81 Medicine to heal grille is available, although quite expensive, and the disease may recur. A neighbor boy
took the course of medicine only to stop before its completion. In a short time, the grille had returned. An older girl took the course and was diligent to keep it under control. Eventually, it was cleared from her skin.
The care of the mentally ill has been observed, but not closely nor to any extent. There are at least two kinds of insanity: one brought on by supernatural evil power called tutue the bush spirit associated with Mt.
Balbi and one which covers the range from drunkenness, to foolishness, to being crazy. The term covering this range of behavior is kokoro. A crazy man is a kokoropato.
In one instance, a young husband with either mental problems or spirit-related problems was patiently cared for by his wife. A clansman took it upon himself to spend time with the young man and to pray for his
healing. This observation was over a two-week period only. In another village, an older woman with mental problems was living in the jungle. She had been asked to
come into the village and to stay with her husband. She refused to do so, although she did leave her garden area and came in from time to time with food for her husband.
An older acquaintance was plagued with spells of either insanity or spirit possession. He would “terrorize” the Asitavi Mission station by climbing into the bell tower to ring the bells in the early morning hours. One
morning, around 3 a.m., he rang the breakfast bell. He had prepared rice for the High School girls living in dorms nearby.
This man was considered “safe.” However, the children in the village would purposely aggravate him, causing him to chase them with a spear or with bow and arrows. At times, he was quite certain that the
American Armed Forces would hear his “short-wave radio broadcasts” and come to his aid. The unfortunate fate of this old man was to die alone deep in the jungle. He had disappeared for some time
when his bones were discovered by pig hunters. An identification was located nearby. Although people were concerned about his behavior, it appeared that no one was obliged to be responsible for his wellbeing during
the final weeks of his life.
7.2.3 Attitudes towards marital relationships and adultery
Before the missions’ and Scriptural definitions of “sin” were taught, there were several acts which were definitely considered wrong. Adultery seems to have been near the top of the list in text materials collected. An
example of this has already been given in the section on the Upe. A girl found pregnant by an Upe initiate was speared through the abdomen. The young man would have been punished, too, had he been caught.
In general, this taboo was observed, and parents depended upon them to keep their young people from immoral sex acts. David A. cried when his son completed his initiation and an elder removed his Upe hat,
because he knew that when his son was free of the binding taboos of initiation, he was more vulnerable to temptations of the “outside” ratau.
At this time, having been exposed to the teachings of the missions and the Scriptures as well, there are definite attitudes against immorality and unfaithful spouses. A rather unique form of punishing one fickle man
was thought of by the several women he claimed as his wives, each in turn. The story is that these women joined forces to get even with the man. They decided to kill him by repeatedly laying with him until he would
die in a state of complete exhaustion. Whether or not the punishment was successful was not included in the story.
Although children have been seen playing with each other’s genitals, for young people prior to marriage, it is considered strictly taboo to do the same.
7.2.4 Attitude towards propriety—obscenities
Our good friend and language teacher showed embarrassment when naming certain body parts, such as the excretory and genital organs. While explaining the words and meanings, he refrained from speaking aloud, but
instead spelled them to me in a hushed voice. My wife was in his presence at the time, but was not in on the conversation, nor would she have recognized any of these new terms at that time.
Later on, while still learning the language, I made a rather obvious error of saying “foreskin” goagoa instead of “boiling water” goagoara as had been my intention. The men with me thought it very funny, but
did show some embarrassment during the mercifully brief discussion which followed. The following phrases are considered obscene and young people, especially, are reprimanded if caught
using one of them:
82 takaapaaria “filth on the penis”
takaa “filth on the anus” This is especially taboo for young people of the opposite sex to use, since it is considered an invitation to have intercourse.
voakou “to discharge feces” viviko “to urinate” Probably the most common form of obscene talk.
vao-ia vii reroaro “here under you” This refers to the genitals of either sex and is an invitation to have intercourse.
aako roiri “You have intercourse with your mother.” kaakau roiri “You have intercourse with a dog.”
Swear words from English are heard, but sometimes they are grossly misunderstood. Two men G. and R. were in a heated argument over some land. One G. had accused the other R. of trespassing on his property.
In response he was called a “bastard.” This brought with it the possibility of being fined. David A., who overheard the argument, said to the men, “If you are going to swear at each other, then at
least use Rotokas words so that you know what you are meaning.” He was, in fact, speaking for himself, too. As it turned out, he was also uncertain of the meaning.
I questioned him about the phrase that was used, “Bastard shit.” The pronunciation in Rotokas was more like, “mastat seet.” This man explained what he thought it meant in this way. When someone uses the phrase
“mastat seet,” he is wishing that much trouble will develop for you just as a “mastat seet” mustard seed grows from a small beginning into a very large tree as attested to in the parable of the Scriptures. When I
explained about the offspring of an adulterous relationship and about manure, we both had a good laugh
Although the children are, for the most part, corrected when they use obscene language, there is not always a good example set for them by the adults. One pastor even seemed to enjoy telling a very off-color
joke. The lack of consistency between verbal standards of conduct and the adherence to these standards of conduct in real life seems to be not much different, no matter where you live.
Not many obscene gestures were observed. The most common is to turn one’s backside towards the disliked person and move it towards him or her. A description of this is Sikiive rerare. “They would act in an
obscene manner towards him.”
7.2.5 Attitude towards anger
