Unnatural causes of death

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8.2 Death

For some Rotokas people, death may still be heralded by the little touea bird. When the bird senses that a person has died, it gives its cry revealing the death to all, touea peroperopero. The frog gavura kakarau and crayfish kavoriva have also figured in the death of man. The story is told that in the early days, these two little creatures were concerned about man and how he was going to eventually die. They said to each other, “How do you think this being is going to die when it gets old?” The crayfish decided that it would be good to show the man a method for dying. They decided to hunt for a way. First, they tried to find a way for the man to die and change his body in the process. The frog didn’t know how to do this, but the crayfish did having shed its skin before. But then, it eventually decided that the man couldn’t do as it did. The frog decided, too, that changing its body was no way for the man to die. Instead, he should die shaking his body. So the frog made an example for the man to follow in death, and to this day, the frog quivers when it dies. And as in days long past, man still dies as the frog, who gave us its example. Death takes place when the person’s spirit leaves the body. This may take some time, as reflected in the statement, “He died a long time ago and only a little life is left in his body.” The ghost may stay near the dead body for two or three days, but eventually departs to the area inhabited by the other ghosts of the dead in the remote areas of the jungle or in the ground. It is free to go without ritual. This is the traditional view of death. Naturally, death is something to be feared. However, it is reported that older people unable to move about or feel a sense of usefulness may even look forward to death. One day, I came across a man carrying his young child, who was covered with red mud. The reason given was that the red mud smeared all over the child’s body was to keep a female spirit being from “capturing” the boy’s spirit and thus cause his eventual death. This particular spirit being can become very covetous of the spirit of a “very good” child. If the parent and child are in the area of this spirit being and the child is left alone for any period of time, the spirit can capture the child’s spirit. People who might be in the area are able to hear the child’s spirit crying. The departure of the child’s spirit is evidenced by a sickness which does not respond to regular medicine. Red mud is smeared on the body of the sick child; if the child’s body responds by turning red too, that is evidence that the spirit of the child is departing. The mud is a concoction of leaves, a liquid, and the red earth, which are cooked together for a short period of time. The spirit being, in order to complete the capture of the child’s spirit, digs a small hole about five centimeters in diameter. It places food in this hole in order to attract the child’s spirit into it. If a spider should weave its web across the opening of the hole, then the spirit of the child will be trapped, the child will no longer be able to breathe, and consequently die. At this point, the bush spirit takes complete control of the child’s spirit. Meanwhile, back in the village, early each morning, the sick child covered with red mud is washed with a particular solution especially concocted for this purpose; it is kept in a bamboo container. When we witnessed this event in Togarao village, an older woman was preparing the “medicine” for the sick child. To show the conflict between staying with past beliefs and moving into the contemporary world, I’ll add a note regarding the conclusion of the above event. A day or two after the first visit with this man and his young mud-covered son, we observed that the child was clean and running around the man’s yard. The father explained that an older brother, an Aid Post Orderly, told him to give the child some good food and make him rest. The brother may also have offered some aspirin or a shot of penicillin. At any rate, the fear of the spirit being was no longer a factor in the treatment of the child, who recovered completely. To most Rotokas men and women, the timing of the spirit’s departure and its whereabouts after death is not of critical importance. Of more importance is the fact that the deceased will no longer be seen by family and friends. This is as true today as it was in the past, and it is reflected in the methods of disposing with the dead person’s body, which will be discussed later in the section.

8.2.1 Unnatural causes of death

Fighting and killing days are over for the Rotokas. The stories remain, though, and some are recorded here. Other unnatural ways of dying include suicide, murder, and cannibalism. 88 Fighting In the old days, the law of the land was determined by fighting weapons: spear, bow and arrow, and stone axes. The following is an account of the events leading up to and following a fight. The fight leader had a special relationship with spirit beings. To prepare for a battle, he first chose a young man from the village and killed him. His fellow warriors gathered around the leader in a specially-made house [illustrated in section 12.3] as he ate the flesh of the dead man. As he ate, he danced around the men, spitting on each one and smearing the saliva on their bodies. There he gathered his magic charms, wrapped them in a single package pakoto and hung it down his back, dancing all the while. After preparations were made, they awaited the time of attack. If a mist came down upon them before they left for the fight, they interpreted this to mean that the spirit was “crying for them” and could assume that they very well might not be successful in their fighting, if the enemy came to them. If they were the aggressors, they secretly surrounded the enemy village and built a fence or barricade around it. Two or three warriors entered the village, posing as friendly visitors. Others ambushed and tried to kill the village leader. The frightened villagers, trapped by the barricade, would be killed or captured. After a fight, a message was sent by slitgong throughout the villages telling how many men were killed. The signal, called vivirua toi, consisted of first a long beat a deliberate stroke followed by a slight pause then a number of short beats, followed by as many long beats as the number of the enemy killed. If there were no long beats following the several short beats, it was understood that many had been killed. When surrounding villages would hear the slitgong, they would inquire as to the nature of the fight and the aggressors. It is said that they would then prepare themselves for a possible attack. In the past, when sleeping on the trail at night or when being pursued by the enemy, Rotokas warriors set booby traps for protection. Pits were dug in a pattern as shown in the diagram below. Stakes of sharpened cane stalks were placed in the bottom of the pits. The holes were then covered over and camouflaged. Placement of the pits was such that, if a man felt himself falling into the center pit, he would back away, but still fall into a second pit behind him. Diagram of Rotokas booby trap Cannibalism Cannibalism is also a custom of the past. Ra. of Togarao village was one of the few old men who could still remember a raid designed to capture victims to be eaten. He managed to escape in the rain forest. We have no idea how old Ra. was when he died in the mid-1970s. More will be said about cannibalism in section 11.2 with regard to Si., an authority figure from the village of Ibu. Mention was also made above of cannibalism as part of preparation rites for battle. Aside from these, there are few stories of cannibal raids. David A. did mention once that the old men used to say that the heel was a favorite part of the body to eat, because this is where the “grease” locates. He was greatly amused, too, when telling the story of a man eating the flesh from the forearm of his victim. He bit into the tendons just below the wrist which caused the fingers to bend towards his face. The man felt sure that there was still life in the victim who was trying to grasp his cheek Suicide Suicide was uncommon in mountain villages during the period we had contacts with them 1965–1982. We do know that there were at least these two methods, i.e., leaping from a height and hanging oneself. In 1969, a young woman hung herself in the jungle near Sisivi village. Apparently, it was due to her extreme anger towards her husband. The husband had told her to go retrieve some wandering pigs out of the garden area. When she did not respond immediately, he beat her with a stick. She then told him to hold their 89 small child and ran away into the jungle. She hung herself from a tree shortly after. There had been problems all along with the marriage and she was known for her quick temper. Later in the chapter, another case of suicide by hanging will be mentioned, in which a spirit being is blamed for having encouraged the suicide. Stories are told of people jumping to their death from the top of the Ivitu vagapa [63-meter-high waterfall described in section 2.2.2], as well as other cliffs in the area. This method of suicide, however, did not occur during the time we lived in the Rotokas area. Murder There has been only one case of murder in the Rotokas area that we have been aware of during our time there, though there could have been others. This was a most unfortunate event in which a young man cut another person living in the same house so severely with his bush knife that the person bled to death in a matter of minutes. This occurred on the coast and insanity was said to have been a factor. In the past, when contract murder was involved, betel nut was given by the one desiring the murder to the second person, who was to carry out the killing. This was to insure that the first person would take any blame or consequence of the murder and not the actual murderer. If, in fact, there were some consequences, the first person was to give a secret feast to the second in order to assure a continuing good relationship between them. If clansmen of the victim were to see a feast between two suspects, they could easily assume the reason for the feast and return to kill them both. There was a supernatural deterrent to murder in the past. If the murderer thought too much about the person he or she had killed, then these thoughts could very likely attract the ghost of the dead person. The ghost could retaliate and the murderer would end up murdered. When a person dies of natural causes, however, relatives and friends may attract the deceased’s ghost by their continual thoughts of him, and the ghost may come to them to find out the reason. This remembering of the deceased is given in these terms: Rera-ia viupaparoveira He is always thinking of him. The verb stem viupa means “scarring as from a wound”. When the ghost is satisfied that the thoughts arise only from sorrow, he “fades away” roroverikoopesiko—now archaic words. Death is also attributed to sorcery, and this will be covered in section 8.4.2 describing Black Magic.

8.2.2 Natural causes of death