Lang Maar

Lang maar

Along with the advantages of pennisetum millet -- the ecological complementarity with sorghum and the flexibility of being marketable, edible, "drinkable," and exchangeable for communal labor -- come a set of exacting and time-dependent labord demands. It is a bulky crop that is removed in the middle of the rainy season. It must be removed from the fields, dried, and protected from the rains. The lang maar operation, which is the key to this, requires several tasks be accomplished within a narrow timeframe.

Grasses are gathered for ropes and thatching, and ropes are braided to tie bundles of seed heads while thatch mats are woven. Note the masquerade character, waiting to pretend to whip anyone not hard at work, and the gathering rain clouds.
The bundles are heaved up to workers atop the small circular millet house (lu maar) to be arranged in a high conical pile. When the pile is complete, the thatching is secured around it and a small fire is started on the dirt floor of the millet house to begin drying the crop.

	Grasses are gathered for ropes and thatching, and ropes are braided to tie bundles of seed heads while thatch mats are woven. Note the masquerade character, waiting to pretend to whip anyone not hard at work, and the gathering rain clouds.
	The bundles are heaved up to workers atop the small circular millet house (lu maar) to be arranged in a high conical pile. When the pile is complete, the thatching is secured around it and a small fire is started on the dirt floor of the millet house to begin drying the crop.