VWB - Verlag für Wissenschaft und Bildung Masked Plays in Oceania Author(s): André Iteanu Source: The World of Music, Vol. 23, No. 3, masks II (1981), pp. 26-36 Published by: VWB - Verlag für Wissenschaft und Bildung Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/43562627 Accessed: 13-12-2019 21:27 UTC JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms VWB - Verlag für Wissenschaft und Bildung is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The World of Music This content downloaded from 128.135.147.141 on Fri, 13 Dec 2019 21:27:39 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms André Iteanu Masked Plays in Oceania "At carnival time the man puts a cardboard face on his mask". Xavier Fourneret - "Without title by a black man, with a white face". Oceania is made up of a cluster of islands spreading into the Pacific Ocean from the East of Indonesia to Easter Island, at 3,000 km from the coast of Chile. This ensemble of islands is traditionally divided into three distinct regions: Melanesia, Polynesia and Micronesia. These three sub-di- visions have been marked out and determined by the history of Occidental explorations, as well as by diffusionist theories of the first half of this cen- tury. Here, as everywhere, incidentally, the notion of race has no scientific value and cannot help us to understand or delimit these lands. Important cultural differences seem, however, to justify this tripartite division, but, then again, it is more suitable to consider that these frontiers are not strict- ly delimited and that it is rather a matter of zones at the interior of which cultural and symbolic systems are progressively transformed. For the subject which concerns us here, that is, the masks, this division into three parts looks at first sight pertinent. While there exists a consider- able number of masks in almost all the Melanesian societies, in Polynesia and Micronesia, on the contrary, with rare exceptions, there are practically none. In Polynesia, Cook mentions certain masks used in ceremonies of mourning, but any trace of these masks has now disappeared. In Microne- sia, there are said to be masks decorating men's houses in the Morlock Is- lands and the use of them in this way is also known on the Satawan and Lukunor Islands; and their, so to speak, marginal role within races and cul- tures which construct them, contrasts strongly with the Melanesian socie- ties, in which masks are numerous and occupy a dominating place in ar- tistic and ritual life. Thus, in Melanesia the glance of the masks is present everywhere. In these innumerable societies of relatively small sizes (in New Guinea alone 700 different languages are spoken) in which political authority is only lo- cal and ephemeral, the religious realm impregnates all aspects of life. Just as the diverse cultures overlap among themselves and exchange women, wealth, food and customs; just as the sacred is not distinguished 26 This content downloaded from 128.135.147.141 on Fri, 13 Dec 2019 21:27:39 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms from the profane, from the economic, from the political or from art, and man holds no radical opposition against nature but lives with it at a sym- bolic level in incessant symbiosis, in the same way all these societies live in perpetual and cyclic movement, from indifference to division, from divi- sion to indifference, along the dramatic and spectacular course of the ritu- als. Art participates then in this obsession to trace perpetually some limits, which disappear in the same movement while conceding no free room for objective relationship and thus exalting everywhere the relation between men. This conception of the world is expressed in striking manner by the paintings executed on the bark of the sago tree and used in New Guinea throughout the region of the Keram and Ramu rivers to decorate the faca- des and ceilings of the ceremonial houses. Diverse elements: men, ani- mals, stylized object overlap in them; no space is left empty in this repre- sentation of the ritual world. In Melanesia the masks are always related to rituals and very specific myths. They are most often the figuration of dead ancestors which is pre- sent in the masks in some way. Most often the masks are made and exhibi- ted in a privileged relationship at the house of the men, in the faint light of which the most significant actions are carried out. The construction of the masks is not reserved for a group or class of artists. Their fabrication is the action of that man who, according to his place in the society and in the kinship network, is capable at the moment of a specific ritual, to make a mask. What one seeks in the mask is not above all the originality of the forms and symbols, but rather, on the contrary, the greatest possible conformity with a model inscribed in advance. This being the case, the masks main- tain a close relationship with the funeral and initiation ceremonies. Beyond these traits common to Melanesian masks, their differences arise from specific cultures which have produced them; a brief investiga- tion of a few of the islands will be sufficient to persuade us of the validity of this. New Caledonia The masks of New Caledonia all follow the same general form: the is made of wood and has a prominent nose which resembles the beak bird; the mouth is half-open and the teeth are visible; a coiffure is mou 27 This content downloaded from 128.135.147.141 on Fri, 13 Dec 2019 21:27:39 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms on the top of the head, made of hair placed on a wicker structure; the beard is made of pigeons' feathers and threads and is intended to hide the person wearing the mask, who has his eyes at the level of the half-opened mouth. During the use of the masks no one is supposed to recognize the man wearing one. The New Caledonians say that "one cannot see the man with a mask". The masks appear only during the festivals, at which they perform mi- mes to amuse the audience. They represent distant, anonymous ancestors and they are always very timid-looking. One attributes to them a genetic and fecundating role. The wearing of the mask is considered as an act im- plying a movement beyond oneself. In contrast to this, each clan possesses a statue of a person who repre- sents a personified spirit or an ancestor whose name is given. These al- ways look fearsome to their own group and in the territory which belongs to them. New Hebrides The masks of the New Hebrides are for the most part made of willow tre lis-work on which pieces of painted bark are attached. A fringe mad banana fibres represents the hair and beard. They are used in the cou of ceremonies of the men's societies (malawan and nimanqki). In the form and their role, they differ from the funeral mannequins which made from modelled skulls, and represent ancestors in a way to resem them as closely as possible, this is to say that they carry all the signs det minating precisely their particular position in the society. They also diff from the large anthropomorphic drums which are erected and which hav a long vertical slit. These instruments have been interpreted as symbols o sexual ambivalence. There are numerous relationships between these diverse human rep sentations and the myths and rituals in which they appear. Legend has it that all the inhabitants of the island of Tanna except one woman who hid under a tree were devoured by an ogre. She af wards swallowed a stone and gave birth to two sons, who succeeded in ki ling the ogre. They then asked some birds to enter the monster's bo through his wounds and to come out through his mouth in order to ver 28 This content downloaded from 128.135.147.141 on Fri, 13 Dec 2019 21:27:39 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms that he was dead. When the birds came out of the monster's mouth their feathers were ail red. Then the twin brothers cut up the body and the peo- ple who had been killed came back to life. The ritual, in which the masks as well as the drums and ancestral effigies appear, is essentially based on the opposition between the visible action of the masks and the music of the bull roarers and drums, which represents the voice of the woman whom one cannot see. The ceremony ends with the "putting to death" of the masks and their cremation, thus bringing ab- out a general rebirth of the society. New Britain Two types of masks exist in New Britain. On the peninsula of Gazelle the masks (dukduk) are constructed from bark fibre and they cover the whole body of the men wearing them. In the other parts of the archipelago, one finds masks made of wood or fibre or constructed from the front bone- structure of human skulls. The masks are used during the ceremonies of secret societies and of in- itiations. They represent the spirits which have come to attend the celebra- tions. One can associate the use of masks with the myths of the two founding heroes, To Kabinana and To Karvuvu. These two men were created by a being which spilt blood on two anthropomorphic designs in the sand, then covered them with leaves. They were then transformed into living human beings. Using coconuts these two young people created women in order to marry them. But To Karavuvu dropped his coconuts on the ground and ugly women with broken noses came to life. In another myth, when his mother, a snake, gets rid of her wrinkled skin to become young again, To Karavuvu cried a great deal because he no lon- ger recognized her in her new appearance. She then went to look for her old skin and put it on again. After this adventure the men grow old and die. It is important to emphasize here the opposition created between the first myth, in which the combination of the picture of the man, blood and vegetation is presented as the origin of life, while in the second the rejec- ting of the illusion in regard to the woman's skin - that is, the loss of the mask - is the origin of death. 29 This content downloaded from 128.135.147.141 on Fri, 13 Dec 2019 21:27:39 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms New Ireland The principal artistic style of New Ireland is called malanggan, after the name of the funeral ritual, in the course of which certain objects are used. One can distinguish among them the two categories: on the one hand, bas-reliefs of human and animals which bear witness to the presence an reality of mythological adventures depicting the sun as well as the moon on the other hand, masks which depict inextricable jumbles of a multitude of animals forming either a complicated network partially covering th wooden face or prolongations moving upward or along the sides. Thes masks represent the ancestors of the various clans. The astonishing overlapping of human and animal representations, which characterize these masks is found as well in the myths: Marruni, the earthquake, had a human body which ended with a serpent's tail. He did not wish his wives to know this. One day they came from the garden with out giving the signal agreed upon and saw him in the process of warmin himself in the sun. He sent them away and then cut his tail into many pieces, to which he gave names and they became clans. Later he gave th men the funeral ritual. New Guinea New Guinea alone contains more than seven hundred different cultures. We shall try to describe briefly the masks which one can consider to be the most significant. Straits of Torres The masks of this region were made from tortoise-shell. The pieces were first sewed together, then soldered by the heat. No other example of the use of this material is known in Melanesia. It lends itself very well to delica- te decoration, the chief motifs of which are usually animals. These masks were used in funeral ceremonies to mime the passage of men from life to death and from death to life. Gulf of Papouasia Whether it is among the Kiwai, in the cultures of the Kerewa region, among the Elema or among the Orokolo, the masks of the region of the 30 This content downloaded from 128.135.147.141 on Fri, 13 Dec 2019 21:27:39 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Gulf of Papouasia are among the most impressive in all Melanesia. They are made of vegetal fibre glued on to light wicker-work. Their size is gran- diose and can sometimes reach a height of seven meters. The decoration is always anthropomorphic and composed of an ensemble of faces; the detail work varies greatly. They are used most often during initiation cere- monies and are destroyed at the end of the ceremonies. They contrast with the anthropomorphic shields and hooks of the men's house which play a quite different role. Region of the Sépik River In New Guinea one finds in the region of the Sépik River the greatest number of societies which overlap each other. The major part of these cul- tures have masks which are used principally in initiation ceremonies. One must give some idea of their great variety: Among the latmul, masks are made of wood and are partially covered with shells. They are called mei and represent ancestral brothers. They were used in the course of initia- tion ceremonies and had to witness the first murder committed by the children. Then one killed the prisoners. The Abelan masks are made of wicker-work and resemble animals, especially birds. They are used during initiation ceremonies and represent spirits of the forest. One should also mention the masks of the Gulf of Huon and the Bay of Astrolabe in New Guinea, which are of particular in- terest. We have seen that the masks always appear jointly with other anthropo- morphic objects in the course of the various ceremonies in which they par- ticipate. How can one understand, then, the specific character of the masks in relation to the other ritual objects used in these same cultures and in others and which arise from the same inspiration as to the subjects which they stage? How should one classify the modelled skulls of New Guinea and New Zealand, the Salomon shields, the flat slabs of Orokolo, the hooks hung in the Kerewa men's house, the skull supports of the Irian- Jayo or the anthropomorphic drums of New Caledonia? To understand the specificity of the masks, one must detach oneself from the object and from its esthetic character and instead, listen to the words of the men who bring them to life. In Melanesia, it is of utmost im- portance when a mask enters the scene that the man behind should not be 31 This content downloaded from 128.135.147.141 on Fri, 13 Dec 2019 21:27:39 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms recognized, and this is true whether his face is barely hidden with feather or whether all his body is thoroughly covered. The society forbids a person who, by chance or familiarity could name the person, who, due to the mask is no longer a human, to divulge his identity. The mask is above all a combination of two unknowns: the man who hides behind it and the mask which hides him. The mask is a spirit, bu nameless spirit, a presence from beyond, a simple, fleeting image combination of human visages and representations of animals, or, in other words, a hollow mask which the man manipulates. The man has lost h name and does what he alone can do: manipulate the mask, pretend th he is not what the mask affirms, and at the same time pretending to what everyone knows he is not - that is, a spirit. This combination characterizes the mask: man and spirit are simultan ously present, but their union neutralizes their own nature. The exaggerated orifices make possible the link between the exteri and the interior, between man and spirit: the long nose often touches one of the extremities of the body, the great eyes open with an empty stare, t ears are the favourite entrance passage of the spirits, and, finally, t mouth permits the man to look out while remaining invisible. For each society, the spirit world doubles that of men in all aspects daily life or ritual. The spirits aid the humans or perhaps sanction the With the masks, on the contrary, the division between the two worlds dis appears. Men and spirits, having lost their own identity in their union, for a new whole, original and unique. One can thus better understand th transcendental character of the mask. But in these societies there is no individual identity, properly speaking. What the wearing of the mask means in fact is nullification for a moment of relations between men as well as between men and spirits. These relation are emphasized, on the contrary, by the representations of the dead which we call "resembling" and which bear the precise mark of all the social links, status, name, ties with relatives, relationship to the land. We are now on the point of moderating our astonishment regarding the contrast between the vast quantities of Melanesian masks and their rar appearances in Micronesia and in Polynesia. The masks, for us now, ar no longer simple objects of masquerading whose material qualities alone are significant. They are much more a manner of presenting symbolically 32 This content downloaded from 128.135.147.141 on Fri, 13 Dec 2019 21:27:39 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms the contrast between life, conceived by these societies as an ensemble or relations between men, and death; perceived as individual definition of the subject for as long a time as it has not been dealt with by the ritual which transforms the dead person into an ancestor. Thus, in the myth of To Kara- vuvu, the life and death of the man as an individual are sub-ordinated to the continuity of relations, which stand for nothing other than the society itself. It is not at all surprising, then, that the relationship with the ances- tors, who are thought to be as immortal as the society itself, should be considered, beyond the ephemeral life of humans, as the promoting force in assuring the continuity of the culture. If the Melanesian mask is above all invested with sacred values, it is a re- presentation of the act which repeatedly reconfirms the link between the living and the dead in order to guarantee the fecund and cyclic course of each society. Note I should like to express here my warm thanks to Cécile Barraud, Daniel de Coppet and Jean-Paul Latouche for their commentaries, which were most valuable to me. Selective Bibliography U. Beier et A. Maori Kiki; Hohao - The uneasy survival of an art from the Papuan Gulf. Nelson, Australia 1970 T. Bodrogi; L'art de TOcéanie, Gründ, Paris 1961 J. Guiart, Mythologie du masque en Nouvelle Calédonie; Musée de l'Homme Paris 1966 M. Leenhardt, Les Structures de la Pensée en Mélanésie; Stoa ed., Milano 1970 U. Lévi-Strauss, La voie des Masques; A. Skira, Genève 1975 H. Tischner, Sydavs kunst; Dreyer Forlag, Oslo 1954. 33 This content downloaded from 128.135.147.141 on Fri, 13 Dec 2019 21:27:39 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms André Iteanu Das Maskenspiel in Ozeanien (Kurzfassung) Bei verschiedenen Zeremonien treten die dabei beteiligten Masken immer zusammen mit anderen anthropomorphen Gegenstän- den auf. Gewöhnlich sind sie nicht T räger ei- ner bestimmten Ästhetik. Wie läßt sich dann die Besonderheit der Masken im Vergleich mit anderen rituellen Gegenständen begrei- fen, die in eben diesen und anderen Kulturen verwendet werden und an der gleichen In- spiration teilhaben - denkt man an die dar- gestellten Themen? Wie soll man die über- trieben modulierten Köpfe in Neuguinea oder Neuseeland, die Armreifen von den Sa- lomon-lnseln, dieOrokolo-Tafeln, die Zähne, die in Häusern der Kerewa-Männer aufge- hängt werden, die Kopf-Träger in Irian-Jayo und die anthropomorphen Trommeln in Neu-Kaledonien bewerten? Um die Masken in ihrer Besonderheit zu begreifen, muß man sich von dem Gegen- stand und seiner Ästhetik losmachen und den Worten derjenigen nachgehen, die den Masken Leben geben. In Melanesien ist man sich vor allem darin einig, daß man, sobald eine Maske zu spielen beginnt, den Menschen, der sich hinter ihr verbirgt, nicht erkennt -gleichgültig, ob sein Gesicht spärlich mit Federn bedeckt ist oder ob sein gesamter Körper verborgen ist. Wenn jemand durch Zufall oder durch seine enge Beziehung zum Maskenträger, der durch die Wirkung der Maske aufgehört hat, ein menschliches Wesen zu sein, dessen Na- men weiß, so verbietet ihm die Gemein- schaft, diese Identität öffentlich preiszu- geben. Die Maske ist in erster Linie die Verbin- dung zweier Unbekannter: des Menschen, der sich darunter verbirgt, und der Maske, die ihn zu erkennen gibt. Die Maske ist ein Geist - jedoch ein namenloser Geist, eine Gegenwart aus dem Jenseits, eine einfache flüchtige Erscheinung, Verbindung von menschlichen Gesichtern und Darstellungen von Tieren, insgesamt: eine leere Maske in der Hand des Menschen. Der Mensch hat seinen Namen verloren und tut das, was nur er imstande ist zu tun: er manipuliert die Maske, behauptet, sie sei nicht das, was sie zu sein vorgibt, indem er behauptet, sie sei das, was sie, wie jeder weiß, nicht ist - ein Geist. Charakteristisch für die Maske ist diese Verquickung von Mensch und Geist, die bei- de gleichzeitig gegenwärtig sind, aber durch ihre Vereinigung die ihnen eigene Natur neutralisieren. Die gewaltigen Öffnungen er- lauben die Verbindung zwischen außen und innen, zwischen Mensch und Geist: die lan- ge Nase führt häufig zu einer der Extremitä- ten des Körpers, die hervortretenden Augen öffnen sich über einem leeren Blick, die Oh- ren sind der erwählte Ort für den Durchgang der Geister und der Mund läßt den verborge- nen Blick des Menschen hindurch. Für jede Gesellschaft ist die Welt der Gei- ster in sämtlichen Aspekten des täglichen oder rituellen Lebens das Double der Welt des Menschen. Die Geister helfen den Men- schen oder strafen sie. Mit den Masken da- gegen verschwindet die Trennung zwischen den beiden Welten. Menschen und Geister haben in ihrer Vereinigung ihre eigene Iden- tität verloren, sie bilden ein neues Ganzes, das originell und einzig in seiner Art ist. In diesen Gesellschaften kann man jedoch eigentlich nicht von individueller Identität sprechen. Tatsächlich bedeutet das Tragen einer Maske die Aufhebung - für einen Au- 34 This content downloaded from 128.135.147.141 on Fri, 13 Dec 2019 21:27:39 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms genblick - der Beziehungen zwischen den Menschen und der zwischen Menschen und Geistern. Dagegen erhalten diese Beziehun- gen eine Verstärkung durch die von mir „ähnlich" genannten Darstellungen der Ver- storbenen, die das genaue Zeichen der sämtlichen sozialen Bindungen tragen: Sta- tus, Name, Verwandtschaftsbeziehungen, Verbindungen mit der Erde. Die Masken sind also nicht einfache Gegenstände für die Ver- kleidung, bei der nur die Stofflichkeit Bedeu- tung hat. Sie sind vielmehr so etwas wie ein Gegenstück zum Leben, das wie ein Kom- plex von Beziehungen zwischen den Men- schen und dem Tod angesehen und vom Einzelnen als dessen individuelle Bestim- mung begriffen wird, solange es noch nicht durch den entsprechenden Ritus die Ver- wandlung in einen Ahnen erfahren hat. So sind im Mythos von To Karavuvu Leben und Tod des Menschen als Person deutlich dem Fortbestand der Beziehungen, die die Ge- sellschaft selbst versinnbildlichen, unterge- ordnet. Es ist nicht verwunderlich, wenn in dieser der Vergänglichkeit des menschli- chen Lebens enthobenen Beziehung zu den Vorfahren, die in gleicher Weise wie die Ge- sellschaft in das Konzept der Unsterblichkeit gehören, die Grundlage für die Kontinuität der Kultur gesehen wird. Wenn die melanesische Maske vor allem mit heiligen Attributen ausgestattet wird, so deshalb, weil sie die Darstellung der Hand- lung ist, die immer von neuem das Band zwi- schen den Lebenden und den Toten knüpft, um den fruchtbaren Kreislauf einer jeden Gesellschaft zu sichern. André Iteanu Le jeu des masques en Océanie (résumé) Les masques apparaissent toujours con- jointement à d'autres objets anthropomor- phes au cours de diverses cérémonies aux- quelles ils participent. Généralement ils ne sont pas les porteurs d'une esthétique parti- culière. Comment comprendre alors la spé- cificité des masques par rapport aux autres objets rituels utilisés dans ces mêmes cul- tures et dans d'autres et qui participent d'une même inspiration quant aux sujets qu'ils mettent en scène? Comment classer les crânes surmodelés de la Nouvelle-Gui- née ou de la Nouvelle-Zélande, les boucliers salomonais, les tablettes Orokolo, les cro- chets pendus dans les maisons des hommes Kerewa, les supports de crâne de l'Irian-Jayo ou les tambours anthropomorphes de la Nouvelle-Calédonie? Pour comprendre la spécificité des mas- ques il faut se détacher de l'objet et de son esthétique et saisir les paroles des hommes qui les font vivre. En Mélanésie il convient avant tout, quand un masque entre en scène, de ne pas reconnaître l'homme qui s'y ca- che, que son visage soit à peine recouvert par des plumes, ou que tout son corps soit caché. A celui qui par hasard ou familiarité saurait mettre un nom sur ce qui par l'effet du masque n'est plus un humain, la société interdit de divulguer cette identité. Le masque est avant tout combinaison de deux inconnues: l'homme qui s'y cache et le masque qui le dévoile. Le masque est un esprit, mais un esprit sans nom, une présen- ce de l'au-delà, simple image fuyante, com- 35 This content downloaded from 128.135.147.141 on Fri, 13 Dec 2019 21:27:39 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms binaison de visages humains et de repré- sentations d'animaux, en somme un masque creux que l'homme manipule. L'homme a perdu son nom et fait ce que lui seul a le pouvoir de faire: manipuler le masque, pré- tendre qu'il n'est pas ce que le masque af- firme, tout en prétendant être ce que chacun sait qu'il n'est pas, c'est-à-dire un esprit. Cette combinaison caractérise le masque: homme et esprit sont à la fois présents mais leur réunion neutralise leur nature propre. Les orifices démesurés permettent le lien entre extérieur et intérieur, entre homme et esprit: le long nez rejoint souvent l'une des extrémités du corps, les yeux exorbités ouv- rent sur un regard vide, les oreilles sont le lieu favori du passage des esprits, la bouche finalement laisse filtrer le regard invisible de l'homme. Pour chaque société, le monde des esprits double celui des hommes dans tous les aspects de la vie quotidienne ou rituelle. Les esprits aident les hommes ou bien les sanc- tionnent. Avec les masques, au contraire, la division entre les deux mondes disparaît. Hommes et esprits ayant perdu leur identité propre dans leur union, forment un nouveau tout, original et unique. On comprend mieux alors le caractère transcendental du mas- que. Mais dans ces sociétés il n'y a pas à pro- prement parler d'identité individuelle. Ce que le port du masque signifie en fait c'est l'annulation, pour un instant, des relations entre les hommes et entre les hommes et les esprits. Ces relations sont au contraire sou- lignées par les représentations des morts que nous appelons «ressemblantes», et qui portent la marque précise de tous les liens sociaux: statut, nom, liens de parenté, rela- tions à la terre. Les masques ne sont donc plus de simples objets de mascarade dont seule la matéria- lité est significative. Ils sont, au contraire, une manière d'opposer la vie, envisagée comme un ensemble de relations entre les hommes, et la mort, perçue comme défi- nition individuelle du sujet, aussi longtemps qu'elle n'a pas été transformée en ancêtre par le rituel approprié. Ainsi, dans le mythe de To Karavuvu, la vie et la mort de l'homme en tant que sujet sont nettement subordon- nées à la continuité des relations, qui sym- bolisent la société elle-même. Il n'est pas surprenant alors que la relation avec les an- cêtres, qui sont conceptualisés comme im- mortels au même titre que la société, soit par delà la vie éphémère des hommes, considé- rée comme fondatrice de la continuité de la culture. Si le masque mélanésien est avant tout in- vesti de valeurs sacrées, il est représentation de l'acte qui reconfirme de manière répétée le lien entre les vivants et les morts pour ga- rantir la course cyclique et féconde de cha- que société. 36 This content downloaded from 128.135.147.141 on Fri, 13 Dec 2019 21:27:39 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms