Tikopia Ritual and Belief (Routledge Revivals)

Raymond Firth

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN: 9781136505430
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Anthropology
• Index: Social Sciences

First published in 1967, this book gives some of the fruits of the author's study of Tikopia ways of thought as the result of three field expeditions. Most Polynesians became Christians more than a century ago but Tikopia had a substantial pagan population until quite recent years. This book of essays describes rites and beliefs of a people who still maintained their traditional institutions remote from civilization. Studies of totemism, of magic and of beliefs in the fate of the soul in the afterworld, not only throw new light on Polynesian attitudes but also contribute some novel ideas to the interpretation of standard theoretical problems in social anthropology. Studies of rumour, suicide, and a new essay on spirit mediumship, also provide links between social anthropology and psychology. A general review based on the author's visit in 1966 describes the modern position after the adoption of Christianity.

CHAPTER 1
OUTLINE OF TIKOPIA CULTURE

(1930)

In 1928 I set out under the auspices of the Australian National Research Council to study the social anthropology of the people of Tikopia, and to obtain information on the problem of the relation of Polynesian to Melanesian cultures. The only study of Tikopia made hitherto was that of the Rev W. J. Durrad, a member of the Melanesian Mission, who spent two months there in the course of his work in 1910. The results of these observations, necessarily of a somewhat incomplete character, were published by the late Dr Rivers in 1914, in his History qf Melanesian Society.

The island is small and isolated, being an extinct volcanic crater lying 120 miles south-east from Vanikoro, the nearest white habitation; the only communication is by means of the Melanesian Mission steam yacht Southern Cross, which calls once or twice a year. It was on this vessel that I reached Tikopia in July 1928, and was visited by her again in October of the same year, bringing a supply of stores. In July 1929 she called again, when I left the island. I wish to acknowledge here the kindness of the Mission in allowing me to travel on the Southern Cross, and the hospitality of the Right Reverend Bishop John Steward, now retired, and the Right Reverend Bishop Molyneux, Bishop of Melanesia, as well as that of Captain H. Burgess, his officers and the members of the Mission staff who facilitated my work in every way possible.

To establish friendly contact with the natives proved a simple matter, and the acquiring of their language presented no exceptional difficulty, my previous knowledge of Maori, imperfect as it was, being of the greatest assistance, since the grammatical structure of the two languages is in many respects identical. I was also helped by the Vocabulary compiled by Mr Durrad and edited by Archdeacon H. W. Williams (later Bishop of Waiapu), to both of whom I am also indebted for personal interest in other ways. To assist the ordinary camp routine I took with me from Tulagi as personal servant a boy from Luaniua (Lord Howe Island), secured through the kindness of Mr J. C. Barley, Deputy Commissioner of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, and found that the similarity of the language and culture of his own island to thatof Tikopia rendered him much more suitable than a Melanesian would have been.

All food and specimens acquired from the natives were obtained either by gift-exchange or barter, the use of money being entirely unknown. Adzes and axes, chisels and other tools are greatly esteemed; knives, calico and beads are also of distinct value, while pipes, tobacco and fish-hooks are useful as ordinary small currency. The comparative lack of coconuts, trochus shell and bêche-de-mer offers no incentive to European traders to visit the island. Many articles were received by me in the form of gifts, but in such case a return present was immediately advisable.

The progress of my research was unimpeded for the first three months, by which time I had acquired considerable fluency in the native language. The use of English had been given up after the first month. Data on social organization and economic life were fairly easily acquired and this was facilitated by attendance at ceremonies connected with birth, sub-incision and a funeral, all of which took place soon after my arrival.

Enquiries in the sphere of religion, however, met with little response, and my attempts to gain further information provoked the antagonism of the chiefs, which persisted for several months. By following a steady policy of conciliation coupled with evidences of respect for their customs and beliefs, this attitude was gradually overcome, and I was later enabled to observe even their most important rites—a six-weeks' cycle of ceremonies in connection with houses, canoes, yam cultivation and dances—as a participant, and to obtain from the chiefs the sets of formulae used on these occasions. I was also given their general kava, i.e. the names of their ancestors and deities and the invocations addressed to them. In the last five months of my stay I was thus able to collect data giving a very full account of the most esoteric aspects of Tikopia culture.

As regards demography, a census of the people was taken, recording the name, village, dwelling-house and family of each person, as also his or her approximate age and kinship status in the group. The population at that date was 1,288, and from consideration of genealogies and the record of recent births and deaths it appears to be stable, or slightly increasing—at all events it is in a vigorous, healthy state. This can be clearly attributed to the persistence of the old forms of culture. A diary in which I recorded from day to day the main events occurring in the community shows the fullness and interest of life to the Tikopia. The apathy and depression so characteristic of a number of other Polynesian peoples at the present time, and correlated with the loss or deprivation of their former culture have as yet found no grip upon these islanders.

In the field of material culture attention was concentrated more on the economic than on the technological side of industry. More than 500 specimens of Tikopia workmanship, however, were collected, as well as a considerable number of objects from the various Melanesian islands visited en route.

In its general nature the mode of life of the Tikopia is very rich and vivid; the people are cheerful and animated, lead an active, busy existence, and while they spend much time in the preparation of their food, devote also a great deal of attention to ceremonial and religious affairs.

ECONOMIC CONDITIONS¹

Food is plentiful on the island and in great variety, taro and breadfruit being the staples of diet, but supplemented by bananas, yams, and coconuts as well as by sago, chestnuts, canarium almonds and various fruits of trees requiring no cultivation. Fish are caught in a great number of ways by hook and net, but the absence of any extensive reef system prevents any large, constant supply from being obtained. In a period of rough weather the people may taste no fish for several weeks at a time, and then live entirely on vegetable food. The pig is lacking, and other flesh food there is none, most of the birds, such as the pigeon, being regarded as uneatable by the majority of the population for religious reasons. Many of the people have never tasted meat of any kind. Manioc and certain varieties of yam and banana have been introduced by the native Mission teachers and voyagers from time to time, and have proved useful in time of famine. Tobacco, brought at an early date, probably by whalers, is now grown freely, and the natives of both sexes show a great craving for it. Pipes, in consequence, are eagerly demanded. Betel-nut of two varieties is chewed by all, and kava is prepared, but, being used for religious purposes, is rarely drunk. The elaborate kava ceremonial of social intercourse, so characteristic of the Polynesians of Tonga and Samoa, is entirely absent, being replaced by a ritual of offering libations to ancestors and other deities.

The island of Tikopia is not large, measuring at a liberal estimate only three miles by two, and the population, over 1,200, is obviously considerable. Nevertheless, the soil is very fertile, and there is no reason to fear any immediate serious shortage of food. Normally there is more than sufficient for the ,needs of the people, and in the periods between crops they resort, if necessary, to sago which has been cooked with Cordyline root for several days in a large communal oven. This yields a quantity sufficient to last each participant family for several weeks, and is excellent food.

By celibacy of the younger male members of the family, and other checks, the population is retained at a level consonant with the available food supply, and no distress is felt. Tentative suggestions to transport a section of the people to another island in order to cope with an imagined over-population are made without knowledge of the real state of affairs of the island, and any attempt to give effect to such proposals would in my opinion be disastrous to the people. Even if another island could be found free from malaria, filariasis, and other tropical diseases, which are not operative in Tikopia, the wrench to the social system and to the sentiments of the people by such a severance would react very strongly on their vitality. Moreover, as I have ascertained, the Tikopia themselves would be opposed to any such permanent migration.

Recruiting of native labour from the island would also be fraught with grave dangers to the population. The community from its isolated situation is a remarkably healthy one, and normally, except as the result of occasional epidemics contracted from visiting European vessels, none except weakly infants and old people die. Previous experience has shown that Tikopia, in common with the natives of Rennell Island, when removed from their home have little resistance to disease, and nostalgia being added to the depressing effect of a novel illness, this in many cases proves fatal. The survivors, even if they do not suffer permanent deterioration of physique from diseases such as malaria or tuberculosis, are likely to be the carriers of the seeds of such disease to their healthy relatives on the island, and so to promote that decimation and wastage of population which has been such a pathetic feature in the history of so many Polynesian groups.

From the more immediate economic point of view of the white employer this recruiting of labour would be ill-advised, as the amount of work obtained from these natives would probably, as on previous occasions, not cover the outlay involved in food and transport.¹

The economic structure of Tikopia society centres in the chiefs. They are acknowledged to be the supreme owners of the land, and the commoners hold title from them. The whole island, right to the mountain top 1,200 feet above the sea, is divided into tofi, gardens or orchards in which coconuts, bananas, breadfruit and other trees grow thickly, intersected with patches of cultivation of yams or taro. Each of these tofi is owned immediately by a single family group, which has a number of such areas in various parts of the island. The members of each family group, usually comprising several households, take food by mutual arrangement, according to requirements, from this ground. A certainindividuality of ownership is observed in connection with patches of taro and the like, which if planted by one brother or cousin will not be touched by another without express permission but, generally speaking, the foodstuffs in the tofi, especially as regards the more permanent sources, as coconuts, chestnuts, and bananas, are drawn upon freely by any member of the group, the equity of the arrangement being maintained by the contribution of that person to the common work of cultivation. Moreover, the close observation kept by every one of the group on the treatment of their joint property by their fellow-members makes for restraint in use.

The organization of economic life follows very closely the grouping afforded by the kinship system. Husband and wife with their children work in co-operation to bring in food for the household, tasks being apportioned according to capacity and customary usage. Men and women have each their own particular economic sphere, the division of labour being along fairly obvious lines. The men, for instance, do all the work with canoes, and so engage in line fishing, set large nets in the lake, and catch flying-fish by torchlight at night—a most spectacular proceeding. The women daily search the reef with hand-nets and scoop up all that comes their way, including small fry and crabs. The men build houses, make canoes, bowls, head-rests and other wooden objects, manufacture nets, including those for the use of their women-folk, and do most of the heavy work of breaking up the soil for gardening with digging sticks. The women plait mats for floor-covering and bedding, beat out the bark cloth strips and squares which are still worn as garments by all, and do most of the weeding of the cultivations and the tending of the taro crops, the planting of which is done indifferently by them or by their male relatives. Women, too, keep the water bottles of the household filled and attend to the daily ovens, though here they are generally assisted by the younger men of the family.

When assistance is needed in his own work a man calls in the help of his brother or his sons, while his wife's brother or his sister's husband will usually come to his aid with a contribution of raw produce if it is a question of preparing one of those ceremonial gifts of food which form such a feature of Tikopia society. Scarcely a day passes without baskets of food being carried from one village to another or across the island in payment of some obligation incurred in connection with the command of a chief, the visiting of a new baby, sub-incision, a boy's first torchlight fishing, a marriage, a death, a recovery from an illness or the like, and months may elapse before all the customary usages are fulfilled. Another prominent feature in the economic life is the exchange of property, in particular, rolls of kafa (sinnet), menga (pandanus leaf mats), and mami or fakamaru (bark cloth), which marks the performance of certain ceremonies. In connection with funeral rites, indeed, as many aseight different sets of gifts may have to be made, each, of course, involving a counter-gift; on these, as on so many other occasions, the principal people concerned are the mother's brothers of the chief actor, or on the other hand his sister's sons.

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION ¹

By reason of the small size of the Tikopia community all the inhabitants, with the exception of the younger children, are well known to one another, and are all connected by ties of kinship. These, however, are cut across by the associations formed by local grouping, which though not fully acknowledged in the formal religious and ceremonial life of the community, have, nevertheless, great weight in influencing the actions of the people.

The social unit which first meets observation is the village (kainga, potu) also termed the dwelling place (noforanga), a number of houses built in irregular formation at some spot of natural advantage. Of these villages there are about fifteen of varying size in the island, all on the low land and near the sea. Each house (paito) in the village is usually the home of an individual family, a man with his wife and children, though sometimes two married brothers, or a father and son with their respective families may share the same dwelling. When children grow up and marry, the sons often settle down near their father, building houses adjacent to his; the daughters, since marriage is patrilocal, are absorbed into other households and may go away to other villages. In such case they often re-visit their parents' home. In Tikopia near relatives call on one another very frequently. All the immediate members of a family sleep in the dwelling, there being no men's club house as in many parts of Melanesia. Some tamaroa (bachelors) have huts of their own if they so desire. The men normally sit and sleep towards one side of the house, termed mata paito, where the immediate ancestors and other members of the family have been buried, and which has a certain esoteric significance. The women and children live and sleep on the tuaumu side, where the fires are located, and the common doorways.

In ordinary economic affairs, as gardening, fishing or sago making, each village draws mainly on its own personnel, but relatives are frequently asked to visit each other to give assistance in work.

A division of great importance in the ordinary life of the native is that into the districts. The island is bisected roughly along the N-S line into two ‘sides’ (fasi), Faea and Ravenga by name, between the inhabitants of which is a very ancient rivalry. Between villages on the same side of the island t...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Full Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1. Outline ofTikopia Culture
• 2. Ceremonies for Children
• 3. Privilege Ceremonies
• 4. Bond Friendship
• 5. Suicide and Risk-Taking
• 6. Rumour in a Primitive Society with A Note on the Theory of ‘Cargo’ Cults
• 7. The Meaning of Dreams
• 8. The Analysis of Mana: An Empirical Approach
• 9. The Sociology of ‘Magic’
• 10. Ritual Adzes in Tikopia
• 11. Totemism in Polynesia
• 12. Economics and Ritual in Sago Extraction
• 13. The Plasticity of Myth
• 14. Individual Fantasy and Social Norms: Seances with Spirit Mediums
• 15. The Fate of the Soul
• 16. A Commentary
• INDEX