The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead: Volume 1 by James George Frazer

Author:James George Frazer [Frazer, James George]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781511477741
Barnesnoble:
Published: 2006-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

LECTURE XII

THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE NATIVES OF

GERMAN NEW GUINEA ( continued)

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.

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

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

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

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

Ghosts of ancestors appealed to for help, especially in the cultivation of the ground. First-fruits offered

to the spirits of the dead.

However, the Bukaua also look on the ghosts of their ancestors in a more

amiable light as beings who, if properly appealed to, can and will help them in

the affairs of life, especially by procuring for them good crops. Hence when they

are planting their fields, which are formed in clearings of the forest, they take

particular care to insert shoots of all their crops in the ground near the tree

stumps which remain standing, because the souls of their dead grandfathers and

great-grandfathers are believed to be sitting on the stumps watching their

descendants at their work. Accordingly in the act of planting they call out the

names of these forefathers and pray them to guard the field in order that their

living children may have food and not suffer from hunger. And at harvest, when

the first-fruits of the taro, bananas, sugar-cane, and so forth have been brought

back from the fields, a portion of them is offered in a bowl to the spirits of the

forefathers in the house of the landowner, and the spirits are addressed in prayer

as follows: “O ye who have guarded our field as we prayed you to do, there is

something for you; now and henceforth behold us with favour.” While the family

are feasting on the rest of the first-fruits, the householder will surreptitiously stir

the offerings in the bowl with his finger, and will then shew the bowl to the

others as a proof that the souls of the dead have really partaken of the good things provided for them. 424 A hunter will also pray to his dead father to drive the wild pigs into his net.425

Burial and mourning customs of the Bukaua.

The Bukaua bury their dead in shallow graves, which are sometimes dug under

the houses but more usually in front of or beside them. Along with the corpses

are deposited bags of taro, nuts, drinking-vessels, and other articles of daily use.

Only the stone axes are too valuable to be thus sacrificed. Over the grave is

erected a rude hut in which the widower, if the deceased was a married woman,

remains for a time in seclusion. A widow on the death of her husband remains in

the house. Widow and widower may not shew themselves in public until they

have prepared their mourning costume. The widower wears a black hat made of

bark, cords round his neck, wicker work on his arms and feet, and a torn old

bracelet of his wife in a bag on his breast. A widow is completely swathed

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