Magic plays an enormous part in the tribal life of the Kiriwinians (as it undoubtedly does with the majority of native peoples). All important economic activities are fringed with magic, especially such as imply pronounced
In the management of gardens the towosi has a great deal to say, and great respect is shown to his advice, a respect which is in reality purely formal, because there are very few controversial, or even doubtful, questions about gardening. Nevertheless, the natives appreciate such formal deference and acknowledgment of authority to a degree which is really astonishing. The garden magician receives also his payment, which consists of substantial gifts of fish offered him by the members of the village community. It must be added that the dignity of village magician is usually vested in the person of the village headman, though this is not invariably the case. But only a man who belongs by birth to a certain village, whose maternal ancestors have always been the lords of that village and of that soil, can "strike the soil" (iwoie buiagu).
In spite of its great importance, Kiriwinian garden magic
The backbone of Kiriwinian magic is formed by its spells. It is in the spell that the main virtue of all magic resides. The rite is there only to launch the spell, to serve as an appropriate mechanism of transmission. This is the universal view of all Kiriwinians, of the competent as well as of the profane, and a minute study of the magical ritual well confirms this view. It is in the formulae, therefore, that the clue to the ideas concerning magic is to be found. And in the formulae we find frequent mention made of the ancestral names. Many formulae begin with long lists of such names, serving, in a way, as an invocation.
The question whether such lists are real prayers, in which an actual appeal is made to the ancestral baloma, who are supposed to come and act in the magic, or whether the ancestral names figure in the formulae as mere items of tradition-hallowed and full of magical virtue, just because of their traditional nature-does not seem to allow of any definite decision either way. In fact, both elements are undoubtedly present: the direct appeal to the baloma and the traditional value of the mere ancestral names. The data given below should allow of closer determination. As the traditional element is closely bound up with the mode of inheritance of the magical formulae, let us begin with the latter question.
The magical formulae are passed from generation to generation, inherited from father to son in the paternal line, or from Kadala (mat. uncle) to nephew in the maternal line, which, in native opinion, is the real line of kindred (veiola). The two forms of inheritance are not quite equivalent. There is a class of magic which may be termed local, because it is bound up with a given locality. To this class belong all the systems of garden magic, as well as all such magical spells as are connected with certain spots endowed with magical properties. Such was the most powerful rain magic in the island, that of Kasana'i, which had to be performed in a certain waterhole in the weika (grove) of Kasana'i.
The class of magic which is not bound up with locality, and which may be easily transmitted from father to son, or even from stranger to stranger, at a fair price, is much smaller. Here belong, in the first place, the formulae of native medicine, which always go in couples, a silami, a formula of evil magic, the object of which is to produce illness, being always coupled with vivisa, a formula for annihilating the respective silami, and so curing the disease. The magic which initiates a man into the craft of carving, the tokabitam (carver) magic, belongs to this class, as well as the canoe-making charms. And a series of formulae of minor importance, or at least of less esoteric character, such as love magic, magic against the bite of insects, magic against the mulukuausi (this latter rather important), magic for removing the bad effects of incest, etc. But even these formulae, though they are not necessarily performed by the people of one locality, are usually associated with a locality. There is very often a myth at the bottom of a certain system of magic, and a myth is always local.
Thus the more numerous examples, and certainly the more important class of magic (the "matrilineal" magic), is local, both in its character and in its transmission, whereas only par-t of the other class is distinctly local in its character. Now locality is in the mind and tradition of the Kiriwinian most intimately associated with a given family or subclan. In each locality the line of men who have succeeded each other as its rulers, and who in turn performed those acts of magic essential to its welfare (such as garden magic), would naturally loom large in the minds of the natives. This probably is confirmed by the facts, for, as mentioned
After this follows the rest of the formula, which is very long, and which, in the main, describes the state of things which the formula is meant to produce, i.e., it describes
The words vitumaga imaga are composed of the prefixes vitu (to cause), and i (third person, singular, verbal prefix); and of the root maga, which is composed again of ma, the root of come, and ga, a suffix often used, which plays merely the role of giving emphasis. The words vitulola, ilola are quite symmetrical with the former, only the root la, "to go" (reduplicated into lola), figures instead of ma, to come.
In the list of ancestors, two points are to be noted: the first names are attached to the word tubugu, whereas the last but one is used with tabugu. Tubugu is a plural, and means "my grandfathers" (gu being the pronominal suffix of the first person); tabugu means "my grandfather" (in the singular). The use of the plural in the first group is connected with the fact that in each subclan there are certain names, which are the property of this subclan; and
The second characteristic feature, which is also genera in all such lists of ancestors, is that the last names are preceded by the words "bilumava'u bilumam," which broadly mean (without entering into a linguistic analysis) "you new baloma," and then the names of the few last ancestors are enumerated. Thus Bagido'u mentions his grandfather, Muakenuva, and his father, Iowana. This is important, because it is a direct invocation of a baloma, "O thou baloma" (in "bilumam'" the m' being the suffix of the second person). In the light of this fact, the ancestor names appear to be more likely invocations of the ancestral baloma than a simple enumeration, even though the ancestral names have an intrinsic, active, magical power. In a free translation, the fragment may be rendered thus:-- "Cause! Make it! Be efficient! This free translation leaves still a great deal ambiguous, but it must be emphatically stated that this ambiguity does exist in the mind of the man who is best acquainted with the formula. Asked, what had to go and what to come, Bagido'u expressed his opinion in guesses. Once he told me that the reference was to the plants which have to enter the soil; on another occasion he thought that the garden pests are to go. Whether "come" and "go" are meant to be antithetical or not, was not clear either. The correct mentioning here the names of two ancestral heroes, about whom there exists a mythological cycle. Tudava is claimed to be in a way an ancestor of the tabalu (the most aristocratic subclan, who rule Omarakana), though there is no doubt that he belonged to the Lukuba clan (whereas the tabalu belong to the Malasi clan). The same two names are invoked in another formula, which is spoken over certain herbs, used in garden-planting magic, and over some structures of wood, made for magical purposes only, called kamkokola. This formula begins: "Kailola, Iola; Kailola, Iola; In free translation this means-- Go down [O you roots]; bore [into the ground, O you roots]; [help them] to go down, O Tudava; [help them] to bore [into the ground] O Malita; Tudava climbs up [lit. changes]; [Tudava] settles down on the tokaikaia (i.e., the platform for the baloma). In the Omarakana system of garden magic there are no special references to any sacred places near the village. The only ritual action performed in connection with the baloma during the ceremony is of a very trifling character. After reciting the appropriate spell over the first taro planted in a baleko (a garden plot, the economic and magical unit in gardening), the magician constructs a miniature hut and fence of dry branches, called si buala baloma ("the baloma, their house"). No spells are said over it, nor could I discover any tradition, or obtain any further explanation in connection with this quaint act. Another reference to the baloma, and a much more important one, though it does not take place during a ceremony, is the exposition or offering to the spirits of the ula'ula, the fee paid for the magic. The ula'ula is brought to the towosi (garden magician) by the members of the community, and consists usually of fish, but there may be betel nuts or coconuts, or, nowadays, tobacco. This is exposed in the house; the fish only in the form of a small portion of the whole gift, and, as far as I know, in a cooked condition. While the magician chants over the magical leaves and implements in his house previous to taking them out into the garden, the ula'ula, offered to the baloma, ought to be exposed somewhere near the medicated substance. This offering of the ula'ula to the baloma is not a feature particular to the Omarakana garden magic, but it obtains in all the other systems. The other system (momtilakaiva), to which reference The spell runs:-- U'ula: "Avaita'u ikavakavala Ovavavala? There is no dogina (final piece) in this formula. The translation runs as follows:-- "Who bends down in Ovavavile? I, Nasibowa'i (personal name of the present towosi) am bending down in Ovavavile! I shall go there and bend down in Ovavavile; I, Nasibowa'i, shall bend down in Ovavavile; I shall go there and bear the burden [here the magician identifies himself with the stone on which the kasi-iena is put] within the kaboma of Ovavavile. I shall go there and bulge out [here he speaks in the name of the planted tuber] within the grove of Ovavavile." The U'ula may be translated:-- "Eat your ula'ula (gift, payment for magic), O unmarried women, Inene'i," etc. (all these are personal names of female baloma). In the tapuala there are certain words I was unable to translate, but the general meaning is clear: "Spoil our fishing! bring bad luck to our fishing" (so far the spell is negative; it suggests in imperative form that which it is desired to prevent); ----- (?); ----- (?); "Go, open the mouth of the shark in the sea; go, make the shark to be This fragmentary translation shows, at any rate, that the bili baloma (a plural form of baloma, used when they are treated as a kind of effective agent in magic) of the unmarried females are directly invoked to lend a hand in making the fishing lucky. My informant was as puzzled as myself by the question why female and not male baloma are supposed to be effective in this magic. But it was a fact known, not only to the magician, but to everybody, that the female baloma are the tolipoula, the "masters of the fishing." The magician and some other men in council tentatively suggested that the male baloma go out to the fishing with the men, and the female baloma remain behind and have to be fed by the magician, lest they should be angry. Another man pointed out that in the myth which explains the existence of the shark fishing in Kaibuola, a woman plays an important part. But it was clear that to all my informants the fact of women being tolipoula was so natural that it had never occurred to them to question it previously. The kalala fishing in the village of Laba'i is connected with the mythical hero Tudava, who is specially associated with that village, and who is, in a way, reputed to be an ancestor of the present rulers of Laba'i. The magic which accompanies this fishing is essentially bound up with the mythological doings of Tudava. Thus, he lived on the beach where the fishing takes place and where the most important magical formulae are spoken. Again, Tudava used to walk on the road leading from the beach to the village, and there are some traditional spots connected with his doings on that road. The "traditional presence," if such an expression may be coined, of the hero is felt in all the fishing places. The whole neighborhood is also enveloped in taboos, which are especially stringent when the fishing is going on. This is periodical, and lasts for about six days each moon, beginning on the yapila (the day of the full moon), when "Tudava kulu Tudava; Tudava and Wa'ibua are mythical ancestors who both belonged to the village of Laba'i, the first being, as we know already, the great "culture hero" of the island. Noteworthy is the play on the name Wa'ibua, evidently for the purposes of rhythm. Again, the word kulu inserted between the two first names (that of Tudava and of Ibu'a and prefixed to the three following names) could not be translated by my informants, nor do I see any etymological solution of the difficulty. After the personal names enumerated above follow eight names without a kinship term and sixteen with the kinship term tubugu ("my grandfathers") preceding each. Then comes the name of the immediate predecessor of the present magician. My informant was unable to explain why some of the names were furnished with the kinship determination, whilst the others were not. But he was very positive that those two classes were not equivalent or interchangeable. An offering is made daily to the baloma during the six days the fishing lasts. Small bits of cooked fish (about the size of walnuts) and bits of betel nut (now also tobacco) are put by the magician on the Bomlikuliku stone with the following words:-- which mean-- "Eat your ula'ula (present for performing magic), O old women: Ilikilaluva (personal name), Ilibualita (personal name); open it." This shark spell or invocation is repeated daily with each offering. Another charm, called guvagava, is chanted daily for the six days over some leaves; it has the power of attracting the kalala fish. The spell begins with a list of ancestors, all of them styled "ancestor" or "grandfather." There is a spell performed once only, at the beginning of the fishing period, on the road leading from the village of Laba'i to the beach. It is chanted over a plant (libu) uprooted from the soil and put across the path. In this spell there is the following phrase:-- "Iamuana iaegulo, Umnalibu which is also an enumeration of names, all of which are said to have belonged to the present magician's ancestors. Another formula in which names of ancestors occur is that recited while the magician sweeps his house at the beginning of the fishing period. This spell begins:-- "Boki'u, Kalu Boki'u; Tamala, Kuri Tamala; All these are names of ancestors of the magician's subclan. Characteristic is the repetition of the names with a superadded prefix, "Boki'u Kalu Boki'u," etc. Whether the man's real name is represented by the first word and the second one is an embellished replica, or whether the first is only a curtailed second syllable of the real name, was not quite clear to my informants. In the system of kalala-fishing magic just discussed the As mentioned above, there are the two classes of magic, the "matrilineal" and "patrilineal," the former bound up with a locality, the latter often handed over from one place to another. It is also necessary in Kiriwinian magic to distinguish between magic which forms a system, and that which naturally consists of unconnected formulae. The term "system" may be taken to denote that magic in which a number of formulae form an organic consecutive whole. This whole is usually connected with activities which are also part of a large organic total--activities all of which are directed towards the same end. Thus it is quite clear that garden magic forms a system. Every formula is connected with some activity, and all together form a consecutive series tending towards one end. The same applies to magic performed at different stages of a fishing period or to magical formulae said during the successive phases of a trading expedition. No single formula of such a system would be of any use. They must all be recited successively; they must all belong to the same system, and each must mark off some phase of the given activity. On the other hand, love magic consists of a number of spells (and they are innumerable in Kiriwina), every one of which forms an independent unit. War magic (No. 2) again forms a system. All spells have to be recited, one after the other, in connection with consecutive magical activities. This system is connected with a certain locality, and references to this locality (and other places, too) are made, but no ancestor names are mentioned. Weather magic (No. 1), chiefly rain magic and, less important, fine weather magic, is local and connected with a myth. The twelve spells all belong to one locality, and they are the most powerful rain magic in the island. They are the monopoly of the rulers of the village of Kasana'i (a That the names of the ancestors are more than a mere enumeration is clear from the fact that the ula'ula is offered in all the most important systems, which have been thoroughly examined, and also from--the offerings and sagali described above. But even these presents and the partaking of the sagali, though undoubtedly they imply the presence of the baloma, do not express the idea of the spirits' actual participation in fostering the aim of the magic; of their being the agents through whom the magician works, to whom he appeals or whom he masters in the spell, and who perform subsequently the task imposed on them. The natives at times express meekly the idea that a benevolent attitude of the spirit is very favorable to the fishing or gardening, and that if the spirits were angry they would do harm. This latter negative view was undoubtedly more pronounced. The baloma participate in some vague manner in such ceremonies as are performed for their benefit, and it is better to keep on the right side of them, but this view by no means implies the idea that they are the main agents, or even the subsidiary agents, of any activity. The magical virtue lies in the spell itself. The native attitude of mind towards the baloma in magic may become more clear when compared with that obtaining during the milamala. There the baloma are participants and onlookers, whose favor ought to be gained, whose wishes are naturally respected, who, further, are not slow in showing their disapproval, and who can make a nuisance of themselves if not properly treated, though their anger is not nearly so terrible as that of the normal type of supernatural beings, savage or civilized. In the milamala the
Cause to come! Cause to go!
My grandfathers of the name Polu, etc. . . .
And you, recent baloma, grandfather Muakenuva, and father Iowana."
Malita, Ma-Malita," etc.,
Kaigulugulu; kaigulugulu;
Kailalola Tudava,
Iaegula'i Nasibowa'i,
Akavakavala Ovavavala!"
Tapuala: "Bala baise akavakavala Ovavavala Iaegula'i
Nasbowa'i akavakavala Ovavavala, bala
baise,
Agubitamuana, olopoulo Ovavavala; bala
baise
Akabinaiguadi olopoulo Ovavavala."
Ibu'a kulu, Wa'ibua;
Kuluvidaga, Kulubaiwoie, Kulubetoto,
Muaga'i, Karibuiuwa," etc.
Ilikilaluva, Ilibualita;
Kulisasisama,"
Tai'ioko, Kubugu, Taigala, Likiba,"
Tageulo, Kuritageulo."