SIGNS IN SOCIETY - STIBA Malang

6o I Signs in Ethnographic Context
Transactional Symbolism in Belauan Mortuary Rites I 61
a ochil a ourrot, "pound the heel of the senior woman," that is, as small children
these men slept against this woman's leg, so that their close kinship connection
can never be doubted or challenged by other men who may have begun serving
this senior woman later in life.
In the absence of a successor, the title is taken by a caretaker (usually a
woman), who puts the symbolic coconut frond on the rafter beams of the house
for temporary safekeeping until a suitable person can be found. On the other
hand, in several cases where the title was transferred to the successor, I saw the
coconut frond tossed carelessly on the meeting house floor, as if its symbolic
properties were no longer significant. After the title transfer in the traditional
funeral sequence a complex series of feasts begins which prepares the way for a
successor to the chiefly title to take his place in the meeting house. Since these
ceremonies are more properly analyzed under the rubric of chiefly installation
rites, they are not discussed here (see Parmentier 19873:69—70).
At this point in the funeral, traditional and contemporary practices begin to
diverge most strongly. Formerly, the body was placed in the hole (debull) dug in
front of the house, and then a layer of mats was added. Dirt was piled on top
until a small mound was created. And this mound, in turn, W3S covered with
additional mats. Above all this a small wooden structure was constructed to
house close relatives of the deceased, who actually slept on top of the grave for
the short period between the burial and the final paving of the grave nine days
later. These details are significant because of the fact that the corpse is separated
from its closest living kin by no less than four protective layers of "female" mats
or cloth: the specially selected burial garments, the stitched body wrapping, the
first mat layer, and finally the mats spread over the dirt mound (cf. Kaeppler
1978:185). The significance of mats in the funeral ritual is invoked in the popular
love story about Oreng and Mariar (Kesolei 1971:11—12, 23—25; cf. Kubary
1969:2—3). Oreng was unhappily married to Osilek, the powerful chief of Ulong
island. When her young lover, Mariar, realized the impossibility of their relationship,
he died of a broken heart. At his funeral Oreng asked to be allowed to sleep
beneath one of the funeral mats. Underneath the mat she died, united with her
lover only in death.
Today, when graves are dug in village cemeteries or in hillside land parcels
owned by the house, the power of this symbolism is less apparent. Graveside activity
is brief and matter-of-fact, with the mourners who made the hike silently
placing flowers in the grave, which is then filled with dirt. At several funerals I
saw auspicious sis (Cordyline sp.) planted on top of the grave.
Back in the village the main concern is to cover the costs incurred thus far,
including rental of the meeting house, gas for boats carrying mourners to the
village, charges for keeping the electrical power running through the night, the
coffin, and the cost of store-bought foods. A small funeral might total less than
$1,000, but the most expensive one I witnessed ran over $4,000. What is impor-
tant, however, is the pattern of money collection to settle this "debt" (biais). A
small amount of money called blekatl (usually $10 or $20) is collected from all
the men related to either husband or wife. That these senior men balance the debt
together is taken to be a temporary sign of kinship solidarity, for everyone knows
that difficult financial negotiations will be taking place several months hence, at
which time these same senior men will sit on opposite sides of the exchange floor.
Again, an obvious point needs to be made: exactly parallel to the transactions
involving female valuables discussed above, all the cash collected so far (the presents
for dancers, the "ship" money for unmarried women, and the debt of the
funeral) is collected by men. 16
The village gradually thins out as mourners travel home and as local people
catch up on lost sleep. Despite the calm, however, much planning is going on
behind the scenes in preparation for the next phase of the ritual sequence. Because
the meeting house is needed for daily public business, close female mourners
return to the house of the deceased's brother, and the widowed husband remains
at his house, surrounded by his male and female children. Much evidence
remains of the just completed funeral, such as the huge collection of funeral mats
at the house of the deceased's brother and the equally enormous quantity of food
and funeral goods stacked up in the kitchen area of the husband's house. And
throughout the week especially well prepared food continues to pass from the
house of the deceased to the house of the husband—food cooked, of course, by
the relatives of the wives of the brothers of the deceased.
Final Transactions
One week after the burial, many of the mourners and all the immediate relatives
of the deceased return to the village to participate in two additional ceremonial
components, divining the cause of death (sis) and paving the grave (omengades),
which have become combined in recent years. The sis rite is named
after the ti plant, which used to be the instrument employed to divine the identity
of the malevolent spirit which caused the death. Prior to the introduction of
Christianity and Western notions of disease, this rite was a necessary intermediate
step between the burial of the corpse and the final sending off of the personal
ghost, after which point the grave can be safely sealed with stones. Four days
after the burial, senior female relatives of the deceased would have prepared a
bouquet of ti leaves rubbed with turmeric and coconut oil. Holding this bundle
wrapped carefully in a small piece of cloth and standing on a protective woven
mat, one of the women stood in the middle of the house while her female kin
shouted out possible names of spirits that might have caused the death. The idea
was that when the right name was called the ti plant bundle would start to shake,
because the ghost was attracted by the fragrant display and was coaxed by formulaic
language: "Could be this one, could be that one, or it could be you?" (cf.