Nuaulu religious practices The frequency and reproduction of rituals in a Moluccan society Roy Ellen NUAULU RELIGIOUS PRACTICES V E R H A N D E L I N G E N VA N H E T KO N I N K L I J K I N S T I T U U T VOOR TAAL-, LAND- EN VOLKENKUNDE 283 ROY ELLEN NUAULU RELIGIOUS PRACTICES The frequency and reproduction of rituals in a Moluccan society KITLV Press Leiden 2012 Published by: KITLV Press Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde (Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies) P.O. Box 9515 2300 RA Leiden The Netherlands website: www.kitlv.nl e-mail: kitlvpress@kitlv.nl KITLV is an institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) Cover: Sam Gobin ISBN 978 90 6718 391 8 © 2012 Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the copyright owner. Printed in the Netherlands Frontispiece. Hatarai making an invocation over the new sokate hanging beneath the rine shelf in Sounaue-ainakahata clan sacred house; Rouhua, August 1973. Contents list of figures xi list of tables xiii list of plates xv preface xix a note on spelling xxv acknowledgements xxvii 1 things, cycles and exchanges 1 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 In relation to theories of ritual 6 1.3 The concept of ritual reproduction 8 1.4 A point of methodology 14 1.5 Clans, houses and social organization 17 1.6 Nuaulu rituals as events 25 1.7 Rituals as work and work as ritual 28 1.8 The organization of the analysis 33 2 components of ritual performance 35 2.1 Introduction 35 2.2 Cognitive architecture 36 2.3 Material paraphernalia 47 2.4 Food and feasting 61 2.5 Words and movements: kahuae 63 2.6 Spirit participants 68 2.7 Divisions of labour 72 2.8 Scripts, schemas and sequences: the syntax of ritual composition 73 viii | Contents 3 life-cycle rituals: birth 77 3.1 Introduction 77 3.2 Birth ritual 78 3.3 The posune 79 3.4 Birth and post-natal care 83 3.5 Erecting the asinokoe 86 3.6 The washing ceremony at the posune. 88 3.7 Reintegration ritual: first day 92 3.8 Reintegration ritual: second day 95 3.9 First hair-cutting ceremony 97 3.10 Variation and change 101 3.11 Frequency and periodicity 104 4 life-cycle rituals: female puberty ( NAHANE PINAMOU ) 107 4.1 Introduction 107 4.2 First menstrual seclusion 108 4.3 Entering ritual 109 4.4 Preparations for coming-out ceremony 114 4.5 At the posune: the washing ceremony 115 4.6 At the clan sacred house 119 4.7 The second day 124 4.8 At the hatu pinamou 126 4.9 Variation, change and periodicity in female puberty rites 127 5 life-cycle rituals: male puberty ceremonies ( MATAHENNE ) 131 5.1 Introduction 131 5.2 The morite relationship 132 5.3 Preparations 134 5.4 First day: bathing 139 5.5 First day: dressing 140 5.6 Walk to the hantetane 141 5.7 At the hantetane 143 5.8 Investiture with barkcloth 144 5.9 Sacrificing the cuscus 146 5.10 Return to the village 148 5.11 The second day 149 5.12 Variation and change in matahenne 152 ix Contents | 5.13 Periodicity and frequency of matahenne 155 5.14 The connecting logic in rituals of sexual maturation 158 6 life-cycle rituals: adulthood and death 161 6.1 Introduction 161 6.2 Investiture with tupu-tupue 162 6.3 Variation and periodicity of tupu-tupue ceremonies 169 6.4 Mortuary rituals 170 6.5 Default death – preparation of the corpse 171 6.6 At Hatu Nohue 174 6.7 Two case studies 177 6.8 Post-funeral mortuary practices 179 6.9 The symbolic geography of death as a ritual mnemonic 182 6.10 Variation in mortuary rituals 184 6.11 Periodicity and change 191 7 rituals of the house 193 7.1 The house defined 193 7.2 The pre-life of houses 196 7.3 Planting the first post and erecting the frame 199 7.4 Roofing, walls and floors 202 7.5 Transfer of valuables into a new house 205 7.6 Rituals of things 210 7.7 Completion ceremonies 213 7.8 Variation and change 215 7.9 Frequency and periodicity 221 8 rituals of the SUANE 225 8.1 Introduction 225 8.2 The suane defined 226 8.3 The suane as a physical structure 231 8.4 The suane and kahuae 234 8.5 The pre-life of the suane 236 8.6 Planting the first post 239 8.7 Installing the fireplace 240 8.8 Planting and transplanting kokine 243 8.9 Entering the suane for the first time 246 x | Contents 8.10 Completing the cycle 247 8.11 The great kahuae festival 249 8.12 Variation, change and periodicity 250 9 managing ritual 257 9.1 Quantifying and comparing ritual events 257 9.2 The coherence of ritual and the consequences of differential frequency 262 9.3 Subsistence rituals as default models 268 9.4 Planning, sequencing and coordinating interlocking cycles 273 9.5 The precision of performance: social tension, retribution and redemption 280 9.6 How and why rituals change 285 9.7 Size matters: demography, mobility and viability 291 9.8 The consequences of civil disturbance, 1999-2003 301 9.9 Summary and conclusions 305 9.10 Postscript: the end of ritual? 306 glossary 311 appendix: log of nuaulu ritual events attended and described, 1970-2003 319 bibliography 325 index 341 List of fi gures 1.1 The geographic location of the Nuaulu area in relation to Maluku as a whole and Seram in particular 4 1.2 The eastern part of Amahai subdistrict, Seram 4 1.3 Bar charts for six categories of activity 32 2.1 Outline structure of Nuaulu house, showing relative position of selected components mentioned in the text 42 2.2 Basic cognitive geometry of the Nuaulu sacred house and village space 43 2.3 Seating plan for a first hair-cutting ritual, Sounaue-ainakahata, 1970 45 2.4 The social passage of betel in ritual 56 3.1 Genealogical connections between main actors in the bathing ceremony for Kaune Sounaue-ainakahata, 1971 89 4.1 Seating arrangement for pinamou reintegration ceremony in clan sacred house 120 5.1 Male puberty ceremony: the flow of morite services between clans in Rouhua 133 5.2 Male puberty ceremony: projected estimates for number of novices for five-year periods between 1945 and 1985 156 7.1 Comparison of relationships between those involved in repairing ritual heute belonging to the numa kapitane Neipane and those belonging to numa onate Soumori 199 7.2 Plan illustrating spatial aspects of ritual for insertion of first walling in new Neipane-tomoien clan sacred house, 1970 204 7.3 Variation in clan sacred house design as evident from floor-level plan 217 8.1 Seating arrangement in the Matoke clan sacred house for principal actors involved in the kokine transplanting ceremony, 1971 244 8.2 Suane cycles for three Nuaulu settlements, 1970-1996 252 9.1 How change in the composition of domestic groups influences the expe- rience of different categories of ritual 261 xii | List of figures 9.2 How individual cultural models are reinforced and modified over time through the interplay of repeated experience and generic information inputs 267 9.3 The interconnections between different cycles of Nuaulu ritual activity 275 9.4 The causal history of a ritual event: planting the first posts for a suane 278 9.5 Growth in Nuaulu population compared with Seram as a whole 292 9.6 Population pyramids for five clans in Rouhua, 1971 298 9.7 Number of males available for puberty ceremonies in successive generations, 1971-1991 299 List of tables 1.1 Distribution and size of Nuaulu clans by settlement, 1971 and 2001 com- pared 20 1.2 1970-71 survey of work allocation for selected Nuaulu adult males 30 2.1 Distribution of ritual objects in five sacred clan houses in Rouhua, 1971 49 2.2 Selected plant species significant in Nuaulu ritual cycles described in this book 54 5.1 Male puberty ceremonies: correspondence between year, location, clan and number of individuals inducted, Rouhua 1971-2003 157 7.1 Distribution of clan sacred houses in different Nuaulu settlements, 1971 and 2001 compared 195 7.2 Participation in selected house-building rituals by adult males between 1970 and 1996 208 7.3 Nuaulu clan population figures in relation to number of sacred houses: 1971 and 2001 compared 223 9.1 Nuaulu fieldwork episodes conducted by Ellen, 1970-2003 257 9.2 Growth of Nuaulu population in south Seram compared with that at other levels of administrative grouping, 1970-2001 293 9.3 Population of different Nuaulu settlements, indicating mobility between settlements and the creation and abandonment of settlements 296 List of plates Frontispiece. Hatarai making an invocation over the new sokate hanging beneath the rine shelf in Sounaue-ainakahata clan sacred house, Rouhua 1973 2.1. (a) Elders chewing betel after Soumori totemic ritual, Rouhua 1973 55 (b) two kinds of sacred plant recently planted on the seaward side of the numa onate Matoke, Rouhua 1975 55 (c) elders feasting following Hatarai’s so saruana , Rouhua 1973 55 2.2. (a) Male ceremonial attire, Aihisuru 1970 59 (b) male ceremonial attire, Aihisuru 1970 59 (c) male kahuae dancers in numa onate Matoke, Aihisuru 1970 59 (d) unmarried post-pubertal female dancers performing around torch of kamane ( Agathis dammara ) resin within the circle of male kahuae dancers, Aihisuru 1970 59 3.1. Birth ritual in Rouhua: (a) man and woman building posune , 1981 82 (b) midwife placing hand on head of baby and praying before cutting the umbilical cord, 1993 82 (c) mother burying afterbirth outside posune , 1991 82 (d) posune with newly-erected asinokoe , 1970 82 3.2. Birth ritual: (a) group of women and children assembling outside posune for ceremonial washing of the new mother, Niamonai 1986 91 (b) ceremonial washing of new mother at door of posune, Rouhua 1990 91 (c) numa nuhune, Aihisuru 1970 91 (d) Pinasapa Soumori bringing plate as part of the nuhune ritual for Pikamaru Sounaue, Rouhua 1986 91 3.3. Birth ritual, Rouhua: (a) encircling nuhune house during ritual for the birth of Kaune Sounaue, 1971 94 (b) ceremonial receiving of betel quid by Heteiane, mother of Sahuraka Neipane, as part of the process of reintegration, Mon 1990 94 xvi | List of plates 4.1. Female puberty ceremony, Rouhua: (a) Suniapi and Mariam constructing Pinaonai’s first menstrual posune , 1973 110 (b) female kin assembling at door of posune for the washing ceremony for pinamou Unsa, 1970 110 (c) pinamou Unsa in ceremonial attire after the washing ceremony at the posune , 1970 110 5.1. Male puberty ceremony: Napuae’s wife cooking maea in preparation for the Peinisa clan matahenne, Rouhua 1996 137 5.2. Male puberty ceremony, Rouhua: (a) assembling at the hantetane on the Awao river, waiting for the matahenne for Soumori and Sounaue-ainakahata to begin, 1971 142 (b) cutting logs from ai msinae wood to make ai otua (standing blocks) for novices at the Peinisa matahenne, 1996 142 (c) ia onate Matoke kneeling before the ai otua prior to the matahenne ceremony, 1971 142 (d) Anarima and Soiile Sounaue-ainakahata receiving their barkloth, Rouhua 1971 142 (e) ia onate Matoke presenting Soiile Sounaue-ainakahata with ring, 1971 142 (f) Soiile Sounaue-ainakahata killing sacrificial cuscus, 1971 142 5.3. Male puberty ceremony, Rouhua: (a) inducted males standing on hantetane during celebratory feast, 1971 148 (b) inducted males returning from matahenne on the Awao, 1971 148 (c) morite descending from numa onate Matoke after presenting barkcloths to ancestral spirits of the rine, 1971 148 6.1. Death ritual for Sanakamura at Hatu Nohue, near Rouhua 1975: (a) carrying wrapped corpse on bamboo bier 175 (b) placing wrapped corpse on funeral platform 175 7.1 House ritual: (a) heute, timber store for posts of sacred houses, Niamonai 1970 198 (b) erecting hini of new house for Kaiisa and his elder brother, Rouhua, 1970 198 7.2. House ritual: (a) a halt during the process of transferring sacred paraphernalia from the old to the new numa kapitane Neipane-tomoien to pay respects to the ancestors of the suane, Rouhua 1971 209 xvii List of plates | (b) entering the new numa kapitane Neipane-tomoien, Rouhua 1971 209 (c) heirlooms in the form of plates being transferred to new numa kapi- tane 209 7.3. House ritual: (a) new numa onate : Kamama, Niamonai 1986 218 (b) numa onate : Sounaue-aipura, Bunara 199 218 (c) new numa onate on the Samna-ukuna: Sounaue-ainakahata, Rouhua 1975 218 (d) numa onate : Soumori, Rouhua 1970 218 (e) numa onate : Neipane-tomoien, Rouhua 1990 218 (f) new numa onate : Neipane-tomoien, Rouhua 1990 218 8.1 The completed suane : (a) Niamonai (Watane), from the south, 1986 228 (b) Niamonai (Watane), from the northeast, 1986 228 (c) Bunara, from the southwest, 1975 228 (d) Rouhua, from the northwest, 1970 228 8.2. (a) Atikanae shelf at northeast corner of Niamonai suane , 1970 223 (b) atikanae shelf at northeast corner of Bunara suane , 1975 223 (c) interior of Bunara suane, looking towards the northeast corner and atikanae, 1990 223 (d) drum ( tihane ) in Niamonai suane, 1970 223 8.3. (a) Niamonai suane at initial stage of decline, from the southeast, 1970 237 (b) site of the dismantled suane in Niamonai from the south, 1971 237 (c) old heu suane in Rouhua in an advanced state of decay, 1990 237 8.4. (a) Heute suane in Rouhua 1981 (b) Bunara suane from the southwest, immediately prior to roofing, 1973 8.5. Installing the suane fireplace, Rouhua 1970: (a) greeting distinguished visitors from Sepa 241 (b) preparing to enter the suane 241 (c) maritihanna entering suane 241 (d) maritihanna offering invocation to ancestors of suane 241 (e) young men removing earth from surface of main village thoroughfare on seaward side of suane 241 8.6. (a) Sacred plants growing to the Southeast of the Rouhua suane, 1975 245 (b) Hatarai Sounaue-ainakahata replanting kokine in the soue northeast of the Matoke clan house in Rouhua 1971 245 xviii | Nuaulu Religious Practices (c) Inane Matoke uprooting wainite from a place northeast of the Matoke clan house to be replanted near the Rouhua suane, 1971 245 (d) Hatarai Sounaue-ainakahata planting wainite near the Rouhua su- ane that has been moved from northeast of the Matoke clan house, 1971 245 Preface This monograph brings to completion a major and long-term study of the religious behaviour of the Nuaulu, a people numbering some 2,000 and living on the island of Seram in the eastern Indonesian province of Maluku (the Moluccas). Although there is much on the subject of Nuaulu traditional religion that is omitted here, I have aimed to provide a sufficiently extensive ethnographic account to illustrate the relation- ship between the frequency and periodicity of ritual performance, and the way in which these factors might influence the way systems of practices are reproduced. I explore themes, therefore, particularly with respect to ritual form and transmissive frequency, which have been inde- pendently developed by Whitehouse, McCauley and Lawson in a series of important and provocative recent works. Since the greater part of my research was conceived and executed in advance of their published work, and although there are convergences and divergences which merit some comment, I do not explicitly set out to test these theories, nor with hindsight could I properly do so. Neither do I think it appropriate to discuss the various criticisms these theorists have of each others’ ap- proaches, though my own data and analysis may allow others to draw inferences that have a bearing on this debate. I shall expand on these remarks in Chapter 1. The main part of the project has involved the systematic organiza- tion and analysis of Nuaulu field data on different categories of ritual event collected mainly between 1970 and 1996. The frequency of these events in relation to the groups for which they were performed was computed on the basis of reports in my field diaries: recorded by date and ordered by month and year, with numbers of participants and the demographics of the groups for which they were held. The analysis of these data between 2002 and 2003 allowed the identification of pat- terns, trends and gaps in the data that were followed up during further fieldwork conducted in 2003, much delayed and shortened by political events. Beginning with the most frequently reported ritual events – birth