SIGNS IN SOCIETY - STIBA Malang

54 I Signs in Ethnographic Context
Transactional Symbolism in Belauan Mortuary Rites I 55
women of the house will be very pleased. And so they will prepare a female
valuable and give it to these visitors. This presentation is called "gifts of
women." ... This female valuable is truly the money of women, and this is an
authentic practice from ancient times in Belau. (M)
Note that the same "female" objects are involved in very different kinds of
transactions, the affinal payment to in-married women and the emotionally
charged gift to female friends (a third usage will be discussed below). What links
them, of course, is that the exchange objects flow between women.
Food and labor provided by villagers {uus er a kemeldiil) are not paid for,
since these local people know that their efforts will be reciprocated when a death
occurs in their houses. One exception to this is that pigs are purchased by the
deceased's kin, usually from young men who raise them commercially for just
this purpose; the cost of these pigs, in fact, constitutes one of the major expenses
of the funeral. Figure 3.1 summarizes the pattern of contributions described
so far.
Burial Practices
"2
Constantly attended by female mourners and carefully wrapped in a shroud
made of six to a dozen fine mats stitched together, 8
the body is placed in a
wooden coffin, which replaces the traditional bier made of bamboo or betelnut
sticks. Formerly, the unburied corpse (klloi) of a titled individual remained on
display for a period of time commensurate with his or her rank. Semper
(1982:79-80) provides important details concerning the demeanor of the
mourning party seated around the corpse of the wife of the chief of Ngebuked
village in the 1860s:
G
"Do you see," he [Semper's friend] said, lifting the curtain which temporarily
divided our little room from the rest of the house, "all those women there?
There are more than twenty from Ngkeklau, Chelab, and even Melekeok, all
relatives of my mother and Mad. They're staying in the house for twenty days.
During this time, I must always be ready to serve them and make sure that my
own people and the rest of the villagers provide enough to eat. The death of
such a woman caused much work in the state. She was the highest-ranking
woman here, Mad's sister, and considered here what you call a queen. "... At
the time of the mourning ritual at Ngiralulk's house, I again had an opportunity
to admire the dignity with which the assembled women took up their apparently
quite boring business. My mother sat in front opposite Mad's wife.
Each of the two had gathered ten or twelve women around her, so that they
formed an open halfcircle around the doorways. They wore their best clothes,
whose hems they had dyed black as an external symbol of mourning. Red and
white stones [male valuables] stood out brilliantly against their dark necks;
they were carried to proudly display proof of their families' wealth.