SIGNS IN SOCIETY - STIBA Malang
SIGNS IN SOCIETY - STIBA Malang
SIGNS IN SOCIETY - STIBA Malang
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
jo' I Signs in Ethnographic Context<br />
Transactional Symbolism in Belauan Mortuary Rites I 57<br />
I was told that, in Ngeremlengui, the mourning period at the death of the firstranking<br />
male titleholder, Ngirturong, would be ten days, for the second-ranking<br />
male titleholder, Ngiraklang, nine days, and for the third- and fourth-ranking<br />
titleholders seven days. Also, elderly informants recall funerals of high-ranking<br />
individuals at which the bier itself became an elevated platform (also called<br />
toluk), constructed not of bamboo but of solid wood. 9<br />
The family of the deceased<br />
did not bear this expense, however. At the funeral of the first-ranking titleholder,<br />
senior women from the house of the second-ranking titleholder purchased the<br />
platform from the local men's club; and at the death of the second-ranking titleholder<br />
the tribute was reciprocated. Mention must also be made of the remarkable<br />
andésite sarcophagus which Hidikata (1973:85-91; see also Osborne<br />
1966:206, fig. 64) found in Ollei village (northern Babeldaob) in 1939. 1 0 Although<br />
this is a unique object in Belau, its original placement does suggest that<br />
mortuary practices have long been used to mark rank differentiation (Osborne<br />
1979:270). Today, this gradation in social rank is more clearly demonstrated by<br />
the length of time the female mourners remain confined after the burial and by<br />
the number of pigs killed for the various feasts.<br />
According to pre-Christian cosmological notions, just as the corpse must be<br />
shielded so as not to contaminate the living, the ghost must be prepared for the<br />
journey which results in its final transformation into an ancestral spirit. Ethnographic<br />
information on concepts of ancestral spirits is sketchy but sufficient to<br />
point out that they were considered intermediaries between living people and<br />
more formally recognized, named gods {chelid), and that only high-ranking<br />
houses generated significant spirits. This is one reason that these houses require<br />
extensive and expensive funeral feasts, since the transformation from personal<br />
ghost to ancestral spirit results in an entity which continued to exert powerful<br />
forces in the village's political life. In the domestic context, ancestral spirits<br />
played a positive role as guardians of the house, as sources of information and<br />
good fortune, and as guarantors of generational continuity (resembling to some<br />
degree the famous baloma spirits of the Trobriands); and their cooperation was<br />
secured by regular offerings of food and prayer at the house's altar (Kubary<br />
1969:6—7). Indeed, part of the authority of the male titleholder of a house rested<br />
in his role as the officiant of this domestic cult and in the fact that, through his<br />
carrying the house's sacred title, he was closer to the ancestral bladek, who held<br />
the same title in previous generations (Kubary 1900^25—26).<br />
Personal ghosts from all over Belau travel in a southerly direction, first to<br />
Melachel island (near Oreor), where they are purified in a bathing pool, then to<br />
the southern coast of Beliliou, and finally to Ngedelech beach on Ngeaur island,<br />
the "dancing place of ghosts," from which place they cross a bridge to the spirit<br />
world in a westerly direction (Krämer 1917-29, 3:348, 4:195). The belief was<br />
that the ghost takes along the spiritual image or shadow of items placed near the<br />
corpse. Alongside a female corpse might be placed her finest female valuables,<br />
whereas a male corpse might be adorned with male valuables and his favorite<br />
handbag. Kubary (19008:38) writes:<br />
Women's corpses are covered with turtleshell trays, which are the principal<br />
kind of female money. According to the wealth of the house, these extend up<br />
to the hips, and the trays lean on the legs, or they may be placed as far up as<br />
the shoulders, if the family is rich. If a man has died, his handbag is placed at<br />
his left side, it is filled with fresh betelnut and tobacco, and the native udoud<br />
([male] money) is piled up on its outer edge. His shoulder axe, which was his<br />
inseparable companion, rests on the body, and his battle lance stands against<br />
the door.<br />
These particular beliefs have faded today, though I have seen photographs of the<br />
deceased placed on top of the coffin, and people still talk, though in a Christian<br />
idiom, of the "journey" of the dead.<br />
These beliefs and other graveside rituals are well summarized in Captain Barnard's<br />
description of a funeral he witnessed in 1832:<br />
In a few days after, his brother was taken sick and soon was very sick. My<br />
friend came to the Prophetess with a piece of money for her to cure him, but<br />
he soon died. I was then told the cause of his death. It was because his brother,<br />
belonging to another town from where I was, had become my friend, and the<br />
prophetess being the wife of my friend in Ngebiul, she had spoken to her God<br />
and he had caused his death. I attended his funeral and witnessed that ceremony;<br />
after his death he was taken to his brother's house. When I entered the<br />
town it appeared like a fair; many little huts were stuck up, large enough to<br />
hold three or four individuals. The large bai [meeting house] was filled with<br />
Chiefs cooking a hog, and a sack of tobacco ready for distribution, at the<br />
house of mourning, for such it was in reality. The Corpse was laid within the<br />
door, the head on the sill. Red paint [turmeric] was strewn over the body. By<br />
his side lay his basket with nut leaves, fireworks, etc., and a sword belonging<br />
to his brother. According to the universal custom, a grave was dug a few feet<br />
from the door into which the body and its ornaments were placed. On the<br />
tenth day after, stones were placed over the grave. Then all mourning ceases,<br />
except that the females do not wash themselves for three Moons. (Barnard<br />
1980:29; spelling and punctuation modernized)<br />
One specialized practice pertains to funerals of unmarried women, who by<br />
definition no longer have affinal relatives to provide active financial assistance.<br />
These women require an additional piece of male money called diall "ship" to<br />
accompany them on their journey. 11<br />
People explained that the woman's ghost<br />
travels with this piece of money to Ngeaur, where she confronts Orrekim, the<br />
guardian of the bridge to the spirit world. Without the diall, the woman would<br />
not be allowed to pass over this bridge to attain the status of ancestral spirit<br />
(Force and Force 1981:87). Today things have become even more confusing because<br />
most people no longer cite this traditional justification for the practice and<br />
because, now, married women too are presented with the diall. Prior to the in-