Chapter II: Ceremonial Customs (3)

The songs all deal with everyday subjects such as hunting or cutting a canoe. The important thing about a song is not its sense, but its sound, i.e., its rhythm and melody. A translation of an Akar-Bale song, which is quite typical, is “Po̱io, the son of Mam Golat, wants to know when I am going to finish my canoe. He comes every day. That is why I make haste to get it launched as soon as possible.” Another on the same subject runs: “Knots are very hard to cut with an adze. They blunt the edge of the adze. How hard I am working cutting these knots.” The singer here refers to the cutting of a canoe. A number of songs in the native languages with translations, are given by Mr Portman [68]. To these the reader may refer for further information.

According to the statements of the natives it was formerly the custom to have a dance before setting out to a fight. There was no special war-dance, the warriors joining in an ordinary dance such as has just been described. Those who intended to take part in the attack on their enemies, i.e., all the able-bodied adult males, decorated themselves with red paint and white clay, and put on ornaments of Pandanus leaf or netting and shells. Each man held in his hands or placed in his belt or head-dress plumes of shredded Tetranthera wood (called čelmo in Aka-J̌eru, uǰ in Aka-Bea). These plumes of shredded wood are now often worn or carried in an ordinary dance, but I believe that in former times they were the distinctive sign of a war-dance. To make them, a short length of the wood is taken (generally a piece of an old broken pig-arrow) and the wood is carefully shredded with a Cyrena shell, care being taken not to break any of the longitudinal fibres. One end is then tied with a piece of string or fibre. Similar plumes are made from Pandanus wood, and are carried or worn in a similar manner.

When the attacking party set out from their village each man wears a plume of shredded Tetranthera wood thrust into the back of his belt. They rub their bows with the shredded wood, and say that this has the effect of making their own bows shoot well and those of their enemies shoot badly.

If a man kills another in a fight between two villages, or in a private quarrel, he leaves his village and goes to live by himself in the jungle, where he must stay for some weeks, or even months. His wife, and one or two of his friends may live with him or visit him and attend to his wants. For some weeks the homicide must observe a rigorous tabu. He must not handle a bow or arrow. He must not feed himself or touch any food with his hands, but must be fed by his wife or a friend. He must keep his neck and upper lip covered with red paint, and must wear plumes of shredded Tetranthera wood (čelmo) in his belt before and behind, and in his necklace at the back of his neck. If he breaks any of these rules it is supposed that the spirit of the man he has killed will cause him to be ill. At the end of a few weeks the homicide undergoes a sort of purification ceremony. His hands are first rubbed with white clay (to̱l-odu) and then with red paint. After this he may wash his hands and may then feed himself with his hands and may handle bows and arrows. He retains the plumes of shredded wood for a year or so.

In the North Andaman, and possibly in the South also, there was a ceremony by which two hostile local groups made peace with one another. When the two groups have agreed to make friends and bring their quarrel to an end, arrangements are made for this ceremony. The arrangements are made through the women of the two parties. A day is fixed for the ceremony, which takes place in the country of the group that made the last attack. In the village of this group the dancing ground is prepared, and across it is erected what is called a koro-čop. Posts are put up in a line, to the tops of these is attached a length of strong cane, and from the cane are suspended bundles of shredded palm-leaf (koro). The appearance of this construction may be seen from the photograph reproduced in Plate XIX. The women of the camp keep a look-out for the approach of the visitors. When they are known to be near the camp, the women sit down on one side of the dancing ground, and the men take up positions in front of the decorated cane. Each man stands with his back against the koro-čop, with his arms stretched out sideways along the top of it. None of them has any weapons.

The visitors, who are, if we may so put it, the forgiving party, while the home party are those who have committed the last act of hostility, advance into the camp dancing, the step being that of the ordinary dance. The women of the home party mark the time of the dance by clapping their hands on their thighs. I was told that the visitors carry their weapons with them, but when the dance was performed at my request the dancers were without weapons. The visitors dance forward in front of the men standing at the koro-čop, and then, still dancing all the time, pass backwards and forwards between the standing men, bending their heads as they pass beneath the suspended cane. The dancers make threatening gestures at the men standing at the koro-čop, and every now and then break into a shrill shout. The men at the koro stand silent and motionless and are expected to show no sign of fear.

After they have been dancing thus for a little time, the leader of the dancers approaches the man at one end of the koro and, taking him by the shoulders from the front, leaps vigorously up and down to the time of the dance, thus giving the man he holds a good shaking. The leader then passes on to the next man in the row while another of the dancers goes through the same performance with the first man. This is continued until each of the dancers has “shaken” each of the standing men. The dancers then pass under the koro and shake their enemies in the same manner from the back. After a little more dancing the dancers retire, and the women of the visiting group come forward and dance in much the same way that the men have done, each woman giving each of the men of the other group a good shaking.

When the women have been through their dance the two parties of men and women sit down and weep together.

The two groups remain camped together for a few days, spending the time in hunting and dancing together. Presents are exchanged, as at the ordinary meetings of different groups. The men of the two groups exchange bows with one another.