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Robert W. Williamson - The Mafulu

R >> Robert W. Williamson >> The Mafulu




Twelfth: The next stage is the collection of the village pigs. This
may take some time, as many of them are running about in the bush,
and have to be caught; and some of them have been agisted out as above
mentioned, and have to be fetched. This may involve a delay of a week
or ten days, during which most or all of the guests remain, sleeping
in their guest houses at night, and perhaps roaming about among other
villages in the neighbourhood by day. During this interval there is
neither singing nor dancing.

Thirteenth: The village pigs are all brought in alive, and placed under
the houses of the village, each pig having its legs tied up and being
tied to the house. When all is ready, the chief of the clan announces
that the killing of the pigs will take place on the following morning.

Fourteenth: The next morning all the people, both hosts and guests,
are in the village to watch the pig-killing; and people from other
communities, who are not guests, and will not receive any pig, come
too. The pigs are brought out one by one, and killed by hitting them
on the head with clubs or adzes or anything else. This is not a chiefs
duty. There is a man who is the recognised pig-killer, and who, as
already stated, will probably be a man of some position, though not
either a chief or a sub-chief. Where there are many pigs, as at the
big feast, there will be a number of other men helping him. Each pig is
killed on the site of the burial platform which has been cut down. As
the pigs are killed, their bodies are carried away and placed on the
ground in a row, commencing at the end of the village enclosure, and
forming a central line along it; and it is usual also to place upon the
row of dead pigs a continuous line of long thin poles, laid end to end,
which are afterwards kept tied to the _emone_ as a record of the total
length of the line of pigs, and thus of the number of pigs killed. The
number of pigs killed is generally very large in proportion to the
size of the community giving the feast, much more so than is the case
in the villages of Mekeo and the coast. It may be anything from fifty
to over one hundred; in fact at a recent feast given by a community
of seven villages, having between them about a hundred houses, they
killed 135 pigs. Some chiefs of the hosts' community then take some
of the bones (not skulls) from the big posts, and dip them into the
mouths of the pigs, from which the blood is flowing. They have been
seen to dip one bone into several pigs. There does not appear to be
any method of selection of the bones to be dipped. They then touch
with the bones which have been so dipped the skulls and all the other
bones on the posts, which include the skulls and other special bones
of all the chiefs and members of their families and other prominent
people buried in and by the villages of the community since the last
previous big feast was held there. After this all the bones are again
hung up on the posts. I may say here in advance that, when the feast
is over, all the bones are removed from the posts; and, the ceremony
as regards those bones having been performed, they will never again
be the subject of ceremonial observance. They, or some of them, may
be hung up in the _emone_, but if so it is known that they are not
to be used again for ceremonial purposes; or they may be put in a
box in a tree, or hung up on a tree, not necessarily of the special
species used for burying; or they may be simply flung away anywhere
in the bush. Whilst the bodies of the slain pigs lie in a line, and
before the cutting up, it is the duty of each man who has had a pig
fed up for him to pay the man who has done so, the payment probably
being a string of dogs' teeth, or head feather ornaments. Next, the
hosts set to work to cut up the pigs. This is not done by a chief or
special person, nor is there any ceremony connected with it. Each pig
is cut into seven parts, namely, (1) the head, (2-5) the four legs,
(6) the bowels and internal parts, and (7) the back and sides. I was
told that each part of each pig is destined for a certain person, as
arranged beforehand. It follows that, if there are, say, 100 pigs,
there are 700 predestined pieces, which are known and remembered,
though there are no means of recording them. It is difficult to believe
the truth of this, but I was assured that it was correct. The pieces
of each pig are placed on banana leaves, by the side of the spot where
the body had lain, and all the pieces are distributed among the male
guests. Everybody who has given a pig knows the length of each part
of it, though he could not express it in numerals. Each male guest
has a piece given to him, which, if the feast be a return feast,
will correspond in some way, which I could not understand, with what
he had himself provided at the previous feast. But dancers receive
larger and better portions than do mere singers. People who have fed
up pigs for members of the hosts' community also receive portions. In
the distribution of pig each man is called in turn as before, and in
the same order of priority, and runs up and gets his piece of pig, and
runs back with it; but in this case he is not accompanied by a woman.

Fifteenth: The feast is now over, and all the guests return to their
homes, taking away with them everything that has been given to them.

Sixteenth: The village has, however, to undergo a process which I may
perhaps call purification. As soon as possible after the guests have
gone, the men of the community go off into the bush and capture wild
pigs, for which purpose they may have to hunt for three or four days,
or even for a week or more. They must have at least one pig, and they
generally have two or more, even up to six. When caught, the pigs
are brought alive into the village, and are killed upon the site of
the cut-down burial platform, this being done by the pig-killer. The
pigs are then cut up and eaten by the members of the villages of the
community, those of the village itself eating their portions there,
and those of the other villages taking their portions away and eating
them in their own villages. Except as regards the killing of the pigs
on the site of the grave, the whole performance appears to be quite
informal. After the eating of the pigs, perhaps on the same day,
or if, as is probable, the feast lasts until late in the evening,
then on the next day, the women of the village clear away the filthy
mess of blood and garbage by which the village enclosure is filled,
and sweep the enclosure from end to end with branches of trees. Then
the bulk of the villagers leave the village and go off into the
gardens and the bush for a period of about six months. The feast
has denuded the village of food, including even sweet potatoes,
to which they have had no time to attend during the period before
the feast, and which have been used up in the feeding of the village
pigs required for it. New gardens are needed, and therefore new bush
has to be cut down, and the land must be cleared and planted with
various things, and especially with sweet potato. For this purpose
it is requisite or usual for them to build temporary houses on the
scene of their labours, in which the people live. The old people,
however, remain in the village, as do also some of the younger ones,
who have to tend the gardens close to it. At the end of the period
they all return, and village life goes on as usual. What the idea in
the native mind may be concerning what I have called the purification
of the village is a matter upon which I was unable to find any clue,
beyond what may be suspected from the actual facts of the proceeding;
but I think it probably has a superstitious origin. Although in
theory all the village pigs have been killed and given to the guests
at the big feast, there are always some left wandering in the bush,
which have not been caught. These pigs are, however, never used in the
purification ceremony, in which they always kill wild pigs only. It has
been suggested to me that a reason for this may be that, if they killed
village pigs, they would thereby advertise the fact that they had not
killed and distributed all their village pigs at the big feast; but
this hardly seems to be a satisfactory explanation. It clearly falls
to the ground as regards present intent if, as I was told, there always
is an unkilled residue of village pigs after a big feast. The practice
of killing wild pigs only would seem to associate itself with the fact
that pigs killed at this ceremony are eaten in the village itself,
for there seems to be no doubt that among the Mafulu people village
pigs are never eaten in their own village on ceremonial occasions;
and indeed it seems doubtful whether they are ever eaten there at all.

In fact, it appears to be a general custom in connection with all
ceremonial feasts to which outside guests are invited, to kill village
pigs only at the feast, and for these to be given to the guests to be
eaten by them in their own villages, and afterwards to have a second
feast, to which outside guests are not invited, and at which wild pigs
are killed, and eaten by the villagers themselves within the village.

The pig-killing is generally, and perhaps always, done in the morning.

It is thought by the Mafulu Fathers of the Mission as regards the
subsequent partial desertion of the village that, although it is only
partial, and although there is a practical reason for it, it is based
upon superstition, and is regarded by the people as being a formal
leaving of the village, pending its complete purification.

Plates 67 to 70 are reproductions of four photographs which Father
Clauser was good enough to give me, the two former ones having been
taken at the big feast held in the village of Amalala in the year 1909
and the two latter prior to and at a big feast held in the village
of Seluku.

I have thought it better to avoid the insertion of frequent, and
perhaps somewhat confusing, references to these plates in the body of
my notes upon the feast, and to take the plates separately, drawing
attention to what appear to be points of interest in them.

Plate 67 represents the scene at Amalala immediately prior to or
during the general distribution of vegetables and fruits (_ante_
heading 11). A comparison of this scene with the village in its normal
condition, as shown in Plates 56 and 57, gives some idea of the very
extensive and elaborate preparations which are made for the feast. On
the right hand side are seen some view platforms, and beyond them on
the same side is a normal house. Here and there are the big posts
surrounded with bamboo stems (notice these posts denuded of their
bamboo appendages still remaining in the village enclosure as shown
in Plates 56 and 57). Some of the vegetables are seen still hanging
upon these post clusters, and near the base of two of them are seen
the sheaves of croton leaves. There are apparently no skulls and bones
upon the posts seen in the plate, but possibly the re-hanging of these
had not been attended to when the photo was taken, or perhaps they had
been suspended to other posts not shown in the photograph. Upon the
ground are the heaps of vegetables, and close to some of these are the
stakes round which are twined strings of seeds of the _ine_ Pandanus.

Plate 68 is a photograph taken after the subsequent pig-killing, and
shows the pigs' bodies lying in a row along the centre of the village
enclosure, with the measuring line of poles placed above them. It
will be noticed that the elaborate view platforms have been cleared
away, but that the bamboo stems have not yet been removed from their
central posts.

Plate 69 represents a scene at Seluku prior to a big feast then about
to be held. The view platforms have not yet been erected. But the post
clusters have been erected, and the yams and croton leaves have been
hung upon them. In the centre of the village enclosure is the chief's
grave platform, which will be cut down during the festivities in the
way above described.

The bones of the chief are in the box-like receptacle at the top of
the structure, and the receptacle rather further down (underneath
the other one) contains the bones of a chief's child.

Plate 70 shows five men at the Seluku feast with full dancing
ornaments, including the great feather head ornaments. One of them has
donned a piece of European calico, and the one to the extreme right
appears to have done the same. These would doubtless be regarded as
highly decorative additions. A few long thin dancing ribbons can be
seen hanging from their belts. The elaborate carved (turtle?) shell
ornament hanging over the breast of the man to the left is certainly
not of Mafulu make, and has probably come from the coast. I never
saw anything like it when I was at Mafulu. The two boys in front are
holding the ornament of elaborately prepared strings of feathers hung
upon a stick, and worn by dancers on their backs, and into which the
best feathers are generally put.






CHAPTER IX

Some other Ceremonies and Feasts


Ceremony on Birth.

There is no ceremony on the birth of a child, except in the case of the
first-born of a chief. On this occasion the women of a neighbouring
community are invited. They come in their full dancing ornaments,
and armed in both hands with spears and either clubs or adzes. They
rush into the village, first to the chiefs house and then to his
_emone_; and at each of these they make a warlike demonstration,
actually hurling their spears at the buildings with such force that
the spears sometimes go through the thatch of the roof. Then follows a
distribution of vegetables among the visitors, after which one, two,
or three village pigs are killed under a chiefs burial platform or
on the site of a past one, cut up in the ordinary way, as at the big
feast, given to the visitors and taken away by them, and the ceremony
is over. There is no singing. [72]




Ceremony on Assumption of Perineal Band.

This ceremony is performed for both boys and girls, and usually for
several at one time.

The children are heavily adorned with ornaments, consisting, as
a rule, chiefly of dogs' teeth, which are hung round their necks,
or over their foreheads; and they usually have belts of dogs' teeth
round their waists. Any persons may decorate the children.

Prior to the ceremony a number of box-like receptacles are erected in
the village by the children's relatives, there being one receptacle
for each child for whom the ceremony is to be performed. These
receptacles are made with upright corner poles 8 or 10 feet high,
boxed in with cross-pieces of wood up to a height of 5 or 6 feet. In
these receptacles are put yams and taro, upon their upright poles are
hung bananas and upon their cross-pieces of wood are hung lengths of
sugar-cane; all this being done by the families of the children.

Guests are invited from some other community or communities. There is
a dance, in which only people from outside communities take part. A
village pig must be provided by the family of each child. Each
of these pigs is killed by the pig-killer under a chiefs platform
grave, or, if no such platform then exists, upon the site of one,
and is cut up. Before the cutting-up, however, the child in each
case stands upon the body of the pig, and whilst he so stands he
is dressed with a feather ornament put over his head, but which,
instead of being tied up in the usual way at the back of the head,
is left with the ends hanging down over his shoulders. The putting
on of this ornament is not a chiefs duty, but is done for each child
by a certain person who has bought the pig from that child's family.

Plate 71 shows a little girl upon whom the perineal band ceremony has
just been performed. She has a string of dogs' teeth over her forehead,
and a belt of dogs' teeth round her waist, an enormous crescent-shell
ornament, some long pigtails, and on her head is the feather ornament,
which hangs down at the sides over her shoulders. Plate 72 is a scene
taken at the feast held in connection with the performance of the
ceremony upon her and some other children.

I could not find out who the person who buys the pig and performs the
ceremony would ordinarily be, nor what motive he has for buying and
paying for a pig which is about to be killed and cut up and distributed
amongst other people; and I am convinced that there must be something
further behind the matter, which I have been unable to ascertain. I
may say that, knowing that among the Roro and Mekeo people a brother
or other male relative of the child's mother takes a prominent part
in the perineal band ceremony, being the recipient of the dog or
pig which is killed, and the person who puts the band upon the boy,
I specially enquired as to any similar relationship on the part
of the person who buys the pig and performs the ceremony among the
Mafulu, but I could find no trace of anything of the sort. [73] Nor,
as already stated, could I find any system of service being rendered
by a boy to his maternal uncle, such as exists among the Koita, [74]
nor anything in the nature of the Koita _Heni_ ceremony, described
by Dr. Seligmann. [75]

It will be seen that this purchasing of the pig by a person who takes
a prominent part in the ceremony affecting an individual appears in
other ceremonies of that nature among the Mafulu.

Following this performance there is a general distribution among
the people, including both visitors and members of the village,
of the various vegetables and fruits, and among the visitors only
of the portions of village pig. The vegetables are eaten then and
there, but the visitors take away the pig for eating in their own
villages. The actual putting on by the child of his perineal band is
done afterwards without further ceremony.

The same ceremony is observed in the case of the son or daughter of a
chief, except that in this case the child is more fully decorated, the
family give two or more pigs, there are more visitors, and the whole
ceremony is on a larger scale; also that, after the performance of
standing on the dead pig and receiving the feather ornament, the child
is placed standing on a platform, which may be only 5 or 6 feet high,
but may be as much as 15 feet, though no further ceremony appears to
be performed whilst it is on that platform. If children of ordinary
people undergo the ceremony at the same time as a chief's child,
they apparently stand on the platform also.

When the ceremony is performed at a big feast, it is substantially
the same as that above described, subject to certain variations,
which almost naturally arise from the change of conditions. There is
no special dancing, as distinguished from the dancing programme of
the big feast. The vegetable food provided will be included in the
general stock, so that the people of the village will not share in
it; and the ceremony of standing on the pig is postponed till a later
day, and on that day, the child, having worn his special ornaments,
other than the feather ornament, at the big feast, will not again
wear them when he stands on the pig, though his feather ornament is
put upon him on that later day.

It may be mentioned that this perineal band ceremony and all the
other ceremonies relating personally to both children and adults, if
not performed at a big feast, may be performed together, the people
concerned in each ceremony being taken more or less in batches; and
indeed this generally is so. But in that case each class of ceremony
would be performed separately. One person may have more than one
ceremony performed for him on the same occasion, but if so a separate
pig must be provided in respect of each of these ceremonies, and there
must be a separate receptacle and a separate supply of food in respect
of each of them, though it does not follow that the total amount of
food to be provided, other than pig, is proportionately increased.

At a subsequent date there will be a purification ceremony, at which
a wild pig or pigs will be killed and eaten by the villagers; though,
if the perineal band ceremony has taken place during a big feast,
the purification ceremony in connection with the latter will be the
only one to take place.

There is no system of seclusion of either boys or girls on attaining
puberty, or in connection with initiation, or on attaining a
marriageable age. Nor is there any initiation ceremony, or wearing
of ceremonial masks, or use of bull-roarers. The custom by which
chiefs' children, when assuming the perineal band, are made to stand
on a platform reminds one, however, of the Hood Peninsular custom
for girls to stand on a dubu platform for the initiation ceremony,
as referred to by Dr. Seligmann. [76]






Ceremony on Admission to Emone.

Both boys and girls must undergo a ceremony before being allowed
to enter the _emone_. It generally takes place when they are two,
three, or four years old. The preliminary decoration of the child
is similar to that adopted for the perineal band ceremony, except
that, if the child has lost either of its parents, this decoration is
omitted. The erection of receptacles and provision of food and pigs,
and the invitation of guests and dancing, and the killing of the pigs
are the same as in the case of the other ceremony; also each child
has to stand on the pig which his people provide for him.

There is, however, no putting on of a feather ornament, but instead
of it the following performance takes place:--Each child has been
carried by its mother or father or other relative, but is taken from
that person by the man who has bought the pig. This man places the
child on the dead pig; then he immediately picks the child up again,
and runs with it to one of the _emone_, upon the platform of which two
rows of men are sitting, and hands it to the man at the end of one of
the rows. The child is then rapidly passed from hand to hand along
that row, and then along the other row, after which it is returned
to its carrier, who runs with it to the other _emone_, on which
also two rows of men are sitting, and where a similar performance
takes place. During all this performance there is much shouting and
calling out to the child-carrier to hurry. Finally, when the child
is again handed back to this man, he returns it to its parents,
and the ceremony is finished.

The ceremony in the case of a chief's child seems to be the same as
that for other children, the platform business of the perineal band
ceremony being apparently omitted in this case.

If the ceremony is performed at a big feast, the variations are
substantially similar to those of the perineal band ceremony; and in
particular the placing of the child on the pig, and the running with
it to the _emone_, are postponed to a later date.

The observations as to the subsequent purification in connection with
the perineal band ceremony apply to this ceremony also.

It will be noticed that girls are included in this admission to the
_emone_. When a girl has undergone the admission ceremony she has free
entry into the _emone_--except that she must not sleep there--until
she formally receives her perineal band, upon which her permission
to enter the _emone_ ceases.


Ceremony Conferring Right to Use Drum and Dance.

This ceremony also applies to both boys and girls; but I omitted to
ascertain the age at which it usually occurs. It is similar to the
perineal band ceremony, except that the child is dressed in dance
ornaments (though not the fullest formal dance ornaments), until we
reach the stage of standing on the pig, and putting on of the feather
ornament, which is omitted; and, instead of it, the person who has
bought the pig places the child upon it, and then for a short time
beats a drum, after which he gives the drum to the child, who also
beats it, and then returns it to him.

I cannot say whether in this case there is any variation of the
ceremony as regards a chief's child; but I do not think there is.

Here again I believe that, when the ceremony takes place at a big
feast, the variations are similar to those above described, and in
particular the standing on the pig and drum-beating are postponed.

The observations as to the subsequent purification in connection with
the perineal band ceremony apply to this one also.


Ceremony on Devolution of Chieftainship

When chieftainship devolves on the death of a chief to his successor,
there is no ceremony connected with the devolution. [77]

When a chief resigns in his lifetime, however, there is a
ceremony. There does not appear to be a special dance and feast
connected with this, it being always tacked on to some other ceremony
or group of ceremonies. This particular ceremony does not, in fact,
begin until after the pig-killing. The retiring chief will have
provided one or more pigs for the purpose of his ceremony, and these
will have been killed with the others. He addresses the people and
tells them that he is giving up his office and transferring it to his
successor; but in doing so he says nothing about that successor's title
to succeed, that being always known and recognised. He then sits on
his pig, and hands to his successor a bamboo knife, such as is used
for the cutting up of pigs. The successor, having received the knife,
takes the place of the retiring chief on the pig, and tells the people
that he accepts the office of chief; after which he goes round to all
the pigs which are there in connection with all the various ceremonies
to be gone through, one after another, and in each case makes with
the knife just given to him a small slit at the end of the mouth
of each pig. [78] This act is regarded as a performance by the new
chief of a chiefs office; and, as under present customs the killing
of the pig is commonly done by the pig-killer, and the cutting of it
up is done by anybody, one is tempted to wonder whether the ceremony
points to some chief's duty of the past, which has ceased to exist,
or to some unknown origin of the status of the pig-killer.

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