SCRIPTURE IN AN ORAL CULTURE:
THE YALI OF IRIAN JAYA
by
John D. Wilson
Adapted
from a dissertation presented to
the
Faculty of Divinity, of the University of Edinburgh
in
partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of
Master
of Theology
1988 (adapted 1999)
Table
of Contents
Introduction
Maps
showing the Location of the Southern Yali
Chapter
1 Ethnographic Overview
§
The Yali and Their
Environment
§
Yali Economy and
Subsistence
§
An Integrated Cosmos:
Religion and Social Organization
§
History of Contact
Chapter
2 Oral Culture: The Nature and Function
of Orality
§
Oral Culture
Negatively and Positively Defined
§
Orality: Transmission,
Storage and Retrieval
§
Oral Tradition: A
Typology
§
Orality: Limitations
and Potentialities
Chapter 3
The Orality of the Yali
§
The Sufficiency of the
Yali Language
§
Yali Oral Tradition
Chapter 4
Scripture in an Oral Culture
§
Scripture: the
Church’s Literary Heritage
§
The Communication of
Scripture to the Yali
§
Yali Literacy: Access
to Scripture
§
Bible Translation:
Scripture for the Yali
Chapter 5
The Creation of A Yali Hymnody
§
Hymns: A Medium for
Worship and Instruction
§
Indigenous Hymns:
Appropriateness and Value
§
The Emergence of a
Yali Hymnody
§
Yali Hymns: Their
Structure and Performance
§
Yali Hymns: Their
Content and Function
Conclusion
Appendix
1.
Appendix
2.
Bibliography
Introduction
The Yali are an interesting case for the
study of the communication and the place of Scripture in an oral culture. As one of several hundred primal peoples or
tribes in Irian Jaya — in fact, of nearly
one thousand throughout New Guinea — the Yali are a
representative example of an oral culture, and, as far as Protestant missions
in Irian Jaya are concerned, have had fairly typical exposure to
Christianity.
I began to live among the Yali when, as a
member of the Regions Beyond Missionary Union, I arrived with my wife and first
son at Ninia, in July 1972.
Consequently, the data concerning the Yali which I present in this
dissertation, have been collected in the course of both formal study of Yali
culture and through casual observation, over the past sixteen years; but I
still regard myself a learner. This
paper aims to show some of the assumptions about Scripture which can limit or
hinder its communication in an oral culture, and to examine orality (as opposed
to non-literacy) with a view to demonstrating the capacity and capability of
oral media for the effective transmission of Scripture.
The Yali are taken as a case which
exemplifies typical western approaches to the communication of Scripture to an
oral culture, but also the potentiality of oral media, and the response of an
oral society, in internalizing Scripture and its message. I commence with an ethnographic overview of
the Yali with particular reference to their worldview, religion and subsistence
economy and lifestyle, as being pertinent contextual information to the
introduction of Scripture to this particular culture. Before proceeding to a study of Yali oral tradition, I describe,
in the nature and function of orality in general — dealing with both
methodology and typology of oral tradition, and discussing its limitations and
potential.
Following this, I present the Yali as an
example of an oral culture in which both the occasion and the opportunity exist
to employ indigenous oral media for communicating Scripture. The Yali have the sufficiency of a language
oriented to discourse and oral transmission of information, and also a variety
of oral traditions which have the potential to reach every strata of society.
This is followed by a critical discussion
concerning the methodology for the communication of Scripture; the aims, role
and practice of literacy as a means of access to the printed text of Scripture;
and the approach to Bible translation for an oral culture. Finally, I affirm the value of indigenous
hymns as an effective oral medium for worship and the transmission of Christian
truth, and describe how the Yali have employed their poetic skills and their
delight in song for the internalization and transmission of Scripture.
1
THE YALI: AN
ETHNOGRAPHIC OVERVIEW
The
Yali and Their Environment
The term “Yali”
has come to be used to
designate the people who populate the valleys of the northern watershed of the
central Jayawijaya mountain range to the north of the “Grand valley”of the
Balim river in Irian Jaya, Indonesia.
It also applies to those who inhabit four valleys of the southern
watershed of the same range, whose rivers, the Kwik, Heluk, Seng and Solo, feed
the Balim river, near where it leaves the mountains and begins its devious
course across Irian Jaya’s southern lowlands.
Most published material on the Yali to date has focused on those who
occupy a specific area of the northern watershed (comprising the Yahuli and
Ubahak river systems), known as Yalimo (“place of the Yali”),
located roughly between 139º15’ and 139º30’ east longitude and 4º and 4º20’
south latitude.1 Nevertheless, the more extensive Yali
grouping was earlier identified as a linguistic unit, one of the three
sub-families of the greater Dani family, designated by the term “ north
Ngalik”2 being a
specification and application of the name given by many lower Grand Valley Dani
speakers for those living “ outside the rim” or “ outside the ranges”
that enclose this wide, isolated, highland
valley.3
The term “Yali” itself is not a
self-appellation, but is the application of one of two terms which those now so
designated use of people in opposite directions of the east-west trade route;
Yali means those to the east and is contrasted with Hupla, meaning those to the
west. However, three distinct, major
dialectical differences of the Yali language have been identified: the Pass
Valley (Abenaho) dialect spoken (by +/- 5000 people) in the northern extremity
of the Yali area around Pass Valley, Landikma and Apahapsili; the Angguruk
dialect spoken (by +/- 15000 people) in the area known as Yalimo; and the Ninia
dialect of (the +/- 9500) Yali of the southern watershed.4
The focus of this paper, with reference
to the use of Scripture in an oral culture, is specifically this latter group,
who inhabit the Kwik, Heluk, Seng and Solo Valleys of the southern
watershed. The reasons for this are that
my own experience and research have been limited to this area. Three different missions have worked and
consequently, churches of differing ethos have been established, in the three
dialectal areas.5 However, in terms of Yali culture, most of
what has been described by Koch and Zöllner6 for Yalimo is true for the Southern Yali
also, although there is one significant difference in that in the area of
study, an additional, western, religious tradition has met and existed
alongside the major eastern, religious tradition common to all the Yali.7 .
The four valleys of the southern
watershed, which are the domain of the Yali focused on in this study, are
located by the geographical co-ordinates of 139o 10’ to 139o
20’ east longitude, and between 4o 20’ and 4o 34’ south
latitude. The area is extremely
rugged. The northern boundary which
separates this southern branch of the Yali from its Yalimo neighbour, is part
of the central range of Jayawijaya mountains which rise to over 4000m above sea
level. Spurs from this central range
descend in a space of a mere 40 kilometers to the lowlands, which form the
southern extremity of Yali territory.
The severity of the steep forested slopes and ridges is accentuated by
numerous limestone cliffs and outcrops, which in places, constrict each of the
four rivers into impassable gorges. In
the past, travel from one valley to another, and from one side of a valley to
the other, was quite limited, but this was perhaps more because of the
restrictions imposed by hostilities and the rigour of scraping an existence in
such an environment, than because of the difficulties of travel in rugged
terrain.
The eastern boundary of the Southern Yali
area is a high mountain spur separating the Solo valley from the Indol valley
which is inhabited by the eastern neighbours — traditionally referred to as
Yali but now known as Kimyal. The
western border is the west side of the Kwik valley where there is considerable
intermarriage with their western neighbours — members of an offshoot of Lower
Grand Valley Dani. In the border
villages of east and west, there is noticeable bilingualism or
diglossalism. This is not surprising
in the west, since Hupla and Yali are both closely related members of the
Greater Dani family.8 However, Kimyal in the east belongs to the
Mek languages.
Yali Economy and
Subsistence
Because few level places exist, and
because of the advantage of higher positions overlooking the approaches to a
settlement in the event of hostilities, Yali villages are located on ridges
between 700m and 2200m altitude.
Villages vary in size from eighteen or fewer huts housing a population
of perhaps 70 people, to much larger villages comprising several dozen huts
accommodating 250 to 300 people. The
huts are round structures with vertical split board walls, and conical roofs
thatched with bark and usually topped with pandanus leaves. Central to the structure of the house are
four e fisingge “ house
poles” , set vertically in the ground in the pattern of a
square, which serve to help support a sleeping loft and the roof timbers. The ground floor is raised on beams several
inches from the ground and covered with bisi
pandanus bark. The sleeping loft is
usually constructed from findayo
bamboo reeds laid on and bound to the ceiling joists, which are in turn
fastened with vine near the top extremity of the wall boards. Fireplaces are formed with clay in the
square space demarcated by the house poles — one on the ground
floor for cooking, light and heat, and one in the sleeping loft for heat. Access into a hut is through a small door,
which can be closed by slotting loose boards into place.9
Most villages consist of several clusters
of huts, each cluster or ward comprising a large men’s hut (youa) and its associated women’s or
family huts (homia). In addition to the main or ‘base’ village,
there are hamlets and homesteads which
Koch defines:
A
hamlet is a group of houses which are temporarily occupied during agricultural
seasons by people who have their permanent residence in the ‘base’
village. A homestead, on the other
hand, is the home of one man and his family who, for one reason or another,
moved away from the village and established a permanent residence in one of his
gardens.10
Traditionally, the youa was inaccessible to women, girls and uninitiated boys, but now
is used in the evenings for informal Christian meetings for the associated
families. The Yali are subsistence
farmers involved in a continuous round of cultivation and other activities
directed towards survival in a demanding and rigorous environment. A good rain- and wind-tight hut is
essential for comfort at all altitudes, but especially in the higher villages,
and this responsibility belongs to the male division of labour. House building is usually completed in a
day, but prior to the introduction of the steel axe and bush knife, the
preparation and collection of materials to build an average homia might take weeks
— even months — if new wall boards
had to be prepared.11
Other male activities include making of
implements such as the digging stick (kisim)
for wives and daughters, adze or axe hafts (yaha
ombo), bows (sehen),12 and arrows,13 or other useful items
such as water vessels (ikwag) made from gourds (hobut) or bamboo (bohweap), plaited pig tethers (kumbi),
and sewn, pandanus leaf raincapes (ilit). Some of these activities can be carried out
by firelight in the evenings, but the gathering of materials necessarily
occupies the twelve hours of daylight.14
However, for Yali men, most daylight
hours are occupied in gardening work and the husbandry of pigs. This entails the clearing of virgin or
secondary forest by tree felling, and the cutting of undergrowth, grasses,
shrubs etc; moving of heavy logs and poles to form crude fences and to
demarcate sections of land for different owners and users; gathering branches,
twigs and roots into piles for burning; and digging the soil with large pointed
poles (keam) in preparation for
planting. Fences are necessary to keep
out both domesticated and wild pigs from those garden areas in process of
cultivation or still being harvested.
The men also build fences around pig huts (wam obam) and those huts which are used to accommodate pigs in the
village. Domesticated pigs usually
return to these pens each evening, where they are fed sweet potatoes and other
vegetables as available, and then are shut into their huts for the night. In the morning they are let out to root (ambiang wauk) in the forest or gardens
now left fallow. The men control the
breeding of pigs by selecting the breeding boars and castrating (ouhali wauk) other young or runty
males. The significance of pigs for
the Yali cannot be overstated. It is
not so much that the pigs provide nutrition or sustenance, but that they serve
to constitute or consolidate social relationships, or are used for
cultic-ritual functions.15
Labour responsibilities for women, apart
from the bearing and rearing of children until they are introduced formally
into the society of Yali males by initiation into the men’s huts (youa kwelap-enepuk and wit bal-enepuk), mainly pertain to
gardening and cooking. Often at first
light, women leave for the gardens, which may be anything from twenty minutes’
to an hour’s walk away. Several net
bags (sum) are suspended from their
heads to hang down their backs. In one
of these might be a raincape (ilit),
a cooked sweet potato or two, and a length of bamboo tubing (fili).
During the course of the day, lizards, frogs, grasshoppers and other
edible insects will be collected in the bamboo tube, in which they will later
be roasted. In her hand each woman
carries her sharpened digging or weeding stick, and on her shoulders, or in a
net bag lined with leaves, each mother will carry her unweaned child.
To the women falls the responsibility of
planting newly prepared gardens, weeding and cultivation of the various crops,
and the bulk of the harvesting. At
dusk each day, the women trudge back to the village, up the steep slopes, where
they have been working all day, whether in blazing sun or in rain. Sometimes a woman will add a pile of sticks
or a bundle of cut firewood to the already heavy load of harvested vegetables
plus the infant — sitting on her
shoulders, or cradled in her arms in order to suckle as she walks along. Back in the village, the women set about
preparing the evening meal, by cooking vegetables in the ashes of the fire, or
by steam cooking with heated stones in a bark cylinder (kou) lined with moist leaves, or in a bundle of large hulubi leaves. In addition to these major responsibilities, the women snatch
odd moments through the day or in the evenings, to roll string (hekel soalduk) on their thighs, from
previously selected and prepared bark and plant fibers. The string is then used to weave net bags (sum yihiruk) or to make string skirts.
The staple crop of the Yali is the sweet
potato (siburu) supplemented with
yams (beim), taro (hom) and other vegetables. Animal protein intake is small and
irregular, consisting of the small animals and insects caught and eaten by
women, occasional pork (wam ino),
marsupial (bak ino), or bird meat (suwe ino), or perhaps the eggs of some
bird — especially those of the large megapode (belak). The diet is often inadequate as evidenced by cases of
kwashiorkor and marasmus.16 This is probably partly due to deficiencies
in the cultivated vegetables caused by low fertility of soil and aggravated by
the heavy rains which leach the intensely cultivated slopes, which have
gradients of 45-60o. General inadequacies of the diet are
accentuated by periodic crop reductions and crop failures or losses caused by
heavy rains, landslides and crop disease,17
or when the whole community has been distracted from making new gardens by
revived hostilities or other events such as an unusually good yield of the
mountain pandanus nuts (werema).
An Integrated Cosmos:
Religion and Social Organization
Much of what has been written in general
terms concerning Melanesian epistemology and worldview is applicable to the
Yali and is worth repeating here in synopsis, by way of introduction to
specific Yali religious belief and practice.
Melanesians have an essentially holistic understanding of life, in which
both empirical and non-empirical aspects are always closely associated and are
seen to function in an integrated relationship. Thus the Melanesians’ worldview is of an integrated cosmos
including living and dead people, spirits, animals, plants, mountains, streams
etc.18 The focus of Melanesian religion is the “
continuation,
protection, maintenance and celebration of Life, Life with a capital “L”.19 The Melanesian is not
concerned with just biological existence, but with cosmic life and renewal,
where there is spiritual and physical well-being experienced in all aspects of
the integrated cosmos. This is
achieved through the ritual maintenance of right relationships with man and
spirit, and with living and dead, and through the accumulation and balanced
distribution of indigenous wealth.
These are “ technical means to a spiritual end” —
a life of peace and harmony, and of general well-being of the group.20 They are the Melanesian “ Search for Salvation”
where “ salvation” is the realization of a cosmos in which all
things and all beings are in perfect equilibrium. This religious worldview is generally based on myths which
interpret or explain present conditions in terms of historical-mythical events
which disrupted the pristine past.
These give rise to a hope of reestablishment of those lost conditions,
or the expectation of an improved future situation which is, in effect, a
recovery of that primeval age. What
John G. Strelan writes in Search for
Salvation about Melanesian cargo cults is generally applicable to Yali
religion:
The
salvation which is sought… embraces such things as deliverance from present
troubles and oppression, peace, wholeness, healing, health and well-being. This salvation will be achieved, so it is
believed, when the ideal models for man’s behaviour and his social institutions
which were established in the historical or mythical past are actualized and
restored in the present age.21
Siegfried Zöllner, who worked for
fourteen years as a missionary among the Yali of Yalimo, and whose definitive
work Lebensbaum und Schweinekult22 is the only, but comprehensive, publication about Yali religion,
has rightly focused on the Yali oral tradition of myths, as well as sacred
formulae and songs, as the key to an understanding of Yali religion. He has observed that Yali religion consists
of a two-layered structure:23 The mythology of the ‘primeval pig’ explains
the origin or creation of the Yali people through the killing of this primeval
animal. This myth is realized in a
series of rites in which the ritual killing of a pig is central, and the
purpose of which is to recall the origin, and to confirm the existence, of Yali
society. The second corpus of myths
focuses on the Yeli, which Zöllner calls “Urbaummythik” (primal tree mythology), because in Yalimo
this mythology narrates the felling of the Yeli tree, through which the
primeval period of earthquakes was brought to an end. Among the Southern Yali much more diverse Yeli mythology exists:
Yeli is also a rock pillar which is felled; a primeval pig (wam) or echidna (dabi) which is shot;24
and in one version, a giant earthworm (dung),
but the focus is the same as in Yalimo.
Medicine men (ap hwalon)25 realize this mythology in
ritual treatment of sick people and in other ritual acts which are directed at
preventing or countering adverse circumstances such as unusually severe
inclement weather, which threaten the welfare of Yali society, which is always
understood in terms of health and well-being of people, pigs and gardens. Thus the purpose of rituals, which are
associated with this corpus of myths, is to stabilize the present life of
society by focusing on particular threats to the status quo. 26 The central religious rite was known as
Moroal; and the central healing ritual
was called Selam.
Another myth, while not central in Yali
religion, is worth mentioning here, because it is held in common with other
members of the greater Dani family, and because it explains the loss of the
pristine condition and also gives rise to the expectation or the possibility of
the recovery of that state. This is
the mythical “race” between a snake and a bird. One Southern Yali version narrates how in
primeval times, before death was known, the message of rejuvenation was to be
delivered to mankind by the kaliye
snake. The message was simply: “Nabelal-habelal” (my outer skin your outer skin),27 which would
be valid and effective when pronounced by the snake in the hearing of man. However, the snake, forced to proceed on
its belly along the ground around rocks and trees, was overtaken by the pied
chat (ebebulo)28 who flew
directly through the air and called out his cry of mourning, “ Fong! Fong!” 29 One of the
recently composed Yali hymns alludes to this myth, reinterpreting it:
The
message of nabelal-habelal,
even
while it was with us,
The
message of Nahamut-hahamut,30
even
while it was in our hearts,
We
would have taken nabelal-habelal for
ourselves
But
since Adam and Eve did wrong (we didn’t get nabelal-habelal)
We
would have taken Nahamut-hahamut for ourselves
But
since Adam and Eve did wrong (we didn’t get nabelal-habelal)31
The hymn goes on to claim that the
message of nabelal habelal came
through the message of Jesus, and that those who receive His message will go to
heaven, implying that nabelal habelal
will be realized there. This shows
that the Yali believe that prior to the intended arrival of the snake, nabelal habelal was destined to be their
experience, and that the bringing of the message was to effectuate it. But the untimely coming of the bird was the
disruptive element which effectively denied them this blessing, and explains
the presence of death in the present time.
Thus this myth exemplifies the underlying concept that the present state
is not as was experienced in the pristine age, and the lingering hope of the
recovery or the realization of such ideal conditions.
Myth also explains the structure of
society. A dualistic feature, which
explains the origin and existence of the exogamous moieties and their
associated clans, recurs in several myths: There are two large tree rats Houl
and Hwesali, or the two primal ancestors which they represent, Siringon and
Samahun, who shoot the Yeli animal; or there are a woman and her son — the
woman orders the son to shoot and kill her, which he does and she becomes a
pig. Or, in another version, the woman
tells her son to look behind the hut, where he sees a big sow which he
shoots. The son then butchers and
cooks the pig and puts the different parts into two separate piles. In the morning he awakes to find that these
have turned into people. Each of these
myths, and others, support the exogamous moiety principle and explain the origin
of the different clans. Sexual
intercourse between members of the same moiety babi (glossed as ‘incest’) is the most heinous transgression known
to the Yali. But babi is also used for any sacrilegious act — for
example, trespass of a non-initiate (kubilon)
inside the yard of a sacred hut (ousabam),
or into the hut itself, or the disclosure of sacred knowledge (ousale), secret names (luhuram), or formulae (hwal ale), in the hearing of
non-initiates.32 Any such act endangers cosmic stability, and
therefore poses a serious threat to the welfare of Yali society. This might be manifested by sickness or
infertility of people, pigs and gardens, and by unusually inclement weather,
landslides or devastating earthquakes.
Through the imposition of the severest sanctions (see previous footnote)
the occurrence of these has been remarkably infrequent, and whenever,
perchance, such has occurred, or is alleged to have occurred, ritual action has
been taken to restore the status quo
— to stabilize the Yali cosmos. From
this it is evident that the established structure of Yali society is part of
the structure of the “ biocosmos” which must be preserved at all costs.
Within the named moieties (Kobak and
Bahabol) and their associated clans or sibs, which comprise Yali society, a
complex Omaha type kinship system exists.33 Typical of a Melanesian society, this system
prescribes how people live and interact with one another in respect of such
matters as marriage, death, rites of passage, land tenure, conflict settlement
and so forth. Yali kinship revolves
around four groups or sets of relationships, and members of each group are
bound to fulfil any obligations implicit in that set of relationships. Patrilineal relatives (ori and erekwi) who form
the first group, tend to reside patrilocally, and the male members belong to
the same men’s house (youa). The men are expected to be loyal to each
other and to assist one another in house building, land clearance and the
making of gardens; to defend members involved in conflict, and to avenge the
deaths of any of their number killed in conflict or reprisal.
Mother’s patrilineal relatives (amusi and amumsi) comprise the second set, the significance of which is that
it acknowledges the relationship of the child to the mother’s clan, and the
role the mother plays in giving birth to and raising children. The importance of the mother’s brother,
particularly in transition rites, is reflected in the mirror relationship of
the third set, the sister’s children, who are not terminologically
distinguished from one’s own children (omaliki). The fourth set comprises the affinal relatives through either
wife or sister (ombarikisi). Husbands are obligated to provide pigs
regularly for their wife’s or wives’ brothers.
Personal relationships are therefore
maintained through reciprocity, that is, by helping and being helped, by giving
and being given both goods (usually pigs) and physical assitance — both
formally in ritual contexts and informally in a process extending over a long
period of time, indeed sometimes over a lifetime. Reciprocity may be either negative or positive, and since a
person is expected to assist his kin in relation to other people, he may become
implicated in a process of negative reciprocity towards those outside his
immediate community. If kin
relationships are the building blocks of Yali society, then reciprocity is the
mortar which binds each member together.34
Yali social organization, as is basically
typical of New Guinea highlands societies, can be described as egalitarian and
unstratified,35 and
therefore leadership in Yali society is not clearly defined. In fact, both Koch and Zöllner state quite
categorically that the New Guinea “Big Man” phenomenon, where a local group leader
achieved his political status by personal power, and which is reported for
other highland societies, is absent in Yali society.36 However, both
writers acknowledge the existence of those whom the Yali of Yalimo designate ap souon “big men”. These are men who are able to assume an
influential position within a fairly restricted locality, because of three
identifiable characteristics: “Physical fitness, oratorical skill
and assertiveness, and clever manipulation of pig exchanges.37
This description is applicable to such
leaders among the Southern Yali, but the term ap humon (Southern Yali equivalent of ap souon) is not used in this way. Rather, the term ap nenowe
unuk bogdeg “the man our-older-brother of-the-supported-name” is applied to those who have the three characteristics listed
above. The three-fold definition is
further amplified by the Southern Yali to acknowledge that such a person is a
man of his word — that is, his oratory can be backed by his actions and wealth;
he is a man of self-control — not
easily swayed by others, nor reacting to hostility; he is not a thief in other
words, he is not a likely source of social trouble through ordinary theft (yoholi angge wauk), pig theft (wam uwan angge wauk), or wife-stealing (homi balduk). His sphere of influence might extend to two or three villages,
but normally was restricted to his own locality where his advice and authority
were directed for the common welfare, in such matters as pig keeping, gardening
and conflict.
Since the introduction of Indonesian
government administration, the term ap
nenowe unuk bogdeg has ceased to be used in the traditional way, though the
same characteristics are what gain respect for both government appointed local
officials, and for church leaders.38
but the Southern Yali always insist that ap
hwalon were far more important than ap
unuk bogdeg. This opinion is
sustained by Zöllner’s description of Yali religion, which emphasizes the
centrality of the primary selam
healing ritual and the significant role of medicine men.39 Yali religion is concerned with the whole of
life — man in his cosmos — whether it be in relationship to ancestors or to
living kin; whether it be within the non-empirical or the empirical
environment. Ap hwalon were therefore functioning at the heart of Yali
life.
History of Contact
It is not known precisely when the
southernYali, as they are known today, had their first contact with the
“outside world” beyond their “Hupla”, western, and “Yali”
eastern neighbours. For the southern
Yali, the earliest known contact occurred when members of an expedition, using
a floatplane, landed on the Balim river just south of the mountains, and then
proceeded up a mountain spur which separates the Seng and the Balim
rivers. Their journey brought them
near the village of Uwam, where some of the middle aged and older men vividly
remember the encounter. One of my
informants, a man named Belak, who was a small boy of six or seven then, to the
consternation of his father and other kinsmen, was dressed in western clothing
by the expedition members, who indicated by sign language that they wanted to
take him away with them. Nothing
further untoward resulted from that expedition, but an enamelled metal cooking
pot and some steel knives were left behind.40
I have been unable to determine with
certainty when, or which expedition, this was, but it may have been in
1937. In May of that year, Dornier and
Fokker floatplanes were used to explore for gold in the upper reaches of the
Lorentz, Brazza and Digul rivers. Since
the Brazza and Lorentz rivers flow south to the east and west of the Balim river,
and thus bracket the area in question, it is quite likely that it was members
of this expedition who were the first outsiders to enter Yali territory.41 Whether the above date is correct or not, it was about this time,
and into the period of World War II, that the Yali began to see aeroplanes
flying overhead or nearby. The
phenomenon filled the Yali with trepidation and presentiment as to what such an
event might forebode. The only concept
to which they could relate it was the Yeli, which, according to myth, had flown
through the air making a bururum
noise such as was made by the aircraft.
This evoked the disruptive activity of the primordial period
— the earthquakes — which
had to be stabilized by the shooting or felling of Yeli and, therefore,
throughout the area rituals, which recalled and realized that stabilization,
were performed by the ap hwalon. One informant who would have been quite a
small child at the time, said that his mother pushed him into a hut and hid him
with a kou bark cooking cylinder, and
then in the evening, brushed him all over with the feathers of a konggou “ frogmouth” (a night bird), in order to ward off any
sickness that might have been brought by the flying spirit. .
Another possible early contact is one
widely recounted and sung about by the Yali.
This story originated not too far from Uwam, scene of the encounter
mentioned above. When an expedition of
white men appeared, wielding bush knives (luhi)
and steel axes (melahan)42 with which they could easily
cut down saplings and fell trees, the Yali begged to be given some, but the
expedition members refused. A man
called Yelibuk therefore organized and led a massacre of the white men, and the
Yali took the knives and axes for themselves.
According to my informants, however, although the song about Yelibuk
mentions Fisikuruk, a place near Uwam, the incident occurred in an area a
little south-west of the region presently occupied by the Yali, where a
different language is spoken. Thus
this account is not verifiable as fact, but it is nevertheless indicative of
early contact with white people, and of the discovery to the Yali of a new
dimension to the known cosmos.
Apart from some trade for salt into the
Balim valley near Kurima, the Yali of the Heluk valley had no contact with the
outside world until 1961 when Stanley Dale and Bruno de Leeuw of the Regions
Beyond Missionary Union trekked in from Hetigima via the Mugwi valley. They arrived in the northern Heluk, and set
up camp on a sloping plateau known as Yabironggoma, between the villages of
Yabi and Balinggama, which at that time were involved in hostilities.43 In some way, through Western Dani porters and
by sign language, Dale was able to communicate his desire that the warring Yali
should make peace. It was taken by the
Yali as a command, and a traditional peace ceremony (dog belapuk, “ to set down the war arrow” )
ensued on May 23, 1961, with the exchange of peace settlement pigs (anggerang owam, “ kidney
pigs” ).44 From Yabironggoma, Dale and de Leeuw moved
to a ridge called Yerino, not far from the sacred Kwalu hut at Ninia, and began
to construct an airstrip with sporadic and reluctant help from the Yali. When the airstrip was opened in March 1962,
the name Ninia was used for identification, probably as having wider
application than Yerino. Dale was
joined soon after that by his wife and family, and set about learning and
analysing the language with a view to preaching. In his eagerness he was soon conducting “ a
daily Gospel meeting” for the men who came to work with him on the strip or in house
building.45 In this way, the Southern Yali began to
experience increasing encounter with other peoples and other worldviews, that
were to bring about far-reaching effects in Yali society. The peace that was established in the
northern Heluk in May 1961 was never to be broken, and within relatively few
years had gradually developed in both meaning and extent throughout the whole
Southern Yali territory.
Endnotes for chapter 1
1.
For
example, see Koch (1967) and Koch in Cook and O’Brien (1980:233); and Zöllner
(1977:16-18).
2.
See
Bromley in Oceania Vol. XXXVII (4)
pp.298ff..
3.
See
Bromley in Irian Vol. II (3)
pp.3-9.
4.
See
Silzer and Heikkinen in Irian Vol.
XII pp.56-57.
5.
The
Netherlands Reformed Congregation in the Pass Valley area; the Gereja Kristen
Injili with missionaries from the Rheinische - Missions - Gessellschaft and the Nederlands Hervormde Kerk in
the Yalimo area; and the Regions Beyond Missionary Union in the southern area.
6.
Koch
(1967, 1974, 1980); Zöllner (1971).
7.
See
Wilson in Irian Vol. XIV, pp.
3-13.
8.
Bromley
in Oceania (1967) pp.289,303.
9.
Some
huts also accommodate pigs, and have an internal, partitioned pen, and an
additional pig door. .
10.
Koch
(1967:45).
11.
To
fell a hardwood sahai tree necessary
for durable wallboards would consume a full day when using the stone adze.
12.
There
are two types of bow: those made from a mountain tree called suon and those made from a palm called sugnim available in lower, warmer
areas. The latter, highly prized,
requires a lot of careful preparation.
.
13.
There
are four kinds of arrow: 1. dog “ man arrows”
; 2. minggin “ pig arrows” ;
3. loun — “ animal arrows”
; and 4. soap “ bird
arrows.” .
14.
Hours
of sunrise and sunset vary very little at this latitude from approximately
5am. to 6pm.
15.
Zöllner
(1977:39), cf. Koch (1967:19).
16.
These
were identified to the writer by Dr. E M C Cousens OBE, and Drs. Spence and
Jean Alexander during surveys in or near the area. Cousens (1977), S Alexander, J Alexander (1981).
17.
See
e.g. Zöllner (1977:10). In the Holuwon
area in 1986, there was widespread occurrence of a sweet potato blight at
altitudes below 1500m. A similar
blight reportedly occurred in 1966/67.
18.
See
e.g. Whiteman (1983:64-68) and Whiteman in Mantovani (1984:87-97).
19.
Whiteman
in Whiteman (1984:91).
20.
Whiteman
(1983:64-68), and Whiteman in Mantovani (1984:87-97).
21.
Strelan
(1977:62).
22.
Although
I do not read German, I have gained access to this excellent publication
through the kind assistance of Drs. Jan A Godschalk who read and orally
translated the entire book for me. He
also gave me a copy of his draft synopsis of Zöllner’s book which is shortly to
be published in the Point series of
the Melanesian Institute.
23.
A
third element, the Kwalu transition
rite, (of western origin) exists for some of the southern Yali, but all Yali
acknowledge these two strands from the east as essential and central to Yali
religion.
24.
Informants
who tell this version of the Yeli myth say that the tree/pillar versions are a
parabolic or cryptic representation of the “ true” (i.e. their)
account. Adze blows to each side of
the tree/pillar are, in fact, the arrows shot into each side of the animal by
the two primal ancestors of the two exogamous moieties.
25.
In
Yali, ap means “man”
or “people”; hwalon
consists of hwal from the stem of the
verb “ to take care of” or “to keep in order” ,
and on, a nominalizing suffix which
can be glossed “ type/kind” . In an article in Irian XIV (1986:3-13), I inadvisedly glossed ap hwalon as “shaman”. “Caretaker” might be
an etymologically more appropriate gloss, but Zöllner’s use of “medicine
man” is quite apt, though ap
hwalon did not generally use medicine per
se in their healing rites.
26.
See
Zöllner (1977:46-64); also Kamma (1978114-120).
27.
Abelal is the outer skin shed by various
reptiles. This ability symbolizes
continuous rejuvenation, perhaps even “eternal life”.
28.
The
pied chat (ebebulo) has white
shoulder patches which are compared to the mud which people daub on their
bodies when
mourning. In villages of lower
altitude, the bird which features in the myth is Blyth’s hornbill (sibine) which also has patches of white
on its body.
29.
Fong watuk is “to mourn” .
30.
A
synonym for “outer skin”.
31.
Yali
hymnbook no.81.
32.
Richardson
(1977:60-66) cites verifiable examples for each of these: Kiloho was executed
for alleged incest with his daughter; Nindig-ameg was cast into the river Heluk
when she unwittingly trespassed in the yard of the Kwalu sacred hut at Ninia
(pp.31-43); and Bugni was hacked to death with a stone adze when he went
berserk, calling out sacred luhuram
words in the hearing of women and children (pp.82-87).
33.
See
in particular Koch in Cook and O’Brien (1980:233-279), and also Koch
(1977:48ff).
34.
Apart
from my own research, I have referred to Koch (1967:46-51); Whiteman
(1983:56-58); Whiteman in Whiteman (1984:106-110); MacDonald in Whiteman
(1984:216-218); Koch in Cook and O’Brien.
35.
See
Koch (1967:53); cf Whiteman (1983:58).
36.
Koch
in Cook and O’Brien (1980:234); cf Whiteman (1983:58-63).
37.
Koch
(1967:54).
38.
The
Indonesian Government began to appoint or recognize local men as chiefs (kepala suku) in the late 1960s, without
particular reference to traditional leadership characteristics or
conditions.
39.
See
Zöllner (1977:213259; 332-387).
40.
The
cooking pot was already in a badly damaged and rusted condition when I saw it,
but some steel knives — now
without wooden handles —
were still in use in 1982, when I bought one in exchange for a new
knife.
41.
Most
accounts of the various expeditions are in Dutch, and I am therefore indebted
to Drs Jan A Godschalk for the information on the 1937 expedition.
42.
These
were the terms coined then, which have since been replaced by karog (bush knife, from the verb “to
slash”) and bosie (steel
axe — a
corruption of the western Dani mbuti,
from Indonesian besi “steel”,
and ye “axe”).
43.
Manning
(1969:25-26); Dale (1969:11-12). At
about this same time Gerrit Kuijt of the Netherlands Reformed Congregation
entered Pass Valley (Abenaho), and Siegfried Zöllner of Rheinisch – Missions -
Gesselschaft, and Dr Vriend of Nederlands Hervormde Kerk entered the Yahuli
valley to base themselves at Angguruk.
44.
Manning
(1969:28); Richardson (1977:145-148).
The Yali could only interpret the presence of white men as the return of
spirits of Yali ancestors, thus Dale’s request was taken as an obligatory
command. Richardson’s account is
imaginatively graphic, and I only give here and elsewhere references which accord with what I have
learned in conversation with Bruno de Leeuw and with Yali at Ninia.
45.
Manning
(1969:40).