NEW GUINEA MAGIC

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 195, 19 May 1928, Page 24

NEW GUINEA MAGIC

OUR MANDATED BRETHREN

Magic among uncivilised people has a very different meaning from that .which we give it. With us it is used to describe merely wh.it is more than jisually wonderful; something imposing and startling. But in ancient times, and even now, among what Kipling calls “the lesser breeds,” magic means the art of doing remarkable things by the help of supernatural powers. The savage still believes that physical results can be secured through spiritual agents. A dozen failures will not outweigh a solitary lucky hit. The unseen world is still in . touch with the visible realm, and departed spirits can work enormous .mischief or confer solid advantages. All nature is. personal, animate, friendly or hostile.

What is an intelligent people like the ■ 'Australians to do in face of the prevalence of magic in New Guinea? We have already gained a reputation for enlightened administration, but are we to put down magic with a high hand, or simply allow the natives to play with jt as they please ? In his book on “Orokaiva Magic” Mr. F. E. Williams gives us the re-

sults of long years of study of what I he calls “a primitive- religious movement.” One of the amazing ■ state- ■ ments it contains is that since our oc- : of Papua a’ number of new religious cults have sprung up in various parts of the territory. A new cult would come like an epidemic, sweep all it, cause the authorities

much perplexity, then gradually, subside, but always leaving some per--1 manent change in the lives of those affected. The Taro cult is the one to .■which Mr. Williams gives special • attention. Taro is the. staple food of the Orokaiva people, and the new cult came into existence through the vision, of a man who believed himself pos-' sessed by the spirits of the taro He claimed to be in constant communication with them, to have received their instructions as to the proper rites for securing an ample crop in the gardens, and these rites, with their appeal to the stomach soon became an elaborate ceremonial. At a later stage the cult became a means for placating not the taro spirits, but the spirits ••>( ancestors or departed relatives, who are believed to control the growth of the taro. It becomes, therefore, a worship of the dead with a view »o securing a good crop of taro. These rites consist of singing rn concert to an accompaniment of diutns, feasting with new forms of etiquette, and it is sc ireely necessary to add that the songs .re nios-ly in praise of the taro. IMiCipg is a minor feature. Antic's like staggering, reeling, and a violent sinking of the head and limbs, qndilig in mild contort! ms and paroxysms, sre.tn to"' be allowed as part of the worship The leaders claim power to cure the sick. The. Trfr- cult spread very taptdi? unt'l "it extended beyond the l-oundary of th? no* them division into the northeas'ern division on the south It is still spreading, though. more slowly • Propagandists are at work as fat dis tant tis Collingwood Bay ’lhe cult has been more successful mill more ' tenacious than any other known i;i Papua. I The essence <-f the whole nicvement is the desire to secure through the spirits of the dead a greater output of taro in the gardens. fhe spirits are propitiated by offerings of food placed on little p’atforms. '1 he .-p'rit ol a particular dead man is invited to partake ' This is done became a departed spirit is known to retn.n quickly to his garden and play navoc with the taro in a kind of huff. At the funeral an old man will press his foot i on th; tof the dead rnan and leg him to "rend us pigs,, and rend us taro, and r e will make, tb.ee a feast.” When once a man acquires the faro jxligiou, that is, becomes possessed of

the' Taro spirit, he must as a disciple observe certain taboos. The chief of these is against washing, and the enthusiastic convert has been known to forego the pleasures of a midday dip for as long as eight months When the cult spread into % mission school its presence was detected h'/ ’he missionary’s nostrils. Apparently cleanliness is not next to this kind of godliness. The idea is that running water is supposed to cleanse away the effectiveness of file prophet, i.is endowment of inspiration. Resignations sometimes take place, because the beginner is tired of the taboos, and especially because he cannot resist the temptation of forbidden fools. One man gave up because he was hungry for eels.

The most disagreeable feature of the cult is the uncontrollable bodily movements or paroxysms which the Taro man believes to be so important. Reeling,- staggering, trembling, jerking are all forms of what is called “jipari” or the shaking fit. It begins with a cold, a shiver, a shudder/ It is tremendously infectious, and is supposed to make the taro-grow, but why it does so no native can tell. Psychologists have now instructed us as to the exaggerated susceptibilty and imitativeness of the members of the crowds or mob and their unconscious or almost wilful surrender of self-control, and Air F. At Davenport, in his book on "Primitive Traits in Religious Revivals,” gathers a number of instances in vvhch North Atnercan Indians, negroes and Europeans seem subject to something almost identical"with New Guinea shaking fits. „ Frenzy, foaming at the mouth, convulsions, jerks and contortions accompanied "an outpouring of the spirit.” Davenport ascribes these phenomena chiefly to nervous instabilitv.

What is the Government to do with regard to a cult like this? Mr. Williams suggests strong condemnation or ridicule of it. treatment' of it as disease or madness, for which hospital treatment is necessary. In many cases the evil is due to mere lack of restraint. Of, course, there is also the craving fur excitement Steel tools and abolition of tribal warfare have had a conspicuous effect on native life A man's energies arc now without an outlet. He idles and brews mischief. The taro cult is a novelty, attracts him bv its shaking fits, and a native who is bored will plunge in and make an orgy of it. What lie needs is relaxation and the satisfying of social feelings. The best, substitute for war is a good war-like game like football rr shinty, something with 'more rough [ lay than science

Mr Williams hrn>tnnnv valuable suggestions to offer on niativ siibmets this close, scientific study entitles his opiu ion to respect He thinks t.o religion will be acetitable to the natives unless it gives them r.lentv to do, a good deal of ceremoniM, 'of di et sing-up, of feasting, and of high -xri'ement Christiaintv, if ft is to compi-. tnusr become part and parcel ot his life, and be something in w me! be takes spontaneous interest end rlenstire

Closer settlement is wurmlv advo rated bv t !, e author with a view to bet ter methods of rard-nirc, a spirit of competition and the developm-mt of the idea of property Fetter tool- should be introduced, proper rotation of crops, and a course of in-.trrcHon. beginning with the voung Indus’rv on intelligent principles will do much Io eliminate magic.

The Government finds it mcessarv to oppose mag'c bv- means r f conviction and punishment, but y fide this keeps it in check, it 'till timer stamp out bebef in it.. Tim onh hope of eradicating it lies in educr’lion, a pro ccto slow" but Hire. I.iitle by little the native will find out and correct his own false and foolish idea*. *