Archives internationales d'ethnographie

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P.W.M. Trap, 1889
 

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Page 66 - Compilation of notes and memoranda bearing upon the use of human ordure and human urine in rites of a religious or semi-religious character among various nations.
Page 271 - ... women array themselves in all manner of fantastic garbs, address one another in the most „indecent phrases, and practice unmentionable abominations openly in the public square of the town The „nearest relationships— even that of own brother and sister— seem to be no bar to the general licence, the „extent of which may be indicated by the expressive phrase of an old Nandi chief, who said, „While it „lasts, we are just like the pigs".
Page 268 - Temple, sits the chief priest regarding them with a fixed stare ; and between him and them lie a row of dead men, covered with blood, their bodies apparently cut open, and their entrails protruding. The Vere steps over them one by one, and the awestruck youths follow him until they stand in a row before the high priest, their " souls drying up
Page 270 - Nanga, or sacred enclosure of stones, in which the severed foreskins were offered, was "the Sacred Place where the ancestral spirits are to be found by their worshippers, and thither offerings are taken on all occasions when their aid is to be invoked. Every member of the Nanga has the privilege of approaching the ancestors at any time. When sickness visits himself or his kinsfolk, when he wishes to invoke the aid of the spirits to avert calamity or to secure prosperity, or when he deems it advisable...
Page 256 - I happily fell in with an elderly Wainimala man, who had been one of the Vunilolo matua, and whose confidence I won by giving him a detailed account of the Australian Bora. He listened with all his ears, and with eyes opening ever more widely. Presently, while we were talking, a woman passed by, and lowering my voice, I said, " Hush ! the women must not hear these things.
Page 270 - ... it is the Sacred Place where the ancestral spirits are to be found by their worshippers, and thither offerings are taken on all occasions when their aid is to be invoked. Every member of the Nanga has the privilege of approaching the ancestors at any time. When sickness visits himself or his kinsfolk, when he wishes to invoke the aid of the spirits to avert calamity or to secure prosperity, or when he deems it advisable to present a thank-offering, he may enter the Nanga with proper reverence,...
Page 270 - ... serve for the next ceremony. These beasts are henceforth sacred. They are the pigs of Nanga, and have the run of all the overflowings of the fleshpots in the villages where they are appointed to be kept. They are held in the greatest reverence. To kill one, excepting for sacrifice at one of the Nanga rites, would be an inconceivable act of sacrilege, and it is an act of piety to feed them. Men may be seen throwing down basketfuls of food before them as a meritorious offering, and calling the...
Page 95 - Man hat es gehört, Es ist über ganz Einei (ein Dorf) verbreitet und macht viel Aufruhr in Arorai. Soll ich es verleugnen? Es bricht mein Herz. Sein Oel riecht so schön und er ist so schön und gut! Ich habe ihn so sehr lieb. Und er scheint mich wieder zu lieben. Jetzt steht er unter jenem Baum, ich will ihn rufen. Ngo, Ngo, Ngo. Ich muss hingehen wo ich Ruhe finde nach Norden über das tiefe Wasser.
Page 270 - He delivers to them an impressive discourse on the new position they have assumed, points out to them the duties which now devolve upon them, enjoins strict observance of the tribal customs, threatens them with the sure vengeance of the gods if they reveal the Nanga mysteries to the uninitiated, and especially warns them against eating the best kinds of yams and other vegetables. These, together with freshwater fish and eels caught in the river, are forbidden to them. They must present them to the...
Page 270 - ... the aid of the spirits to avert calamity or to secure prosperity, or when he deems it advisable to present a thank-offering, he may enter the Nanga with proper reverence, and deposit on the dividing wall his whale's tooth, or bundle of cloth, or dish of toothsome eels so highly prized by the elders, and therefore by the ancestors whose living representatives they are : or he may drag into the Sacred Nanga his fattened pig, or pile up there his offering of the choicest yams. And, having thus recommended...

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