91 into place. Leaves covered with bath powder were placed in the box on top of a cloth spread over the bottom.
Eventually, the child’s body was laid directly on top of the leaves. By morning of the second day, red earth, oovato, had been rubbed over the front of the child’s hair. The
wailing continued in much the same way as with the cousin’s death. Men from Ibu, who were the father’s clansmen, led much of the mourning tunes with the women harmonizing. There was a brief period during
which food was served to the mourners. It had been prepared by the village women, but for the most part, cooked in the child’s parent’s cookhouse. The mourning then continued on again until dawn.
The next morning, Wednesday, many of the mourners left to mourn the death of an old man from Ibu who had died during the night. There was no “quick service” for the child, since the mother was extremely reluctant
to give her body up. She demanded that the body be buried not in the village cemetery, but near the proposed site of their new house. This was against the government officer’s word as told to the parents by the village
councilor.
Arrangement of mourners
Partly because of the concern that the child would never be seen again, the father asked that I photograph her body. Pictures were taken, as he requested, with him holding the body, which by this time was stiff. The
mother sat close by although she did not want to have the pictures taken. I believe the father was prompted to ask for the photographs by having remembered a picture of a relative, which we had given to them. A few
years after the picture was taken, the person died and the picture was valued.
The father had at first wanted to cremate the body. His reason was so that worms wouldn’t spoil it. He was persuaded not to do so, and eventually, the child was buried in the village cemetery. The councilor had
reasoned with them, saying that although the body would be in the cemetery, the child’s ghost uraura would remain with them.
After the burial, as the mother was attempting to sleep, she felt something moving her and believed it was the girl’s ghost trying to gain her attention. The father felt that it is in God’s will to answer prayer for the return
of a child’s ghost. He stated that it would be able to help the parents by such a visit. The father was also quite concerned that his child not die on the same day she had been born. He said
many children around this area do that. No reason was given for the concern. One other instance of a natural death has been cited in the chapter on Marriage. In this case, a man died
near Sisivi. His wife, a healthy woman, died very shortly afterwards [see section 1.3.3].
8.2.3 Disposing of the body
In the past, relatives of a deceased person had two choices for disposing of the body, as already mentioned—cremation or burial. Today, however, burial is the only method in use. There is some concern that
a person’s body be returned for burial close to his or her home village or clan property which may be one and the same. A Togarao woman who had moved to a distant village became very ill. She was carried, near death,
to the medical Aid Post near Togarao rather than to one nearer the village where she was living. The reason given was that she would be much heavier after she died, making it more difficult to bring her body back to
Togarao. She died at the Aid Post and was carried the remaining distance to Togarao about fifteen minutes by trail.
92
Togarao cemetery in 1973
The idea of burial in a wooden box was introduced by the missions. Organized cemeteries were, no doubt, introduced by the government and missions, as well. The cemetery in Togarao village is reportedly located
over a temporary grave site used in World War II. Certainly, the Allied Forces were in this area, according to the account given in the first chapter. A single Japanese grave is located near a trail between Togarao and Ibu.
Some decorations were seen on it when I passed by in 1967.
At one time, when “The Christian Way” [see section 7.4] was very popular, cemeteries were well cared for in mountain villages. The Togarao cemetery was especially well maintained, as the picture taken in 1973
illustrates. A bottle marked one end of the grave, while a wooden head piece marked the other end. The position of the cemetery commands a view over the Wakunai valley and the Pacific ocean—quite a beautiful
place
In the past, burial took a different form. Apparently, it could be carried out in two stages. Immediately after death, the corpse was “encased” in a certain type of tree bark, koturu, and buried near the family’s
residence. After a period of time in this immediate area, two or three relatives were appointed to inspect the corpse to see if it had “hardened” yet. The inspection was termed ivia. If the inspection showed that the body
had sufficiently hardened, then it was exhumed and removed to a permanent burial spot more remote and associated with the clan property.
The burial near the residence was preceded by an effort to contact the deceased’s ghost. More will be said about this in the next section. Briefly, a day or two prior to the burial in the bark casing, the relatives would go
to the jungle to find an opossum. The animal was brought to the place where the person had died and some of its hair burned in the immediate area. As the hair was being burned, they would call out for the ghost of the
deceased. If it would answer positively, then this would satisfy the relatives that all was in order.
Following the “recovery” of the ghost, the mourning period would continue for some time. When it was felt to be sufficient the period of time varied, the spouse and children would wash with a prepared water and
comb their hair. Then a feast, including pig meat, was given to mekim gut daiman ‘make the dead man content’ Tok Pisin.
One account tells of placing the corpse in a bark case as above, but then placing this in the corner of the house. A fire was kept burning in the area probably preserving the corpse by means of the smoke and a food
offering was given from time to time to the corpse. After a period of about six months, when the body had hardened, it was removed and buried at a distance from the house as indicated above.
The alternative to burial was cremation. One man told me that the stench of burning flesh would remain around the village for up to a week. It was so distasteful that the people would wait for “favorable winds”
blowing away from the village and the cremation site. This was one of the reasons for the passing of this custom in favor of burial, especially when the latter was encouraged by expatriate government and mission
personnel. One of the last Rotokas cremations recorded was that of T. Asio’s father in 1949. We also know of a cremation which took place in a mountain village above Buin in the mid-1960s.
When cremation was still practiced, the following routine was followed: A rack of wood was built and the body placed upon it during the later afternoon hours. The timing of this seems to have been quite important.
The condition of the body was considered, since “fat people burned faster”. The object of the timing was to
93 insure that the lewa liver, or one particular organ considered innermost within the body, was burning its last
when the sun rose over the horizon. The ashes, kaa rarearo, were gathered and put into a basket. At some stage, the burial site was washed with a specially prepared water.
The ashes were kept inside the relatives’ house for a period of time. While the ashes were still in the house, a feast was given for all of the village people in order to end the mourning period. After the mourning
period was completed by the feast, the ashes were carried to another place for burial. The site was usually at the base of a large tree most likely one of the trees which were used to mark clan property.
If a Rotokas man or woman died while visiting the Keriaka side of the island, it was the responsibility of the Keriaka relatives to cremate the body in the proper manner. This was so they wouldn’t have to carry the
body back across the mountains to the Rotokas area.
8.2.4 Mourning period
