@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@The Story of Raga

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@Chapter 8

(1)A sow gave birth to a boy and a girl, and a sea snake had a male
child and a female child. They got married to each other and had
their children. They are numerous together with the descendants of a
giant clam and a white button shell. Although the number of female
children was not known, the males slightly outnumbered the females(1).
A married couple who had a baby boy seeks for a pregnant woman. They
two give a piglet or a big red mat (to this woman), and they let
@ their baby boy cut his young coconut. In this way (it is said) he
cuts a young coconut with a pig or a big red mat(2). A pig or a big
red mat given to the pregnant woman becomes her debt(3). The coconut
(mentioned here) is not a real one but such a phrase has a deep
meaning, that is, the starting point of everything of a newborn was
from such a pig or a big red mat. The pregnant woman is a relative of
(this) boy(4). (Now) she has given birth to a baby.

2)If a newborn is a boy, the midwives shout gU, Uhin the same way as
one calls a canoe. If a girl, they say that tasalana ata Ute taragaiana
@(5) in such a big voice that people in all houses can hear it.
Everybody knows that a newborn is a girl. They bring a small red mat
and a child has it over its head and gives it to her father's sister
(6) seriously because it has a serious meaning. Suppose that when a
woman gives birth to a baby, there is her father's sister's son. Her
father's sister will bring yams, will kill a fowl, will cook them in
the earth-oven, will take them out of the oven, and will give them to
her as her foods in the case that this woman has given a female baby
and the child of her father's sister is a boy. Everybody knows that
the father's sister's son of the woman (who has just given birth to a
female baby) has secured this female baby and that they two will marry
someday(7). Well, the woman who had a child will lie down for ten days
and (on the tenth day) she will wash dirty things from her
childbirth. The female child grows into a girl called daulato when she
is ten years old or more, (then) her mother finds out her father's
sister and unfolds(8) a big red mat in order to give it to her, who
made mahalei and secured this girl(9). But the boy and girl do not
marry yet. Even though the girl has known the meaning of the big red
mat given by her mother, she is afraid of the boy and is lalagi (to
him)(10) yet.

3)The father and mother of the boy prepare three or five pigs, the first
of which has tusks growing up to its sideburns i.e. bobibia, and five
or ten big red mats. Their child is going to marry. In the side of the
girl(11), she performs a ceremony called lihilihi(12). She gives a big
red mat to her father's sister or a highly ranked female relative, and
this highly ranked woman operates her lihilihi. She purchases more than
ten or twenty things (in this ceremony). If she is a child of a chief
(13), more than fifty. One of her fathers brings a tusked pig which
she kills for a meal. If she is a child of a chief, she kills mabu or
livoala(14). At night women beat the slit drums and they make a tigo
dance till daylight. The father's sisters of the girl let her bathe
in the sea. After coming back from the sea, she kills a pig in order
to enter into the meeting house(15), and she purchases everything in
front of the meeting house. (But) this is the case of a daughter of a
chief only.

4)In the case of a daughter of the lower ranked men, they prepare
everything in the house of her father and she purchases (the following
things), ‡@ornament leaves attached in the back called sori, ‡Aa small
red mat or two small red mats, ‡Ba dye, ‡Ca feather, ‡D one, two or
three dried leaf umbrellas called bunbune, ‡E a tusk of a pig which
she puts around her arm, or two tusks, the number of which depends on
how many pigs she kills. A daughter of a chief puts ten tusks around
her arm. She puts them in this way when her fathers or her relatives
hold bolololi ceremonies(16). If she is a daughter of an ordinary man
who is poor for red mats and pigs but who has only his garden, he can
not give her a chance to take these things. This is because he did not
work hard in his garden or he did not have his sow.

5)Then the father of the boy sends a messenger for him (to the father of
the girl). Their mahalei is a red mat and a fowl which was killed when
the girl was born. The father of the boy already found a tusked pig
and some other pigs for a bride wealth. He takes six or seven leaves
out from the stem of cycad (Cycas circinnalis)(17), and he begins to
@prepare for a banquet. He already taught his child about the road of
everything on a past day. Now he sends his child to an old person who
will confer knowledge on him. Same is found with the case of a girl.
Her father or an old female person or an old male person taught it to
her. On the day of marriage, they will kill pigs for the meat cooked
in the earth-oven (in the meeting house) and a sow will be killed
which was cooked in the earth-oven in the house. A sow which is cooked
in the earth-oven is called umu.

6)Then the four (classificatory)fathers of the girl who came together to
her village the previous day will get the bride wealth of their child
with her (real) father. These four men came here with four big red
mats which were supplemented to that of her (real) father, who
prepares for (the marriage of) his daughter with these mats. The
father's sisters of the girl took her to the sea or any place and
(at that time) she does not know that she will marry the following day.
They walk out and reach (the sea), then she understands her
circumstances. But she does not ask about it. (Because) the old
person already taught her about such a happening in the future. Next
day, the father of the boy and his mother bring one big red mat and
many small red mats. A sister of the boy, who is his real sister or a
sister of the child of his another father, will bring a big red mat
with her and another sister will bring a small red mat with her. One
of two big red mats is used for an outfit of the girl who are going to
marry. The boy will put the other big red mat over his head and give
it to one of his classificatory fathers(18). The father, mother, and
mother's sisters of the boy bring many big red mats which are used for
(the payment to) the performance of whips of the girl's side and that
of snakes of the boy's side(19).

7)Now the people of the boy arrive at the village of the girl. The boy's
mothers and sisters go to the entrance of the (girl's) house. The
father of the girl enters into her house and he says,gMy daughter, I
let you go today, you marry out from our house.hThen she trembles and
cries(20). Sisters of the boy who is going to marry bring one small
red mat and they put it to the waist of the girl. And one father's
sister of the girl takes off the (old) small red mat which has been
the loin clothe of the girl. This father's sister of the girl puts
the fringes of the new small red mat into her waist belt. This belt of
the girl is really strong vine, that is called unu or another vine
called gaovunga. Then a sister of the boy will submit a big red mat
which she have had (to the father's sister of the girl). The father's
sister of the girl unfolds the big red mat and puts it over her head
as well as the girl's head. With this big red mat being put over their
heads, they go to the ceremonial ground.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@Chapter 9

1)Now the father of the girl brings a trumpet shell and hand it to the
those who blow it. He brings a pig and his daughter kills it, which
results in her taking a name of Mitalai or Mwisale or Mitari so and so
named after her father's sister or her father (for example;)‡@
Mitalaihuhu if her father's name is Molhuhu,‡AMwisaleliliu if her father
is Moliliu, ‡BMitaribani if her father is Molbani, or she will take over
the name of a female relative who was dead long time ago. If (a woman
of the grade of) motari is a child of a chief and her name is Motariala,
her father is Viraala(21). (After she kills a pig,) the father speaks
to and advises to his daughter who is standing near the dead pig as
well as a big sack (woven of pandanus leaves) into which her five
fathers put big red mats the previous day. The second big sack which
is of her mother is placed a little away from the first one. Then in
the end of his speech, the father of the girl says,gYour woman, a pig
which your wife has killed, and your big sack are there.h On the big
sack, there has been a yam which the sister of the boy will take and
gnaw.

2)The mother of the boy brings a big red mat which the boy puts over
his head. He calls the name of one of his classificatory fathers and
says,gYour big red mat, my father.h The mothers of the boy unfold a
small red mat for each of his father's sisters(22). These father's
sisters walk with green reeds as their sticks after a man to whom the
boy has given a big red mat by putting it over his head. They walk.
The boy's father carries a big red mat under his arm who is walking
ahead of the boy, after whom his father's sisters walk. They turn
around the girl, her father, big sacks, a yam, and a dead pig. They
turn around them twice and they lightly touch the hem of the clothes
of the girl's father(23). The sister of the boy takes a yam and gnaw
it. One mother of the boy shoulders one big sack. The mother and
sisters of the girl shoulder their own big sack in which their big
red mats and small red mats are placed. The girl's sisters are seized
with sorrows. All of them are lalagi to the marrying boy as well as
all of his brothers.

3)Now five groups of people are mischievous on the road. Father's
sisters of the boy are so mischievous that they beat mothers and
sisters of the boy by snakes (being grasped in their hands) or that
the former pours water, mud or ashes on the latter. The girl's mothers,
who are wives of the girl's distantly related fathers, try to bring
their faces close to the face of the girl shouting kekea in order to
kiss her, or they try to grasp the girl's breasts. But father's
sisters of the girl push them away and the girl somehow goes to her
father's sisters. Her mothers throw back her (own) words which were
uttered to them, when she was still a little girl(24), that she would
not do such a thing as carrying a heavy basket, working hard or
feeding pigs. Her mothers unfold big red mats which are given to the
father's sister of the boy for the performance of the snake-beating
(25). Her fathers bring whip-like branches called huhugabe and dame.
Each of them who has fifty or an hundred whips stands on the road in
order to beat anyone of brothers of the girl who has just married. The
mother of the boy unfolds a big red mat and the father of the girl
takes it(26). Then they pass by. Some of young men who are relatives
of the married boy make a noise(27) by hitting leaves on their rounded
hands until they reach (the boy's place).

4)Now Women are more mischievous. A party reaches the village of the boy.
The boy cuts off branches and one of his fathers sets them into the
ceremonial ground (as posts). Five posts make one row which is called
the post of the pig and the other row is called the post of
lingilingiana. They blow trumpet shells in order to show the status of
the first pig(28) which is the substitute of the pig the girl killed.
(The other) four pigs are fastened to the posts of the (first) row,
which are given to four men who packed big red mats in the girl's big
sack with her (real) father the previous day, and (besides them),
there are five or so big red mats which are called leaves of laplap
(raun longgo). The married boy gives the head of the pig his wife killed
to his brother. He gives(29) it to his (classificatory) brother who is
in a remote position far away from his true brother.

5)Then the boy stands by and puts his hand on the post to which the
first pig is fastened. One of his fathers or his chief who is his true
relative(30) speaks to him and teaches some moral principles to him.
If the boy is lazy, this man scolds him in the public saying that he
is idle, he is like a shell, he is noisy, or he does not listen to his
parents (but everything is finished today). After his speech, five
fathers and mothers of the girl come and turn around pigs, a saw,
lingilingiana, and big red mats called raun longgo. They round twice and
they touch the hem of the clothes of the married man. The father of
the girl distributes pigs to these four men and big red mats called
raun longgo to father's sisters of the girl. The first woman among the
mothers of the girl unfolds one or two big red mats as well as five
or ten small red mats, and puts them over the head of the girl, then
calls the husband of the girl and says, gYour big red mats, my father,
@your g-strings are five or ten.h Some of her mothers unfold their big
red mats in this way, to all of whom the boy is related as their
father. The boy lets go these wives of his bwaliga with pigs and saw
(31).

6)Then the girl goes into the house of her husband. The sister of her
husband breaks off a green coconut leaf and throw it. The girl sits
down on it. The mother of the girl brings (and gives) a small red mat
(to her) for this coconut leaf. The mother of the girl unfolds big red
mats and gives them only to those brothers or sisters of the boy who
helps him in preparing kava, food, or big red mat. When the laplap is
finished, the boy puts a big red mat over his head and gives it to
one of his fathers. They two go into the house and they pour coconut
milk on the laplap. One of the mothers of the girl treads on the
stones of the earth-oven of umu. This means that a child of this
woman will marry some day. But in the case of treading on the stones
(in the marriage ceremony) of a female child of vira and motari, motari
unfolds five big red mats and one hundred small red mats and vira
(already) packed one hundred big red mats in a big sack (in the day
of hohogonivwa.) In this way, motari will search another motari who
will tread on the stones of the earth-oven of umu. This means that
motari will do the same thing when her child will marry some day.
People go home leaving five bwaliga of the boy and their five wives,
who sleep (here) until morning. The boy makes fire and he kills five
fowls for their foods and he cooks them in the earth-oven. (Then) the
married couple will see them off on their way and say good-by to them.


@@Notes to Vevhurin Raga & The Story of Raga

(1) From the beginning to this point, the story is mythic. In gThe Story of
Raga Ih, Rev. Tevimule described the origin myth, in which a giant clam
and a white button shell play important roles. It is not clear why he
started the story of Chapter 8 with the children of sow and sea snake.
(2) This is an idiomatic phrase concerning infant betrothal. The phrase of
mwa dai simango gin boe sa bwana (mwa = he, dai = to cut, simango = a young
coconut which is filled with coconut juice, gin = with, boe = a pig, sa =
or, bwana = a big red mat) is used when the parent of a baby boy gives a
pig or a big red mat to a pregnant woman, who calls the mother of the
boy vwavwa (father's sister), with intention that if she gives birth to
a girl, they let marry their child to this girl. See also Note 7.
(3) This also means that if the pregnant woman gives birth to a girl, she
should ggiveh her child as a wife to the boy who cut down a young
coconut, which results in the payoff of her debt.
(4) The pregnant woman is nitu (mother's brother's daughter) of the boy. See Figure in Note 7.
(5) The meaning of taragaiana is not clear. Ute is a name of place and is
changeable to another place name in this phrase, such as tasalana ata
Gihage taragaiana.
(6) The meaning of hunia is gto put the end of an unfolded big red mat over
one's head and give it to one's father or father's sisterh. This is
performed in hunhuni. See Section ‡U of Introduction.
(7) In North Raga, a man can marry his mabi while a woman her sibi. The
situation is explained by the following figure. A is a woman who has
just given birth to a female child. B is her father's sister who has a
male child. B and her husband already gave A a piglet or a big red mat
(mwa dai simango gin boe sa bwana). This time, B presents meals to A and C.
The father's sister's son of A is D who calls C mabi.




(8) Vugeri (or bugeri) means@gto unfoldh ,which is used when one unfolds a
big red mat in order to put the end of it over the head of someone to
give it to his/her father or father's sister. This is a scene of hunhuni
described in the Introduction.
(9) In the above figure, B gives meals to A when A gives birth to a female
child. This meal is called mahalei.
(10) Lalagi (lala = to be afraid) is a kind of kinship term. It is applied by
@@a woman to her sibi, that is, her potential husband.
(11)The male and female categories in North Raga are shown in the following
table. Rev. Tevimule uses different categories such as daulato, tabwalugu
and vavine to indicate the bride while mwalanggelo or atatu to indicate the
bridegroom. In this paper, however, I translate daulato, tabwalugu and
vavine as a girl if these terms refer to the bride. In the same way,
mwalanggelo and atatu used for the bridegroom are translated as a boy.

(12)Lihi means gto purchaseh. Lihilihi is a woman's ceremony which seems to
be done before marriage. I will present a detailed description of lihilihi
in gThe Story of Raga Vh.
(13)Ratahigi is translated as jif in Bislama, which means gchiefhin English.
It is not a hereditary chief but a man in the highest grade in the
graded system.
(14)See Figure 4 in Introduction.
(15)This is also woman's ceremony called haroroagamali (haroro = to enter, a =
into, gamali = meeting house). A woman who finished this special
ceremony can enter into a meeting house freely into which women are
generally prohibited to enter. I will describe it in gThe Story of Raga
@@Vh.
(16)Bolololi is a ceremony concerning men's graded system. Men can enter into
a higher grade by killing pigs and purchasing several emblems in bolololi
ceremony. This will be described in gThe Story of Raga VIh.
(17)This is a traditional way of counting. The literal translation of tamana
vi @ngis gubwan gaiono sa gaivwelu is ghis father will take off six or
seven daysh.
(18)The meaning of havana isgone's relativehand although it is used for
one's moiety members in some cases, it is usually used for one's cluster
members. Havan tamana is thus usually used for the male members of the
same cluster as one's real father. These persons are also called
tama (father). In this way, havan tamana is translated as the
classificatory father.
(19)In Section 3 of Chapter 9, Rev. Tevimule writes that the the father's
@@sisters of the bridegroom beat his mothers or sisters by snakes while
the fathers of the bride beat her brothers by whips. This is a kind of
bwaraitoa (joking behavior).
(20)Huin tabwalugu mwa ruru mwa dei literally means g the bones of the girl
tremble and she criesh.
(21)There are four men's grades in North Raga. The first grade is tari, next
moli, third livusi (or udu or nggarai), and the last vira. A man who got to
vira grade is called ratahigi, which is translated here as chief. A man
who is in any grade is given a name containing the name of his grade.
For example, the name of a man in moli is Molmemea, Molture, Molhuhu and
so on while that of a man in vira is Viradoro, Virawahai, Viraala and so on.
(22)In this case, small mats are unfolded on the ground, which are given to
the father's sisters of the boy. However they are not put on the head of
the boy. The small red mat is not given in the form of hunia except that
it is given together with the big red mat. In the same scene of today's
marriage ceremony, the boy's father's sisters are given big red mats,
not small red mats, in hunhuni. See Section ‡V in Introduction.
(23)When something is given in the ceremony, the receiver makes this action.
Same is the case of hunhuni. A mat-receiver who is the father or the
father's sister of the mat-giver goes around the giver a few times and
touches the edge of the clothe of him/her.
(24)Although I translate vavin togo as a little girl here, vavin togo (vavin=
vavine = woman, togo = to stay) exactly meansga little girl who does not
have an experience of being in love yeth.
(25)As was said in Note 8, the term bugeri (to unfold) is used in the scene
of hunhuni. In hunhuni in the marriage ceremony, it is usual that if the
big red mat is given to the father's sister of the bridegroom, the
bridegroom puts the mat over his head, which is unfolded by his parents,
his mothers or his sisters. So the description of Rev. Tevimule that the
mat is unfolded by the mother of the bride is curious. This description
is also inconsistent with the writing in Section 6 of Chapter 8 that the
parents and the mother's sisters of the bridegroom prepare many big red
mats to give them to the performers of the snake-beating as well as the
whip-beating.
(26)Here Rev. Tevimule writes that the mother of the bridegroom unfolds a
big red mat which is given to the father of the bride. Same curious
situation as in Note 25 appears. Because the mat which is unfolded by
the bridegroom's mother is put on the head of the bridegroom, which
should be given to his father or father's sister, not to the father of
the bride. It is not clear whether the customs described by Rev.
Tevimule here are of old days and are not found today, or his
description is simply mistaken.
(27)Bosa rau is an action that one hits a leaf against his palm by the other
hand in order to make an explosive sound.
(28)The literal translation of ram uv taiva huri livon muan boe is that gthey
@@blow trumpet shells for the tusks of the first pigh. There are many
kinds of rhythms and sounds of a trumpet shell according to the status
of pig, that is, the grade of its tusks. In this case, the status of pig
which is fastened to the first post is indicated by the blowing of the
trumpet shell.
(29)Toroi (or doroi) means gto give something to eat in the same way as
mwemwearuvwa which is a giving with expectation of return gift (see
Introduction).h In this case, the brother of the bridegroom who gets
the head of the pig is expected to give back the same thing to this
bridegroom in the future in his own marriage ceremony. Although the
receiver of mwemwearuvwa should be the giver's father or father's
sister, that of toroi is not limited to special relatives.
(30)Since havana(relative) usually means one's cluster member, mwasin havana
(true relative) is used for genealogical relatives or very close kin in
the same cluster.
(31)The mothers of the bride call the bridegroom father(tama), while
the latter calls the former daughter(nitu). These women are the wives
of the fathers of the bride, whom the bridegroom calls bwaliga.