Malinowski Among the Magi by Bronislaw Malinowski

Author:Bronislaw Malinowski
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Routledge

Which in free translation would mean:– ‘O spirit! When a man eats this tabooed coconut, O spirit, act; O spirit, be angry and punish him!’ The spirit thus invoked would be one of the ancestral spirits of the owner. His rôle in protecting the tabooed coconuts is quite analogous to that of the recently deceased man towards his nebúru palms. The spirits in both cases get angry (bó’i óre’óre, an expression used often to design ill-luck in general; in Motu, diráva díka, spirit bad, angry), and prevent the offender from doing good fishing, particularly with the big nets (gaúma), but also with the smaller ones (orá’i).

Thus in both cases the taboo is enforced by a supernatural sanction – by the fear of the evil results, automatically following the offence. It is to be noted that no spells are uttered to the spirit of the deceased in order to make him protect his own coconuts; evidently he takes very good care that nobody touches those which are to be eaten at his feast, or are at any rate associated with his family’s mourning duties. On the other hand, the spirit who is not personally interested in the proceedings must be invoked to play his part. The rôle of both spirits seems anyhow a very impersonal one; they are merely mechanical factors, bringing about, as an intermediate agency, the evil results inherent in the breaking of the taboo. They have no initiative in dealing out the punishment, nor is there anything left to their personal choice, and, on the other hand, a man violating the taboo would have no personal fear of the anger of the spirit. The natives are in general very little afraid of ghosts, though they dread darkness and its evil powers. The men are afraid to break the taboo purely and simply in order not to lose their fishing capacity, and from any other point of view the personal insult to the spirit, and its consequent annoyance, would not apparently matter. No man would with full knowledge violate a taboo, either a nebúru or a góra; if he unwittingly does so the punishment strikes him in the same form, without regard to his motives. The culprit would, however, have no other direct social punishment to bear; he would not be exposed either to ridicule, contempt, or anger.

The prima facie object of the góra, admitted by the natives and apparent in its most obvious function, is to prevent the coconuts from being eaten and then to ensure a plentiful supply of nuts for the mortuary feasts. It must be remarked, however, that the góra arrangement overshoots its mark, as an enormous amount of nuts become damaged and absolutely useless before the feast comes on.

So far we have spoken about the góra and nebúru– i.e., taboos imposed upon coconuts on the death of a man, symbolized either by the man’s body and grave, or by a special sign enforced by the man’s own ghost or by a spell-bound ancestral spirit

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.