XVIII LA SECUENCIA DE CADA CASA

differentiating ‘ideology o f identity’. They are variously constructed by each suku or

uma faction rimata out o f a range o f available phrases. The activities carried out within the puiringan events, however, are constructed as different and, indeed, turn out to be different in many cases, regardless o f the type o f puliaijat being carried out, although upon investigation these differences are not, empirically, so great as represented within the ideology which constructs them as suku specific. The contradiction here is that nobody really knows whether or not the various puiringan events as executed by other

suku are different or not since they have rarely, if ever, had occasion to witness them. They could only do so if the rimata or the pamuri— his partner in the puiringan

events— o f their suku died suddenly without passing on this knowledge to anyone else in the suku3 . In this case they could "purchase" (saki— ie. give paroman ["help"] for) the knowledge from another suku. Yet this is not an issue for them at all. The differences are assumed to exist and thus form a crucial aspect o f both the discursive and praxical reproduction of suku identity.

The ritual phrases articulated during these events, along with the general activities involved in their production, are structurally similar in all the puliaijat for which I have data. Nevertheless specific details within this general structure vary amongst the suku. It is these that are the focus o f the ideology o f identity. The way in which suku

discursively and practically construct the boundary between them and other suku, or, more generally, creates a habitable space in a cosmos brimming with the forces o f the Other forever looking for a chance to inflict damage through invading this space, is at the heart o f the puiringan events. I was under strict instructions wherever I witnessed these events not to reveal anything about what I observed in the batnuma (inner sanctum) to other suku in the interests o f not jeopardizing purimanuaijat mai ("our life"). To reveal these to the Other was conceived to negate the efficacy o f the puiringan

events. Yet I was always under pressure from each suku or uma faction within a particular suku to reveal details o f how other suku conducted their puiringan events! My data on puliaijat, based on attending 16 different puliaijat as performed by five suku, indicate that different activities coincide with the different suku and not different

puliaijat. The puiringan in a pane get puliaijat and an eeruk simaeruk puliaijat carried out by Samwonwot are the same. However the puiringan in a Samwonwot paneget are not the same as the puiringan in a Salolosit paneget for example. In order to illustrate the mechanisms where suku identity is actively produced through these activities aimed at crafting a habitable world, I propose to compare and contrast the ways in which several suku practice their puiringan events.

3 This could also come about if they were involved in some way in the puliaijat of another suku, perhaps in the context of sinuruk or siripok relations (see chapter five)

Buka nia

Shortly after sunrise the day the puliaijat is to be held, the rimata sounds the gong, or gongs if there are more than one, several times. This segment has no set name, and I induced much reflection on the part o f my informants when I asked for it. After much deliberation the term "buka nia" ("its opening") was suggested. This encapsulates the activity’s function which is to firstly officially "open" the event whilst simultaneously broadcasting to all other suku in the dusun that a puliaijat is about to take place in that particular suku or uma faction. People need merely to hear the gong and note its tone and direction in order to pinpoint whose suku is holding a puliaijat. The second function this serves is to inform the suku members’ simagere a puliaijat is about to get under way that they ought to attend. It involves a series o f ritual phrases spoken either before, during, or after sounding the gong(s).

For example the rimata o f one Samwonwot uma faction stands in front o f the gongs at around 6 am4 :

Our fine meat, by the side o f the sapou, fine bodies o f life.

Iba mai simaeruk, ka bebet sapou simaeruk, simageret tubu simaeruk.

Come, enter, come hither again our simagere o f life, simagere o f my children.

Kona, kona, kona, kona, guruk, guruk peilek kainek simageret purimanuaijat mai tatogaku.

Don’t go to the foul mouthed ones. Don’t go to the dead ones. Don’t go to the angry ones. Don’t go near broken things. Don’t go near sharp things. Don’t go near alalatek. Don’t go near thorns. Don’t go near the ketsat that cling. D on’t go near the illness from other laggai. Come hither simagere o f my children.

Ba ei ka simakataik nganga. Ba ei ka simamatei. Ba ei ka simagoluk baga. Ba ei ka sipakataik. Ba ei ka sikalauruad. Ba ei ka alalatek. Ba ei ka rui. Ba ei ka simaekket ketsat. Ba ei ka bolo laggai. Kona, kona, kona, kona, kona, guruk, guruk, simagere mai tatogaku.

Following this he strikes the one gong 14 times.

4 In common with many Austronesian societies, these phrases exhibit classic parallelism in many instances (Fox 1988). However I have elected not to emphasize this aspect of the ritual phrases since my focus is on the primary images and themes embedded within them. Rather than present these as sets of parallels I therefore group thematically related sets of phrases together in paragraphs in order to draw attention to these themes.

This passage is more complex than others I recorded for this segment. I include it here since it provides an initial good example o f the way metaphors are used to (re)produce the gulf that must exist between the entities o f life and those o f death in order that the former not be overwhelmed by the latter. It also demonstrates the redundancy that is at the heart o f this ‘technology’. As with other segments it draws its power through the same devices— the redundancy o f image functioning to achieve the same effect through different means. "Fine meat by the side o f the sapou" refers to pigs gathered near to the small huts {sapou) erected on people’s particular area o f their suku's land (pulagajat) as a focal point for feeding the pigs, where people often spend several days or sometimes weeks. These are, furthermore, described as "fine bodies o f life", that is as healthy, living beings. This association with "life" {simageret— "they who move") leads in the next phrase to the summoning o f the simagere o f the suku, who the rimata constructs as his "children", and who are invited to "enter" the uma for the puliaijat. Thus just as healthy pigs gather around the safe haven o f the field-hut {sapou) on the suku land

(pulagajat), safe from sanitu (ghosts) or humans harbouring evil intent towards them, so too will the simagere be safe gathering within the uma. This is the focus o f the next several lines where the simagere are exhorted to both keep away from the entities of death, the sanitu, variously represented as the "foul-mouthed ones", the "angry ones", the "ketsat that cling", and the "dead ones", as well as avoid the consequences o f their ill intent towards the living, the "broken things", "alalatek"— a stinging nettle— and "thorns". "Broken things" might include a branch breaking under someone scaling a durian tree. "Sharp things" refers to sharp objects lying inconspicuously on the path where a member o f the suku may inadvertently tread on it cutting his or her foot. The

simagere are requested to keep away from all these since a sim agere's contact with any could bring illness or death to the suku member whose simagere it is. The "illness from other laggai" {bolo laggai) has two connotations. It firstly refers to illness afflicting the

pulagajat, that is, the whole suku and possibly its livestock as well. Or, second, sickness which has its origins in another laggai!pulagajat, the Other, sirimanua. At base the illness comes from sanitu, which are by definition the dead o f another suku; every

suku's own dead are the saukkui, the ancestors. This expression usually appears in the

puiringan events where sanitu and their influences are actively repelled with gaud sikataik. In the current context it serves to emphasize the separation o f the entities of life, the simagere, constructed as the rim ata's "children’, from those o f death through highlighting the existential gulf between them.

In contrast to Samwonwot is the suku Sagorojo version:

Come hither auspicious lauru, auspicious salo, come and enter.

Kona peilek kainek lauru simaeruk, salo simaeruk, kona, kona, konai, guruk, guruk.

Come simagere o f the forest meat, it is you who I summon.

Konan simagere simatei ketsat, anai ekeu ku nanaknak.

Come hither our simagere, simagere o f my children. Don’t go to the dead ones. Don’t go to thunder, or lightning. Don’t go to things that bite.

Konan peilek kainek simagere mai tatogaku. Ba ei ka simamatei. Ba ei ka lelegu, ba ei ka bilak. Ba ei ka pasosot.

There we are in mulia, we bring you in.

Edda kai mulia it a, ku gurukakek kai ekeu simagere mai.

Similar to Samwonwot, the simagere are summoned which is simultaneously an exhortation to keep clear o f the sanitu ("dead ones"), along with events that will result in their interference with the living, the loud noise o f thunder (lelegu) and potentially fatal lightning bolts {bilak). Loud noise can "startle" (ipakisei) a suku member’s simagere, causing it to flee from his or her body. The fact that it has left the body o f the human to whom it gives life will eventually cause sickness to that human. This can only be treated by returning the simagere to its body. It is, furthermore, also likely to meet with a sanitu

with whom it may be persuaded to team up, making it even more unlikely that it would return. Lightning is simply fatal to humans or their simagere.

The piece begins with an appeal to the salo o f the lauru, the spots {salo) appearing on the transparent membrane lining different areas of a chicken’s intestine {lauru),

inspected after the lia goukgouk segment in a puliaijat. The configuration o f these spots is examined in order to be able to gain an indication on the efficacy o f the activities carried out in the puiringan. This is also linked to the taking o f forest meat {iba leleu\ simatei ketsat) in the activity the day after a puliaijat series has come to an end, the

uroro. Generally these phrases uttered in the buka nia segment draw from the stock o f ritual phrases used in the main puiringan events. They function here to set the stage for these more specific activities. Having completed this first activity the rimata goes to the forest nearest the uma to collect the gaud which will be utilized in the puiringan events.

Sogi Katsaila

Two or three hours after the initial call to the simagere the main events begin with the first manipulation of gaud. Although the gaud collected earlier is used in other events throughout the course of the day, nearly all is used in the sogi katsaila. The specific types, drawn from a limited range, vary from uma to uma. The sogi katsaila, as with all events, is performed in a casual, matter-of-fact sort o f way, with the rimata taking himself off to the batnuma (inner sanctum) when he feels the time is right. In fact most

o f his time during the puliaijat is spent talking with other puliaijat participants since it is also a festive occasion.5 As with all the others, the event is conducted by the rimata

who enters the batnuma, closes the door to the tenganuma/laibok tengah, or, if it is a type 5 uma, he closes the door to the room housing the bakkat katsaila and other heirlooms. He squats down in front o f the bakkat katsaila facing the left o f the batnuma,

remembering that directions are calculated from an observer’s viewpoint looking into the uma from the front (laibok). The bakkat katsaila is thus on the rimata's left.

With the gaud lying by his feet the rimata begins. The first type he deals with is polak. I omitted to include this variety under the discussion o f gaud in the last chapter since it is specific to this segment o f the puliaijat, and is not applied anywhere else. It takes the form o f a fibrous shoot o f a new leaf sprouting from the top o f a young doro/roro tree. Its power comes from its "hardness" (makelak kulit) and, thus, the resilience o f this type o f tree. A one-metre length is cut off at its base from the plant in the forest to be used in the sogi katsaila. In the event the rimata grasps it at its base, holding the tapered end away from him in either his left or right hand— it varies with the individual. In repeated movements he runs the other varieties o f gaud he intends to utilize along the polak

towards the tapered end, uttering the ritual phrases which vary from suku to suku, and from rimata to rimata— similar to the phrases uttered during the buka nia segment— both in length, detail and content. However certain elements are universal. Each type o f

gaud mentioned is directly followed by its purported consequences. The rubbing action is described as poporot which marks the commencement o f the speech:

The caressing of our katsaila, the katsaila o f my children, engeu. Sickness has been driven away.

Poporot katsaila mai tatogaku engeu, amaengeubad oringen.

Sikulu, the winds from the sky have been driven away.

Sikulu, sikuluad rusad manua.

Soga, we summon a favourable lauru, we summon life.

Soga, soga lauru simaeruk, soga purimanua.

Daba, we are sated (joyful), my children are sated in life. We are sated until we are old, until we are stooped over, until our hair is white.

Daba, kailek maraba tatogaku purimanua. Kailek maraba ka babajak, ka kukuiluk, ka leleubad.

5 Indeed the Indonesian translation for "puliaijat" is "pesta" (party), an inappropriate term because it emphasizes the festive, ‘partyMike aspects o f the event, obscuring the puliaijat's underlying, more vital objective— repairs to rents in the cosmic weave. This is functional from an administrative viewpoint, whose ultimate aim is the obliteration o f ‘Sabulungan’, the ‘Mentawaian religion’. The usage pesta is a step in this direction. It trivializes and obscures the cosmological import of the event.