |
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Cousins, aunts, uncles, and the kids |
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Grandmothers, grandfathers everyone |
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And we set it up around this big natural pool |
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With pine trees and palm trees |
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All the trees were there |
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And we had thousands of those big urns |
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You know the kind |
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And everyone would dance and sing |
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And it lasted for three days |
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Everyone cooked and looked forward to it all the year |
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Well, one year, we were in the middle of it |
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And I was just a boy at the time |
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Anyway, it was evening, and suddenly |
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A whole lot of tigers came in |
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I don't know where they came from |
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They rushed in, snarling |
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And knocked over all the urns |
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And it was really a mess |
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Well, we spent the whole |
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Next year rebuilding everything |
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But in the middle of the ceremony |
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The next time the same thing happened |
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These tigers rushed in again and broke everything |
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And then went back into the mountains |
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This must have gone on four or five years |
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This way rebuilding and then the tigers would come |
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And break everything, we were getting used to it |
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Finally we had a meeting and decided |
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To make these tigers part of the ceremony |
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You know to expect them |
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We began to put food in the urns |
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So the tigers would have something to eat |
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Not much at first crackers, things like that |
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Then later we put more food until finally |
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We were saving our food all year for the tigers |
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Then one year, the tigers didn't come |
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They never came back |