Various - "Scientific American Supplement, No. 430, March 29, 1884"

Benjamin Disraeli - "Coningsby"

Arthur Weir - "Fleurs de lys and other poems"

Edward FitzGerald - "Letters of Edward FitzGerald"

The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead, Volume I (of 3)

S >> Sir James George Frazer >> The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead, Volume I (of 3)




[Sidenote: Burial and mourning customs among the Yabim.]

Among the Yabim the dead are usually buried in shallow graves close to
the houses where they died. Some trifles are laid with the body in the
grave, in order that the dead man or woman may have the use of them in
the other world. But any valuables that may be deposited with the corpse
are afterwards dug up and appropriated by the survivors. If the deceased
was the householder himself or his wife, the house is almost always
deserted, however solidly it may be built. The reason for thus
abandoning so valuable a piece of property is not mentioned; but we may
assume that the motive is a fear of the ghost, who is supposed to haunt
his old home. A temporary hut is built on the grave, and in it the
family of the deceased take up their abode for six weeks or more; here
they cook, eat, and sleep. A widower sits in a secluded corner by
himself, invisible to all and unwashed; during the period of full
mourning he may not shew himself in the village. When he does come forth
again, he wears a mourning hat made of bark in the shape of a cylinder
without crown or brim; a widow wears a great ugly net, which wraps her
up almost completely from the head to the knees. Sometimes in memory of
the deceased they wear a lock of his hair or a bracelet. Other relations
wear cords round their necks in sign of mourning. The period of mourning
varies greatly; it may last for months or even years. Sometimes the
bodies of beloved children or persons who have been much respected are
not buried but tied up in bundles and set up in a house until the flesh
has quite mouldered away; then the skull and the bones of the arms and
legs are anointed, painted red, and preserved for a time. Mr. Vetter
records the case of a chief whose corpse was thus preserved in the
assembly-house of the village, after it had been dried over a fire. When
it had been reduced to a mummy, the skull and the arm-bones and
leg-bones were detached, oiled, and reddened, and then kept for some
years in the house of the chief's eldest son, till finally they were
deposited in the grave of a kinsman. In some of the inland villages of
this part of New Guinea the widow is sometimes throttled by her
relations at the death of her husband, in order that she may accompany
him to the other world.[409]

[Sidenote: Deaths attributed by the Yabim to sorcery.]

The Yabim believe that except in the case of very old people every death
is caused by sorcery; hence when anybody has departed this life, his
relations make haste to discover the wicked sorcerer who has killed
their kinsman. For that purpose they have recourse to various forms of
divination. One of them has been already described, but they have
others. For example, they put a powder like sulphur in a piece of bamboo
tube and kindle a fire under it. Then an old man takes a bull-roarer and
taps with it on the bamboo tube, naming all the sorcerers in the
neighbouring villages. He at the mention of whose name the fire catches
the powder and blazes up is the guilty man. Another way of detecting the
culprit is to attach the feather of a bird of paradise to a staff and
give the staff to two men to hold upright between the palms of their
right hands. Then somebody names the sorcerers, and he at whose name the
staff turns round and the feather points downwards is the one who caused
the death. When the avengers of blood, wrought up to a high pitch of
fury, fall in with the family of the imaginary criminal, they may put
the whole of them to death lest the sons should afterwards avenge their
father's murder by the black art. Sometimes a dangerous and dreaded
sorcerer will be put out of the way with the connivance of the chief of
his own village; and after a few days the murderers will boldly shew
themselves in the village where the crime was perpetrated and will
reassure the rest of the people, saying, "Be still. The wicked man has
been taken off. No harm will befall you."[410]

[Sidenote: Bull-roarers (_balum_). Initiation of young men.]

It is very significant that the word _balum_, which means a ghost, is
applied by the Yabim to the instrument now generally known among
anthropologists as a bull-roarer. It is a small fish-shaped piece of
wood which, being tied to a string and whirled rapidly round, produces a
humming or booming sound like the roaring of a bull or the muttering of
distant thunder. Instruments of this sort are employed by savages in
many parts of the world at their mysteries; the weird sound which the
implement makes when swung is supposed by the ignorant and uninitiated
to be the voice of a spirit and serves to impress them with a sense of
awe and mystery. So it is with the Papuans about Finsch Harbour, with
whom we are at present concerned. At least one such bull-roarer is kept
in the _lum_ or bachelors' clubhouse of every village, and the women and
uninitiated boys are forbidden to see it under pain of death. The
instrument plays a great part in the initiation of young men, which
takes place at intervals of several years, when there are a number of
youths ready to be initiated, and enough pigs can be procured to furnish
forth the feasts which form an indispensable part of the ceremony. The
principal initiatory rite consists of circumcision, which is performed
on all youths before they are admitted to the rank of full-grown men.
The age of the candidates varies considerably, from four years up to
twenty. Many are married before they are initiated. The operation is
performed in the forest, and the procession of the youths to the place
appointed is attended by a number of men swinging bull-roarers. As the
procession sets out, the women look on from a distance, weeping and
howling, for they are taught to believe that the lads, their sons and
brothers, are about to be swallowed up by a monster called a _balum_ or
ghost, who will only release them from his belly on condition of
receiving a sufficient number of roast pigs. How, then, can the poor
women be sure that they will ever see their dear ones again? So amid the
noise of weeping and wailing the procession passes into the forest, and
the booming sound of the bull-roarers dies away in the distance.

[Sidenote: The rite of circumcision; the lads supposed to be swallowed
by a monster (_balum_). The sacred flutes.]

The place where the operation is performed on the lads is a long hut,
about a hundred feet in length, which diminishes in height towards the
rear. This represents the belly of the monster which is to swallow up
the candidates. To keep up the delusion a pair of great eyes are painted
over the entrance, and above them the projecting roots of a betel-palm
represent the monster's hair, while the trunk of the tree passes for his
backbone. As the awe-struck lads approach this imposing creature, he is
heard from time to time to utter a growl. The growl is in fact no other
than the humming note of bull-roarers swung by men, who are concealed
within the edifice. When the procession has come to a halt in front of
the artificial monster, a loud defiant blast blown on shell-trumpets
summons him to stand forth. The reply follows in the shape of another
muffled roar of the bull-roarers from within the building. At the sound
the men say that "Balum is coming up," and they raise a shrill song like
a scream and sacrifice pigs to the monster in order to induce him to
spare the lives of the candidates. When the operation has been performed
on the lads, they must remain in strict seclusion for three or four
months, avoiding all contact with women and even the sight of them. They
live in the long hut, which represents the monster's belly, and their
food is brought them by elder men. Their leisure time is spent in
weaving baskets and playing on certain sacred flutes, which are never
used except at such seasons. The instruments are of two patterns. One is
called the male and the other the female, and they are supposed to be
married to each other. No woman may see these mysterious flutes; if she
did she would die. Even if she hears their shrill note in the distance,
she will hasten to hide herself in a thicket. When the initiatory
ceremonies are over, the flutes are carefully kept in the men's
clubhouse of the village till the next time they are wanted for a
similar occasion. On the other hand, if the women are obliged to go near
the place where the lads are living in seclusion, they beat on certain
bamboo drums in order to warn them to keep out of the way. Sometimes,
though perhaps rarely, one of the lads dies under the operation; in that
case the men explain his disappearance to the women by saying that the
monster has a pig's stomach as well as a human stomach, and that
unfortunately the deceased young man slipped by mistake into the wrong
stomach and so perished miserably. But as a rule the candidates pass
into the right stomach and after a sufficient period has been allowed
for digestion, they come forth safe and sound, the monster having kindly
consented to let them go free in consideration of the roast pigs which
have been offered to him by the men. Indeed he is not very exacting, for
he contents himself with devouring the souls of the pigs, while he
leaves their bodies to be consumed by his worshippers. This is a kindly
and considerate way of dealing with sacrifice, which our New Guinea
ghost or monster shares with many deities of much higher social
pretensions. However, lest he should prove refractory and perhaps run
away with the poor young men in his inside, or possibly make a dart at
any women or children who might be passing, the men take the precaution
of tying him down tight with ropes. When the time of seclusion is up,
one of the last acts in the long series of ceremonies is to cast off the
ropes and let the monster go free. He avails himself of his liberty to
return to his subterranean abode, and the young men are brought back to
the village with much solemnity.

[Sidenote: The return of the novices to the village.]

An eye-witness has described the ceremony. The lads, now ranking as
full-grown men, were first bathed in the sea and then elaborately
decorated with paint and so forth. In marching back to the village they
had to keep their eyes tightly shut, and each of them was led by a man
who acted as a kind of god-father. As the procession moved on, an old
bald-headed man touched each boy solemnly on the chin and brow with a
bull-roarer. In the village preparations for a banquet had meanwhile
been made, and the women and girls were waiting in festal attire. The
women were much moved at the return of the lads; they sobbed and tears
of joy ran down their cheeks. Arrived in the village the newly-initiated
lads were drawn up in a row and fresh palm leaves were spread in front
of them. Here they stood with closed eyes, motionless as statues. Then a
man passed behind them, touching each of them in the hams with the
handle of an axe and saying, "O circumcised one, sit down." But still
the lads remained standing, stiff and motionless. Not till another man
had knocked repeatedly on the ground with the stalk of a palm-leaf,
crying, "O circumcised ones, open your eyes!" did the youths, one after
another, open their eyes as if awaking from a profound stupor. Then they
sat down on the mats and partook of the food brought them by the men.
Young and old now ate in the open air. Next morning the circumcised lads
were bathed in the sea and painted red instead of white. After that they
might talk to women. This was the end of the ceremony.[411]

[Sidenote: The essence of the initiatory rites seems to be a simulation
of death and resurrection; the novice is supposed to be killed and to
come to life or be born again. The new birth among the Akikuyu of
British East Africa.]

The meaning of these curious ceremonies observed on the return of the
lads to the village is not explained by the writer who describes them;
but the analogy of similar ceremonies observed at initiation by many
other races allows us to divine it with a fair degree of probability. As
I have already observed in a former lecture, the ceremony of initiation
at puberty is very often regarded as a process of death and
resurrection; the candidate is supposed to die or to be killed and to
come to life again or be born again; and the pretence of a new birth is
not uncommonly kept up by the novices feigning to have forgotten all the
most common actions of life and having accordingly to learn them all
over again like newborn babes. We may conjecture that this is why the
young circumcised Papuans, with whom we are at present concerned, march
back to their village with closed eyes; this is why, when bidden to sit
down, they remain standing stiffly, as if they understood neither the
command nor the action; and this, too, we may surmise, is why their
mothers and sisters receive them with a burst of emotion, as if their
dead had come back to them from the grave. This interpretation of the
ceremony is confirmed by a curious rite which is observed by the Akikuyu
of British East Africa. Amongst them every boy or girl at or about the
age of ten years has solemnly to pretend to be born again, not in a
moral or religious, but in a physical sense. The mother of the child,
or, if she is dead, some other woman, goes through an actual pantomime
of bringing forth the boy or girl. I will spare you the details of the
pantomime, which is very graphic, and will merely mention that the
bouncing infant squalls like a newborn babe. Now this ceremony of the
new birth was formerly enacted among the Akikuyu at the rite of
circumcision, though the two ceremonies are now kept distinct.[412]
Hence it is not very rash to conjecture that the ceremony performed by
the young Papuans of Finsch Harbour on their return to the village after
undergoing circumcision is merely a way of keeping up the pretence of
being born again and of being therefore as ignorant and helpless as
babes.

[Sidenote: The mock death of the novices as a preliminary to the mock
birth.]

But if the end of the initiation is a mock resurrection, or rather new
birth, as it certainly seems to be, we may infer with some confidence
that the first part of it, namely the act of circumcision, is a mock
death. This is borne out by the explicit statement of a very good
authority, Mr. Vetter, that "the circumcision is designated as a process
of being swallowed by the spirit, out of whose stomach (represented by a
long hut) the release must take place by means of a sacrifice of
pigs."[413] And it is further confirmed by the observation that both the
spirit which is supposed to operate on the lads, and the bull-roarer,
which apparently represents his voice, are known by the name of _balum_,
which means the ghost or spirit of a dead person. Similarly, among the
Tugeri or Kaya-Kaya, a large Papuan tribe on the south coast of Dutch
New Guinea, the name of the bull-roarer, which they call _sosom_, is
given to a mythical giant, who is supposed to appear every year with the
south-east monsoon. When he comes, a festival is held in his honour and
bull-roarers are swung. Boys are presented to the giant, and he kills
them, but brings them to life again.[414] Thus the initiatory rite of
circumcision, to which all lads have to submit among the Yabim, seems to
be closely bound up with their conception of death and with their belief
in a life after death; since the whole ceremony apparently consists in a
simulation of dying and coming to life again. That is why I have touched
upon these initiatory rites, which at first sight might appear to have
no connexion with our immediate subject, the belief in immortality and
the worship of the dead.

[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 attitude 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 worship of the dead.

[Footnote 394: Stolz, "Die Umgebung von Kap Koenig 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 herueber und hilf uns! oder die Arbeit
der Neuen-Dettelsauer Mission_, Nos. 1-4 (Barmen, 1898); _id._, in
_Nachrichten ueber 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 herueber 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 herueber 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 herueber und hilf uns!_ iii. 19-24;
_id._, in _Mitteilungen der Geographischen Gesellschaft zu Jena_, xii.
(1893) pp. 96 _sq._]

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

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

[Footnote 409: K. Vetter, in _Nachrichten ueber Kaiser Wilhelms-Land_,
1897, pp. 94 _sq._; _id._, _Komm herueber 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 ueber 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
herueber und hilf uns!_ ii. (1898) p. 18; _id._, cited by M. Krieger,
_Neu-Guinea_, pp. 167-170; O. Schellong, "Das Barlum (_sic_)-fest der
Gegend Finsch-hafens (Kaiserwilhelmsland), ein Beitrag zur Kenntniss der
Beschneidung der Melanesier," _Internationales Archiv fuer 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 Institute_,
xl. (1910) pp. 440 _sq._]

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

[Footnote 414: R. Poech, "Vierter Bericht ueber meine Reise nach
Neu-Guinea," _Sitzungsberichte der mathematisch-naturwissenschaftlichen
Klasse 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 fishing 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 class 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. Phosphorescent
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, apron, 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]

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