97 potion from leaves, etc. which was effective in causing the evil spirit to leave. Today, a Christian believer will
pray that the power of God will be effective in removing an evil spirit from a person. The person working with us in language analysis in the early days, told us one morning that he was
awakened by knocking on the door of his house. Others in the immediate neighborhood had also heard the knocking sound. Their conclusion was that it was not coming from a human source but from a tugarato. The
young man was active in the church at that time and relatively well educated. A friend and Catholic priest, who was responsible for Catholics of the Rotokas area, told us once of an
incident referred to in Tok Pisin as sutim diwai spear the tree. A tree limb had fallen on a young Catholic boy in Nupatoro. The villagers of all three church denominations, led by the village councilor, gathered at the base
of the tree. They commenced to cut the tree down and then speared it repeatedly in order to “kill the evil spirit” that was resident there. This spirit was blamed for the accident. Afterwards the spears were removed and put in
a hole in order to “repay the female spirit.” A similar incident had also occurred in Togarao the year before, when a man fell from the branches of a tall sago palm.
In contrast to the evil spirits are the clan spirits cultural heroes already named in chapter 6. To briefly review: Pauto is the supreme, benevolent clan spirit. He protects the clan, is eternal, and has been likened to
the God of Christianity. Another name for Pauto is Urotuto, the guardian spirit of the clan. This spirit being is the source of power for the avatapato, as will be seen in the next section.
It should also be noted that in the services and literature of all three church denominations, Pauto has been identified in the Scripture and teaching as the God of Christianity. The indigenous concepts of what the
Rotokas clan guardian spirit is like seem to fit very well the character of God as found in Scripture. After having described the individual spirit beings, let me again point out that at this time there is less than
a carefully defined concept of who or what each being is. This is illustrated by the following account. A young man told us of a spirit tugarato? outside of his house and near the houses of three other men who were
affected by its presence, as well. It banged on the outside wall and called to them. It appeared as a small snake with brown hair described as “similar to your wife’s.” The being hid under the mat in the house of R., who was
able to get some of its hair. We were told that it was actually the ghost of one of the men’s father uraurato?. It was a “good spirit”pauto? and would go away when told to do so. Its name? Iso
8.3.2 Powers of spirit beings
As mentioned above, Pauto is one of the main sources of spiritual power. The tradition is that in the very beginning, Pauto appeared in the form of a human. He told the people that if they would call out to him from
the men’s house avata kepa, he would help them in their endeavors. All that was done from this power source was good and beneficial to their existence. Villagers from other places did not know of the power in the avata,
so they always had to purchase the spiritual assistance they required.
After this initial contact, this power was somehow discontinued. Later in the history of these people, supernatural power was found in stones, caves, and streams. The particular source of power for the area at the
head of the Wakunai valley was the Aukueto cliff pictured in section 5.4. A significant story about this cliff and the power of the spirit located there is told. Rotokas men tried to go
down the face of the Aukueto cliff in order to get some white flowers source of the power? growing well out of reach. They sacrificed a pig, hoping that that would enable them to gain the flowers. A man, full of sores
and despised by the rest, sat to one side to watch their futile efforts. Finally, the pig meat was all consumed and no one had yet reached the prize. At this point, the man full of sores said that he would give it a try. Down the
rattan vine he went and was successful on the first try. This story is always linked to the power source associated with the Aukueto cliff called the Avatapato.
The Avatapato was not always a benevolent power. It was blamed for causing fights in the past as a way of punishing the people. The following illustrates this point.
After a fight, the two “big men,” or turarotoarei, would walk among their dead and count their respective warriors. They would observe that “The Avatapato brought us together to fight because of our own evil ways.”
They would recognize that it was the same power source for both sides and that, in fact, it was inconsistently manifested, since the result was that of punishment for both sides alike.
The next phase in the evolution of spiritual power involves the mission teaching. The power of God to bless the people with good crops, good health, protection, etc. is taught by the three church denominations. It is
recognized by some and only paid lip service by others. The next chapter will focus on some of the manifestations of God’s unusual power during the spiritual renewal of the early 1980s.
98 To encourage the benevolent acts of Pauto, the firstfruits of the gardens were brought to the avata kepa for
him to bless virako. The food was divided up and put on leaf plates tauo. After it was “blessed,” the leading men would eat it together with pig meat and other meats brought to the “party.” This procedure would assure a
good harvest from the gardens. All of the men worked together preparing this feast viraako koruou. Another type of feast, at which a blessing from Pauto was obtained, was made before a village went into a
fight. The feast might have been prompted by a man hearing a special “noise” in a dream, which was interpreted to be the warning of an impending fight. The resulting feast was also known as a “sacrifice”
koruou. The power of evil spirits is often associated with sorcery. It is discussed in the following section under
Black Magic.
