The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead Part 22

[Sidenote: General summary as to the Yabim.]

On the whole we may say that the Yabim have a very firm and practical belief in a life after death, and that while their att.i.tude to the spirits of the departed is generally one of fear, they nevertheless look to these spirits also for information and help on various occasions.

Thus their beliefs and practices contain at least in germ the elements of a wors.h.i.+p of the dead.

[Footnote 394: Stolz, "Die Umgebung von Kap Konig Wilhelm," in R.

Neuhauss's _Deutsch New-Guinea_ (Berlin, 1911), iii. 243-286.]

[Footnote 395: Stolz, _op. cit._ pp. 252-254.]

[Footnote 396: Stolz, _op. cit._ pp. 245-247.]

[Footnote 397: Stolz, _op. cit._ pp. 247 _sq._]

[Footnote 398: Stolz, _op. cit._ pp. 248-250.]

[Footnote 399: Stolz, _op. cit._ p. 258.]

[Footnote 400: Stolz, _op. cit._ p. 259.]

[Footnote 401: K. Vetter, in _Komm heruber und hilf uns! oder die Arbeit der Neuen-Dettelsauer Mission_, Nos. 1-4 (Barmen, 1898); _id._, in _Nachrichten uber Kaiser Wilhelms-Land_, 1897, pp. 86-102; _id._, in _Mitteilungen der Geographischen Gesellschaft zu Jena_, xi. (Jena, 1892) pp. 102-106; _id._, in _Mitteilungen der Geographischen Gesellschaft zu Jena_, xii. (Jena, 1893) pp. 95-97; H. Zahn, "Die Jabim," in R.

Neuhauss's _Deutsch Neu-Guinea_, iii (Berlin, 1911) pp. 287-394.]

[Footnote 402: K. Vetter, _Komm heruber und hilf uns!_ ii. (Barmen, 1898) pp. 6-12.]

[Footnote 403: K. Vetter, _op. cit._ ii. 8; H. Zahn, "Die Jabim," in R.

Neuhauss's _Deutsch Neu-Guinea_, iii. 291, 308, 311.]

[Footnote 404: H. Zahn, _op. cit._ iii. 291.]

[Footnote 405: K. Vetter, _Komm heruber und hilf uns!_ iii. 21 _sq._ According to Mr. H. Zahn (_op. cit._ p. 324) every village has its own entrance into the spirit-land.]

[Footnote 406: K. Vetter, _Komm heruber und hilf uns!_ iii. 19-24; _id._, in _Mitteilungen der Geographischen Gesellschaft zu Jena_, xii.

(1893) pp. 96 _sq._]

[Footnote 407: K. Vetter, _Komm heruber und hilf uns!_ ii. 7, iii. 24; _id._, in _Nachrichten uber Kaiser Wilhelms-Land und den Bismarck-Archipel_, 1897, p. 94.]

[Footnote 408: K. Vetter, in _Nachrichten uber Kaiser Wilhelms-Land_, 1897, p. 94.]

[Footnote 409: K. Vetter, in _Nachrichten uber Kaiser Wilhelms-Land_, 1897, pp. 94 _sq._; _id._, _Komm heruber und hilf uns!_ iii. 15-19.

Compare H. Zahn, "Die Jabim," in R. Neuhauss's _Deutsch Neu-Guinea_, iii. 320 _sq._]

[Footnote 410: H. Zahn, "Die Jabim," in R. Neuhauss's _Deutsch Neu-Guinea_, iii. 318-320.]

[Footnote 411: K. Vetter, in _Nachrichten uber Kaiser Wilhelms-Land und den Bismarck-Archipel_, 1897, pp. 92 _sq._; _id._, in _Mitteilungen der Geographischen Gesellschaft zu Jena_, xi. (1892) p. 105; _id._, _Komm heruber und hilf uns!_ ii. (1898) p. 18; _id._, cited by M. Krieger, _Neu-Guinea_, pp. 167-170; O. Sch.e.l.long, "Das Barlum (_sic_)-fest der Gegend Finsch-hafens (Kaiserwilhelmsland), ein Beitrag zur Kenntniss der Beschneidung der Melanesier," _Internationales Archiv fur Ethnographie_, ii. (1889) pp. 145-162; H. Zahn, "Die Jabim," in R. Neuhauss's _Deutsch Neu-Guinea_, iii. 296-298.]

[Footnote 412: W. S. Routledge and K. Routledge, _With a Prehistoric People, the Akikuyu of British East Africa_ (London, 1910), pp. 151 _sq._ Compare _Totemism and Exogamy_, iv. 228; C. W. Hobley, "Kikuyu Customs and Beliefs," _Journal of the Royal Anthropological Inst.i.tute_, xl. (1910) pp. 440 _sq._]

[Footnote 413: K. Vetter, in _Nachrichten uber Kaiser Wilhelmsland und den Bismarck-Archipel_, 1897, p. 93.]

[Footnote 414: R. Poch, "Vierter Bericht uber meine Reise nach Neu-Guinea," _Sitzungsberichte der mathematisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Kla.s.se der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften_ (Vienna), cxv.

(1906) Abteilung 1, pp. 901, 902.]

LECTURE XII

THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE NATIVES OF GERMAN NEW GUINEA (_continued_)

[Sidenote: The Bukaua of German New Guinea.]

In the last lecture I described the beliefs and practices concerning the dead as they are to be found among the Yabim of German New Guinea.

To-day we begin with the Bukaua, a kindred and neighbouring tribe, which occupies the coast lands of the northern portion of Huon Gulf from Schollenbruch Point to Samoa Harbour. The language which the Bukaua speak belongs, like the language of the Yabim, to the Melanesian, not to the Papuan family. Their customs and beliefs have been reported by a German missionary, Mr. Stefan Lehner, whose account I follow.[415] In many respects they closely resemble those of their neighbours the Yabim.

[Sidenote: Means of subsistence of the Bukaua. Men's clubhouses.]

The Bukaua are an agricultural people who subsist mainly on the crops of taro which they raise. But they also cultivate many kinds of bananas and vegetables, together with sugar-cane, sago, and tobacco. From time to time they cut down and burn the forest in order to obtain fresh fields for cultivation. The land is not held in common. Each family has its own fields and patches of forest, and would resent the intrusion of others on their hereditary domain. Hunting and fis.h.i.+ng supply them with animal food to eke out the vegetable nourishment which they draw from their fields and plantations.[416] Every village contains one or more of the men's clubhouses which are a common feature in the social life of the tribes on this coast. In these clubhouses the young men are obliged to sleep, and on the platforms in front of them the older men hold their councils. Such a clubhouse is called a _lum_.[417]

[Sidenote: Beliefs of the Bukaua concerning the souls of the dead.

Sickness and disease attributed to ghostly agency.]

The Bukaua have a firm belief in the existence of the human soul after death. They think that a man's soul can even quit his body temporarily in his lifetime during sleep or a swoon, and that in its disembodied state it can appear to people at a distance; but such apparitions are regarded as omens of approaching death, when the soul will depart for good and all. The soul of a dead man is called a _balum_. The spirits of the departed are believed to be generally mischievous and spiteful to the living, but they can be appeased by sacrifice, and other measures can be taken to avert their dangerous influence.[418] They are very touchy, and if they imagine that they are not honoured enough by their kinsfolk, and that the offerings made to them are insufficient, they will avenge the slight by visiting their disrespectful and stingy relatives with sickness and disease. Among the maladies which the natives ascribe to the anger of ghosts are epilepsy, fainting fits, and wasting decline.[419] When a man suffers from a sore which he believes to have been inflicted on him by a ghost, he will take a stone from the fence of the grave and heat it in the fire, saying: "Father, see, thou hast gone, I am left, I must till the land in thy stead and care for my brothers and sisters. Do me good again." Then he dips the hot stone in a puddle on the grave, and holds his sore in the steam which rises from it. His pain is eased thereby and he explains the alleviation which he feels by saying, "The spirit of the dead man has eaten up the wound."[420]

[Sidenote: Sickness and death often ascribed by the Bukaua to sorcery.]

But like most savages the Bukaua attribute many illnesses and many deaths not to the wrath of ghosts but to the malignant arts of sorcerers; and in such cases they usually endeavour by means of divination to ascertain the culprit and to avenge the death of their friend by taking the life of his imaginary murderer.[421] If they fail to exact vengeance, the ghost is believed to be very angry, and they must be on their guard against him. He may meet them anywhere, but is especially apt to dog the footsteps of the sorcerer who killed him.

Hence when on the occasion of a great feast the sorcerer comes to the village of his victim, the surviving relatives of the dead man are at particular pains to protect themselves and their property against the insidious attacks of the prowling ghost. For this purpose they bury a creeper with white blossoms in the path leading to the village; the ghost is thought to be filled with fear at the sight of it and to turn back, leaving his kinsfolk, their dogs, and pigs in peace.[422]

[Sidenote: Fear of the ghosts of the slain.]

Another cla.s.s of ghosts who are much dreaded are the spirits of slain foes. They are believed to pursue their slayers to the village and to blind them so that sooner or later they fall an easy prey to their enemies. Hence when a party of warriors has returned home from a successful attack on a village, in which they have butchered all on whom they could lay their hands, they kindle a great fire, dance wildly about it, and hurl burning brands in the direction of the battlefield in order to keep the ghosts of their slaughtered foes at bay. Phosph.o.r.escent lights seen under the houses throw the inmates into great alarm, for they are thought to be the souls of the slain. Sometimes the vanquished in battle resort to a curious ruse for the purpose of avenging themselves on the victors by means of a ghost. They take the sleeping-mat of one of the slain, roll it up in a bundle along with his loin-cloth, ap.r.o.n, netted bag, or head-rest, and give the bundle to two cripples to carry. Then they steal quietly to the landing-place of their foes, peering warily about lest they should be observed. The bundle represents the dead man, and the cripples who carry it reel to and fro, and finally sink to the ground with their burden. In this way the ghost of the victim, whose things are carried in the bundle, is supposed to make their enemies weak and tottery. Strong young men are not given the bundle to carry, lest the ghost should spoil their manly figures; whereas if he should wound or maim a couple of poor cripples, no great harm is done.[423]

[Sidenote: Ghosts of ancestors appealed to for help, especially in the cultivation of the ground. First-fruits offered to the spirits of the dead.]

However, the Bukaua also look on the ghosts of their ancestors in a more amiable light as beings who, if properly appealed to, can and will help them in the affairs of life, especially by procuring for them good crops. Hence when they are planting their fields, which are formed in clearings of the forest, they take particular care to insert shoots of all their crops in the ground near the tree stumps which remain standing, because the souls of their dead grandfathers and great-grandfathers are believed to be sitting on the stumps watching their descendants at their work. Accordingly in the act of planting they call out the names of these forefathers and pray them to guard the field in order that their living children may have food and not suffer from hunger. And at harvest, when the first-fruits of the taro, bananas, sugar-cane, and so forth have been brought back from the fields, a portion of them is offered in a bowl to the spirits of the forefathers in the house of the landowner, and the spirits are addressed in prayer as follows: "O ye who have guarded our field as we prayed you to do, there is something for you; now and henceforth behold us with favour."

While the family are feasting on the rest of the first-fruits, the householder will surrept.i.tiously stir the offerings in the bowl with his finger, and will then shew the bowl to the others as a proof that the souls of the dead have really partaken of the good things provided for them.[424] A hunter will also pray to his dead father to drive the wild pigs into his net.[425]

[Sidenote: Burial and mourning customs of the Bukaua.]

The Bukaua bury their dead in shallow graves, which are sometimes dug under the houses but more usually in front of or beside them. Along with the corpses are deposited bags of taro, nuts, drinking-vessels, and other articles of daily use. Only the stone axes are too valuable to be thus sacrificed. Over the grave is erected a rude hut in which the widower, if the deceased was a married woman, remains for a time in seclusion. A widow on the death of her husband remains in the house.

Widow and widower may not shew themselves in public until they have prepared their mourning costume. The widower wears a black hat made of bark, cords round his neck, wicker work on his arms and feet, and a torn old bracelet of his wife in a bag on his breast. A widow is completely swathed in nets, one over the other, and she carries about with her the loincloth of her deceased husband. The souls of the dead dwell in a subterranean region called _lamboam_, and their life there seems to resemble life here on earth; but the ideas of the people on the subject are very vague.[426]

[Sidenote: Initiation of young men among the Bukaua. Lads at circ.u.mcision supposed to be swallowed by a monster.]

The customs and beliefs of the Bukaua in regard to the initiation of young men are practically identical with those of their neighbours the Yabim. Indeed the initiatory ceremonies are performed by the tribes jointly, now in the territory of the Bukaua, now in the territory of the Yabim, or in the land of the Kai, a tribe of mountaineers, or again in the neighbouring Tami islands. The intervals between the ceremonies vary from ten to eighteen years.[427] The central feature of the initiatory rites is the circ.u.mcision of the novices. It is given out that the lads are swallowed by a ferocious monster called a _balum_, who, however, is induced by the sacrifice of many pigs to vomit them up again. In spewing them out of his maw he bites or scratches them, and the wound so inflicted is circ.u.mcision. This explanation of the rite is fobbed off on the women, who more or less believe it and weep accordingly when their sons are led away to be committed to the monster's jaws. And when the time for the ceremony is approaching, the fond mothers busy themselves with rearing and fattening young pigs, so that they may be able with them to redeem their loved ones from the belly of the ravenous beast; for he must have a pig for every boy. When a lad bleeds to death from the effect of the operation, he is secretly buried, and his sorrowful mother is told that the monster swallowed him and refused to bring him up again. What really happens is that the youths are shut up for several months in a house specially built for the purpose in the village. During their seclusion they are under the charge of guardians, usually two young men, and must observe strictly a rule of fasting and chast.i.ty.

When they are judged to be ready to undergo the rite, they are led forth and circ.u.mcised in front of the house amid a prodigious uproar made by the swinging of bull-roarers. The noise is supposed to be the voice of the monster who swallows and vomits up the novice at circ.u.mcision. The bull-roarer as well as the monster bears the name of _balum_, and the building in which the novices are lodged before and after the operation is called the monster's house (_balumslum_). After they have been circ.u.mcised the lads remain in the house for several months till their wounds are healed; then, painted and bedizened with all the ornaments that can be collected, they are brought back and restored to their joyful mothers. Women must vacate the village for a long time while the initiatory ceremonies are being performed.[428]

[Sidenote: Novices at circ.u.mcision supposed to be killed and then restored to a new and higher life.]