THE STORY OF RAGA: A MAN'S ETHNOGRAPHY ON HIS OWN SOCIETY
(V)THE GAIBWALASI AND HAROROAGAMALI RITUALS


INTRODUCTION


　　　　This article represents a type of “experimental ethnography.” Although several experimental trials of writing ethnographies (cf. Crapanzano 1980, Marcus and Fischer 1985) have been conducted, a new and general way to describe another culture has yet to be established. In this article, I present a new method of describing another culture: the culture of North Raga is described in terms of two texts. One text was written in the Raga language by a native intellectual, and I authored the second text based on my field research in North Raga.
     　The concept of a polyphonic description was proposed by Clifford, who insisted that the voice of a native informant should be directly cited in an ethnographic account so as not to be extinguished by the monophonic voice of the ethnographer (Clifford 1988). However, it is difficult for most readers of ethnography to understand a native speaker who is speaking in her or his own language, even if the content has been literally translated into the language of the reader, due to conceptual gaps between the two languages. Therefore, the ethnographer should transform the raw information provided by a native in his or her language into an interpreted translation that the reader can understand. However, this process ultimately tends to result in a monophonic description on the part of the ethnographer. To avoid inappropriately processing the raw material in this series of articles, I have provided a literal translation of the Ragan text into English; detailed notes supplement the translation, so that the reader can understand the meaning of the literal translation.
　　　　North Raga is located in the northern part of Raga, or Pentecost Island, in Vanuatu, where I conducted anthropological field research in 1974, from 1981 to 1982, in 1985, and in 1997. According to the 2009 census, the population of this area is about 4.000. Because the language spoken by inhabitants of this area was named “Raga” by a linguist, it is typically known as “the Raga language.” However, Raga is the name of the entire island in the language of North Raga, and different languages are spoken in the central and southern parts of the island.　 
　　 Almost all inhabitants of the area in question are Christian, and their existence depends primarily on slash-and-burn taro and yam cultivation. Matrilineal moieties and many matrilineal kin groups can be found within this group. Marriage regulation is a kind of prescription (Yoshioka 1985). As in other parts of Northern Vanuatu, North Raga has a rank-taking system that is realized in a ritual called Bolololi. The men of highest rank are called jif (chief) in Bislama (Vanuatu Pidgin), but the role of such a “chief” is a variation on that of the so-called big-man.
　     The text was written by Rev. David Tevimule in the Raga language in 1966. Rev. Tevimule was born in Asaosulu in North Raga. During my second field research in 1981, he was known as tamaragai, which means “a very old man.” It is unclear when he was born. When I asked him about his age, he pointed to a boy near him, who looked about 14　or 15 years of age, and told me that he had been about the same age as that boy when the volcano of Ambrym exploded. This explosion of the Ambrym volcano seems to have occurred in 1913 (cf. O’Reilly 1956). If so, he may have been well over 80 at the time of my second field research.
　     Rev. Tevimule grew up in North Raga and married there. He had been married for many years before his first child was born, in 1930. This child was named Harry Tevi, and he was the first ni-Vanuatu to become a Bishop of the Anglican Church in Vanuatu (Vulum 1981). After Harry was born, the Rev. Tevimule went to Lolowai on Ambae Island to attend training to become an Anglican priest. Later, he transferred to Maka College on the Solomon Islands. He then returned to Lolowai, Vanuatu in 1946 as a priest. In 1947, he began to teach at the Anglican School at Bwatnapni in the central Pentecost. After retiring from school teaching, he returned to North Raga and lived in the village of Tasvarongo. Despite his long life outside North Raga, he was well known to the local people for his extensive knowledge of local customs. To our deep regret, he passed away in 1984.
　　　　The original title of his text, which was written in the form of a hand-lettered booklet, was Vevhurin Raga, which means “The Story of Raga.” Although it consists of 20 chapters, the first 14 chapters are presented here as his ethnography ⁽¹⁾ and are categorized into six parts. The first part concerns the myth of the island’s origin, the second concerns kin relations, the third concerns customs related to marriage, the fourth concerns relations between men and women, the fifth concerns customs related to certain rituals for boys and girls, and the sixth concerns the rank-taking ritual ⁽²⁾. In this article, I consider the fifth part, Chapters 12 and 13, in which Rev. Tevimule describes such rituals as Gaibwarasi, Haroroagamali, Lihilihi, and Marahamawabute. I present the text in the Raga language along with its English translation, the data described by Codrington, and the data collected during my field research concerning these rituals.


I

　　　　In 1891, Codrington reported on a North Ragan ritual known as Qeta, which concerns a boy wearing a loincloth (Codrington 1891:92?94). Because this motif is also found in the Gaibwarasi ritual, I will compare these two rituals. Codrington obtained the Qeta data “from one who was made a member as an infant, but has seen all the proceedings of recent years.” Because this man was “initiated in his father’s arms”(Codrington 1891:93), it is certain that information about the ritual was based on his observations or hearsay rather than his own experience. After describing Codrington’s Qeta ritual, I will describe the Gabwarasi ritual based on information from David Tevimule, who spoke to me in 1982. As he said that this ritual was no longer performed when he was born, the data described herein are also hearsay. His explanation about Gaibwarasi, provided in 1982, differs in some aspects from the text below, which was written in 1966.

The Qeta ritual, as described by Codrington

　　　　Although boys of all ages are initiated eventually, the Qeta initiation is generally held at about the time that a male dress, called a malo, is put on. None of the boys grows up without participating in this ritual. That is, putting on the malo and entering Qeta society are necessary steps in life. Although the ritual is celebrated whenever a sufficient number of candidates are available, it may be done at intervals of 6 or 10 years. “Some great man (or two or three of them together) presides and manages the arrangements and teaches the songs and dance; the Qeta is said to be his or theirs. The scene of the meeting  is some ute gogona, a place on which tapu has been laid”(Codrington 1891:92). This location contains many houses, at which the candidates stay during the period of their first seclusion. The payment for entrance into the society is a mat for a boy, which is given by his father or his guardian.
　　　　On the day of the ritual, boys come together, and women are kept away. No enclosure delineates the ritual ground, but a stick is placed on the ground to mark the entrance when the ritual begins. Two parties, consisting of men who have already been initiated, stand in separate groups within the mark and sing. Each boy steps over the mark. If he is wearing his malo while doing so, the men suddenly break the girdle string, the malo falls, and the boy is naked. If the candidate is too young to walk by himself, his father or the man who has paid his entrance fee carries him in his arms.
　     The boys are then secluded, but they are not always naked during seclusion, and each is given a new malo. They remain in a newly built house, except when they come out to eat, sing, and dance. The boys paint their bodies black with charcoal and do not wear any ornaments. Long rows of seats are used by the boys to sit while eating and as objects around which they loudly sing and dance. A little food is given by men who have already been initiated. The boys get nothing else to eat. The meanings of the songs taught are insignificant, and they are only used to teach the dance steps. These songs and dances do not serve as the media through which secret knowledge is communicated.
　     The duration of seclusion is unpredictable. Most of the men who have already been initiated leave after the first 3 days. The food becomes scarce, and each boy is given only a small portion. The boys begin to scatter and live in little houses near the gardens, but they do not return to their villages. The boys are fed and cared for by some men. (Codrington does not mention who they are.) The entire seclusion period lasts about 5 months; that is, it begins at the time of yam planting and ends at harvest time. Although the food restriction becomes easier during the later part of the seclusion, the eating of fish and shellfish remains prohibited. The beach is gogona, unapproachable, and no one is permitted go there to gather shellfish.
　     The boys cannot wash their bodies during the seclusion period. When the first yams are dug, the period of seclusion is ended, and the boys go down to the beach to wash their blackened bodies and eat. Then, the women come and look at them. After that, the boys return to their villages and receive a name such as Tariliu or Tarisuluana after having become tari (Codrington 1891:92?94).
　　　Both Codrington and Rivers describe the secret society known as Tamate, which is located on the Banks Islands (north of Pentecost or Raga Island), in detail (Codrington 1891, Rivers 1914). These descriptions mention another secret society, Qat, on the Banks Islands. Codrington described the initiation to Qat as follows: “…whenever a sufficient number of candidates are forthcoming, an enclosure in a retired place is made by a fence of reeds, the two ends of which overlap to make an entrance, the shark’s mouth as it is called, through which it is impossible to look” (Codrington 1891:84). He noted that Qatu society is widespread in the northern New Hebrides, and he treats it as the same kind of Qat that was found on the Banks Islands. Qeta in North Raga is also regarded as belonging to the same group as Qat.

The Gaibwarasi ritual, as described orally by David Tevimule

     　This ritual is held when a boy wears a loincloth called a malo. He cannot wear the malo before participating in this ritual. The boys who are of suitable age participate in Gaibwarasi together. The chiefs (ratahigi) who are in the highest grade, called vira, cut the bush open and prepare a long ritual ground called sara, which is not the real ground for the Bolololi but is the ground for the Gaibwarasi. They prepare a meeting house called gamali in the bush at the end of the ritual ground. The chiefs who arrange the ritual are called ira bwatua. They also look after the novices, called gultabu, during the ritual. The chiefs cut long branches and insert both ends of each branch into the ground so that they are curved into a half circle. Multifold semicircular branches in a line make a kind of small tunnel that the novices (young boys) go through. The number of tunnels is the same as the number of boys. It is said that this tunnel represents a vagina. The semicircular branch is called gaibwarasi. (In the 1966 text shown later in this article, David Tevimule does not refer to a tunnel but to a fence made of semicircular branches surrounding the ritual ground. Moreover, I was told by another informant that this scene also includes two large semicircular entrances, under each of which a man is sitting.)
     　At night, a large flaming torch is placed at each end of the ritual ground. Each boy jumps in a zigzag fashion from one end of the ground to the other while holding a stick in his hand. Upon arriving at one end, he beats down the burning part of the flaming torch with his stick and then he jumps in a zigzag pattern to the opposite end to do the same thing there. Young boys behave in this manner until morning. (Jumping in a zigzag seems to be a kind of dance and is apparently an imitation of slowly running in a zigzag pattern or dancing on the ritual ground as occurs in the opening scene of Bolololi.)
　     The boys sleep in the meeting house that has been constructed in the bush. When they are sleeping soundly, batua shouting “hoho ui, hoho ui, hoho ui ho,” swing burning reeds in front of the boy’s faces. This action is called havwa. (During their stay at the meeting house, they go through the tunnel in the morning and beat the burning torch at night, but David Tevimule’s memory was unclear on this point.) When men from other villages pass by the ritual ground, these boys shout “hoho ui, hoho ui, hoho ui, ho.” (In the 1966 text shown later, Tevimule says that this is a song).
　     Then, these batua cook snakes stuffed in bamboo as food for the boys. In North Raga, snakes were thought to be mediators of supernatural powers and are feared even now, after the traditional belief has disappeared. Although snake is never a food for people in North Raga, boys participating in the Gaibwarasi ritual must eat it. The chiefs in the village where Gaibwarasi is held prepare many taros. People coming together eat cooked taro and pork, whereas the young boys are forced to eat cooked snake and half-cooked taro. On the same day, the classificatory father of each boy puts a loincloth, called a malo, on him following the chief’s instruction. On the fifth day (David Tevimule initially said “another day,” but later he corrected this), the classificatory father of the boy cuts the loincloth belt. It slips down, and the boy’s genitals are exposed. The sibi (mother’s father, sister’s husband, etc.) ⁽³⁾ of the boy grasps his genitals and says “hoho ui, hoho ui.” (In the 1966 text, the person who cooks snakes and cuts the loincloth belt is called the gultabu. As gultabu is used to indicate a novice, this is curious.) The next day, the boy again wears the loincloth and puts a large red mat on his head; he then gives the mat to his classificatory father. The boy is subsequently allowed to wear a loincloth at any time, and he will usually purchase the right to use an earthen oven of the lowest grade, called a tulai, after several months.

Considerations

     　Two kinds of seclusion are mentioned in the Qeta ritual described by Codrington. One is the seclusion on the ritual ground, during which the young boys learn dances and songs. The other is when the boys stay near the garden until the yam harvest. During the latter seclusion, the boys do not participate in learning or rituals. The men looking after the boys during the seclusion do not seem to have particular identities, as was the case for those who played important roles in the first seclusion, as they are referred to by Codrington only as “men” (Codrington 1891:93).
　　　　The taboo on trips to the beach should be verified. Although Codrington thinks it is part of the restriction imposed on the boys, it is notable that this taboo is applicable not only to the secluded boys but also to all people. In North Raga, a taboo that prohibits doing something or going someplace is usually imposed by the chief who killed the pigs during the Bolololi ritual. The chief who kills the pigs enters into a state of taboo and remains secluded in the meeting house for several days. After release from the taboo state, he emerges from the meeting house and imposes a particular kind of taboo, which is applicable to all the people of North Raga (Yoshioka 1994). It is reasonable to think that the taboo regarding the beach during the second seclusion described by Codrington may be a result of the chief’s Bolololi, which would have been performed soon after the Qeta ritual.
　     Furthermore it is strange that the ritual was related to yam planting and harvesting given that the second seclusion is a part of the Qeta ritual because the name “Qeta” is not compatible with “yam.” Codrington translates 70 North Ragan words in his book on Melanesian languages, including six words starting with “q.” Because his orthography follows that of the Melanesian Mission, the letter “q” is applied to the compound sounds of [k], [p], and [b] (Codrington 1885:39?52, 198). According to the contemporary North Ragan spelling, this appears as the letter “bw” or “b” (Table 1).

                 　　　  Table1. Six North Ragan words

　　　　According to Table I, qeta should be spelled bweta when following the contemporary rules, and the meaning of bweta is not yam but taro. Although it is unclear why his description of the “taro ritual” does not mention “taro,” the second phase or seclusion described by Codrington should not be considered part of the Qeta ritual.
　　    I identified the following common features by comparing Codrington’s description of the first phase of the Qeta ritual with Rev. Tevimule’s description of the Gaibwarasi ritual: The rituals are performed when boys wear a malo; these boys are secluded in a meeting house that has been newly built at the ritual grounds; during seclusion, the boys learn dances and songs; and the main motif found in the ritual is exposing the penis when the malo is forcibly removed. The name Qeta is consistent with the Gaibwarasi ritual described by Tevimule, in which the novice eats cooked snake and half-cooked taro while other people eat cooked taro and pork.
　　　　Although semicircular branches play an important role in the Gaibwarasi ritual, the description of Qeta does not mention the branches. However, as noted above, Codrington and Rivers described the same character for the Qat ritual, held on the Banks Islands and considered to belong to the same group as the Qeta in North Raga. It seems that the Qeta and Gaibwarasi are the same ritual.
　     As already mentioned, Codrington regarded the Gaibwarasi (Qeta) ritual as an initiation into a secret society. As he said that a boy becomes tari after he passes through the Gaibwarasi (Qeta) ritual, he believed that tari was a kind of secret society. However, in fact, tari is not a secret society but is the lowest grade in the open grade system (Yoshioka 1994:76?80, 1998). Notably, a boy who has passed through the Gaibwarasi ritual does not automatically enter the tari grade. A boy who wants to become tari needs to begin a new procedure and passing through the Gaibwarasi ritual is different from entering the grade system, which is realized through the Bolololi ritual ⁽⁴⁾.
　        According to Allen, an initiation ritual is characterized by two features, secrecy and induction into a social group (Allen 1967:5?6). The Gaibwarasi ritual of North Raga is much less secret than is the Tamate ritual held on the Banks Islands, as described by Codrington and Rivers, and it is difficult to say that it is secret. Although those who pass through Gaibwarasi acquire some kind of status and gain some rights and privileges, they are not directly associated with the grade system or any kind of discrete social group.
　       Gaibwarasi is a ritual that every boy passes through at some time in his life. He is able to wear a loincloth made of pandanus called malo after passing through this ritual. Wearing a loincloth that covers his genitals becomes the right of the boy. Re-exposure of his genitals after wearing the loincloth is an important character of this ritual, which is deeply associated with the male genitals. Qat group rituals, which are concerned with the power of male genitals, reportedly occur in West Ambae and the Small Islands (off Malakula). In particular, the Small Island ritual is characterized by a transition from a weak and effeminate boy to an adult man who has a powerful phallus (Allen 1981a: 20?23, 1981b:115?121, Layard 1942: 495?522). These rituals are apparently regarded as rituals of puberty, and the Gaibwarasi ritual in North Raga should be placed in the same category. Indeed, the Gaibwarasi is not an initiation ritual but rather a puberty ritual that is performed halfway between the birth ritual and the marriage ritual.


II

     The Gaibwarasi is a ritual for boys, whereas other rituals such as Haroroagamali, Lihilihi, and Marahamwabute are for women. In this section I will describe these rituals for women.

Maraha and Marahamwabute

      　Traditionally, property in North Raga has been composed primarily of pigs and mats. As I discuss pigs in detail in The Story of Raga III, I describe mats woven of pandanus leaves in this section. Four kinds of pandanus mats exist. One is a whitish mat that is about 25 cm wide and 150 cm long. This is called the small white mat (bari maita). Another mat is similar in size but dyed red. This is the small red mat (bari memea or bari) and is used as traditional dress; that is, it is used as a loincloth (malo) for a man and as a waistcloth (bari) for a woman. Another is a whitish mat that is about 1 m wide and about 4 m long. This is called the large white mat (bwan maita). The last is the same size but dyed red. This is called the large red mat (bwan memea or bwana) and is treated as property.
　      These mats are woven of a kind of pandanus leaves called veveo. The leaves are soaked in water for about 1 day and then dried in the sun until the leaves turn white.  Women weave mats out of these whitish leaves to make a white mat. Although a woman is able to do this by herself, typically she weaves many mats with assistance from women in the village. Whitish mats are less valued than are red mats. Red mats are traditionally exchange goods and property (maraha). As the technique for dying mats red is not known to those in North Raga, these mats are sent to the central part of the island, or a person from the central part who knows how to dye mats red comes to the North.
　      People south of Asaola Point, which is situated in the middle of present-day North Raga, previously knew how to dye mats red. However, this does not mean that Raga-speaking people knew how to dye mats red. The area in which the Raga language is spoken has been expanding to the south. The original area of the Raga language extended from the northern tip of the island to Asaola Point. The area south of Asaola Point is now called Lolgiseo, which means “the place where people speak upside down.” Both historically and contemporaneously, Raga-speaking people ask individuals living to the south of where the Raga language is spoken to dye their mats red.
　      North Raga and Central Raga have a matrilineal moiety system, and they know which kin group of North Raga corresponds to theirs and which kin group of Central Raga they belong to. If a person wants to dye mats red, they ask a person who belongs to a corresponding group in Central Raga to do this for them. Payment for dyeing is made in pigs. The price depends on the condition of the dye job. For example, a tusked pig which is called a Nggole ⁽⁵⁾ is sufficicient to pay for the dyeing of 15 large white mats and 10 small white mats.
　      The Marahamwabute ritual is performed when white mats become red. “Maraha” is “property,” “mwa bute” means “it jumps to come,” and the meaning of marahamwabute is “the property reaches.” This ritual is performed only by women. Many bamboo shoots on which many new red mats are hung are shouldered by women, and women beat slit-drums made of bamboo. Men do not know very much about red mat production. They prefer to be involved in the “pig business” while women pursue the “mat business.” 

Women’s Ranks

　     A grade system is used for the women in North Raga. These grades, from lowest to highest, are mwei, mitari, mwisale, mitalai, and motari. A woman has to kill a more valuable pig to enter the next higher grade. She then earns the right to use a certain kind of leaf as an emblem. She puts this leaf on her back as a backside ornament (sorisori) during a dance, which displays her rank. Table 2 shows the names of the grades and the kinds of pigs that must be killed to enter each grade. Although a woman who is mwei does not have the right to wear a special kind of leaf, a mitari woman can wear a leaf called benbena, a mwisale woman can wear hahari (a kind of croton), a mitalai woman can wear a mabwe (Tahitian chestnut) leaf, and a motari woman can wear rau niu (a coconut leaf). If a motari woman then kills a livoala, she can wear another, leaf such as haloHi, even though her grade is still motari.
　　　 The women can kill pigs on several occasions. A girl may kill one of her father’s pigs when meat is necessary to serve guests, after which she enters the lowest grade. Although the occasions on which a woman kills a pig to enter an upper grade are not strictly prescribed, a woman may do so when she is asked to become one of the row leaders of the havwa dance ⁽⁶⁾. If asked, a woman may even become an organizer of the havwa dance, regardless of her grade. Every woman is given the opportunity to become a row leader and must then kill a pig if one is available.
　　　　The marital ritual is another occasion on which a pig is killed. As described in The Story of Raga III, the bride kills a pig on the day of her marriage. Although she actually killed the pig in the past, she currently usually only taps the severed head of a pig (bwatun boe: bwatu means “a head”, n means “of,” boe means “a pig”) with a stick. This is nonetheless expressed by the term wehi (to kill), and it still allows her to rise a grade (even though the severed head of a pig is regarded as less valuable than is a living pig with the same kind of tusk). On this occasion, the woman sometimes purchases an ornament such as a bracelet, which is an emblem that serves the same purpose for a woman as the aforementioned leaf. Pig-killing during the marital ritual originally had nothing to do with the purchase of emblems. Another ritual, in which women not only kill pigs but also purchase emblems, is performed separately. This is the ritual known as Haroroagamali, which is for women what Bolololi means for men.

　　　　　Table 2. Grades for women

Haroroagamali

　　　　Haroroagamali (haroro means “to enter,” a means “into,” gamali means a meeting house) is a ritual in which women enter the meeting house. In North Raga, women, with the exception of those who have purchased prescribed emblems, have traditionally been prohibited from entering the meeting house. This ritual is still performed as part of a father's preparation. If the woman’s father is a chief, she is expected to kill more pigs and purchase more emblems than are other women. Haroroagamali begins with a woman’s dance in which women drummers beat slit-drums made of bamboo. Then, the young woman is led by a chief and one of her paternal aunts who has already finished Haroroagamali into the meeting house. In the past, they stopped at each of the earthen ovens. But now, as these ovens no longer exist, an oven called a matangabi is newly made at the back of the meeting house (ute gogona) just for this occasion. When the meeting house becomes filled with smoke from the fire in this oven, the young woman walks around this oven four times led by the chief and her father’s sister.
　　　　After they leave the meeting house, the young woman gives a large red mat to one of the chiefs in exchange for the oven made in the ute gogona. She also gives one large red mat to the chief who led her inside and one to one of her classificatory fathers for mwa gita tahi (“He sees the sea”). This payment originated in an old custom in which the young woman was taken by her paternal aunts to the seaside, which she had never seen before, just prior to the Haroroagamali ritual. This journey is still made today. In one particular Haroroagamali, a young woman gave a small pig (udurugu) to one of her classificatory fathers as a payment because this father and some of her paternal aunts took her to the seaside to bathe. In this case, the payment was called na hiv an tahi (“I go down to the sea”), and the payment to her paternal aunts was not required.
　     The pigs are killed after the mat payments. Only one pig is used in some cases, whereas many pigs are used in other cases. A woman who is already mitalai may kill one pig to enter motari or she may kill two pigs to enter motari if she is mwisale. After she kills the pig, she is given a name that includes the name of her grade (this is the same system used by men). A woman who enters the motari grade is given the name of, for example, Motarifufu. Before the arrival of Christianity, both men and women were commonly known by names that denoted their grade. In those days, pigs were killed not only for this purpose but also to collect tusks, which were used as woman’s bracelets in the Bolololi ritual of her husband or kin. In present times, these tusks may be purchased during the Lihilihi (lihi = to purchase) described below.


Lihilihi

　　　　Women purchase emblems during the Lihilihi ritual. Many wooden stakes are driven into the ritual ground in front of the meeting house. Pigs that are to be used as payment for emblems are fastened to these stakes. Table 3 shows the emblems purchased at a particular Lihilihi and their prices. In the past, the feather of a barn owl (irun visi) and some small red mats used for layered waist cloths were also purchased. During this ritual, young women cut their hair from the upper part of one ear across the nape of the neck to the upper part of the other ear. This ritual is completed by a special event in which the father and a paternal aunt of the young woman each cuts and eats a germinated coconut (called a vara). This coconut sprout grows in an arc and is regarded as a symbol of the tusked pig or livoala.

                 Table 3. Emblems purchased during the Lihilihi ritual

Considerations

　　　　The Haroroagamali ritual is particularly notable as it gives women the right to enter the meeting house, a place usually reserved for men. Although men in a lower grade cannot go near the earthen oven in the chief's area, women who pass through Haroroagamali can walk to this area and even approach the oven. Women who can freely enter the place of the chief are essentially motari, the women’s highest grade. They are also allowed to eat special pudding called matailonggon garovuroi, which is usually eaten only by chiefs who have purchased the highest emblem (a colorful belt called a garovuroi) when they are released from seclusion at the meeting house following killing pigs in the Bolololi ritual. As not every chief purchases such an emblem, only some can eat this pudding. In this way, highly ranked women are, in certain cases, less encumbered by restraints than are highly ranked men, even chiefs.
　     Although women in North Raga are not able to wield political power in the way that men can, they have a social position that is relatively equal to that of men. Cultivation is done by both men and women, as is preparation of meals and child rearing. Knowledge about agriculture including, for example, the magic of making crops grow, is not monopolized by men. Women have a deeper knowledge about the myth about the origin of kin groups and a better understanding of kin relationships than do men. They, like men, exhibit their own rank in public via several emblems. Some women have more freedom in the men’s sphere than men do. As Hume, who studied women’s pig-killing on Maewo Island, adjacent to North Raga, stated, in North Raga, “women enjoy a great degree of freedom and independence” (Hume 1985:287).



Notes

(1) The last six chapters describe the customs concerning the death and affairs of chiefs, which are regarded as a part of this ethnography. This may be published as the second part of “The Story of Raga” in the future.
(2) When I first met Tevimule in 1974, the booklet was not owned by him. It was kept by Eichel Mwele, from whom I borrowed it. I quickly transcribed it into my field notes and returned it to him. I am not sure why Eichel Mwele kept the booklet, but the writer of the booklet is identified on the first page as follows:

Vev hurin Raga. hurin Lolianana Ata la Bativuna tava
                              David Tevimule
                              Tasvarongo
                                       2nd. November 1966

Although I submitted the full transcribed text to the Cultural Center at Port Vila, I am not sure whether the booklet itself still exists. As the text was handwritten and was transcribed into my field notes by me, it should be checked by a native speaker of the Raga language for spelling. Although the text submitted to the Cultural Center was the original one and was not checked by a native speaker of the Raga language, the text presented here was corrected by several North Ragan individuals whom I would like to thank. Many people contributed to the translation, and I would like to give my special thanks to Mr. Richard Leona of LoltoHo village. (The letter H and ? found in the Raga language should be pronounced as [K] and [Kg], respectively.)
(3) North Raga contains eight kin groups, and all members of one kin group, namely that of a man’s mother’s father, are called his sibi. See The Story of Raga II.
(4) I will describe the open grade system as well as the Bolololi ritual in detail in the next paper, The Story of Raga VI.
(5) Pigs are classified according to the size of their tusks as follows (from lowest to highest): udurugu, bololvaga, tavsiri, bobibia, mabu, and livoala. A　Nggoole is a kind of livoala.
(6) Havwa is a magnificent dance performed halfway through the Bolololi ritual. This dance, performed only by women, is performed by more than 100 women at a time.


References

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