The complex rituals of death in Kieta society

BY LEONARD FONG ROKA

THE KIETA PEOPLE, who occupy most of central Bougainville and speak Nasioi, maintain their identity and beliefs.

To the Kietas, death brings a weight of responsibily to be executed in accordance with traditional ritual. From the moment of death (bo), it takes around three years to declare the death to be over; and is not to be further thought of.

Death brings transformation and new responsibilities to certain people within the immediate extended family. The fundamental basis is to maintain a good relationship with the spirit world. And that communion is always symbolised by feasting.

Once, a person is pronounced dead, the way the body was positioned at the last breath is not disturbed. All persons present withdraw because the death is not yet declared to the spirit world by the immediate family. Mourners may come, but they have to keep to the village edge.

The declaration involves the immediate women relatives who are called together; they encircle the position where the body is lying, eyes fixed to the body, and give out a loud hysterical scream, a process we call wii.

This declaration signals that they have been surprised, and have just lost a family member. As the womenfolk weep, a number of trees, especially, coconut and areca nut palms in the vicinity of the village, are felled as part of this declaration.

Declaration over, the death bed is prepared. This involves two tasks: uprooting of taro (aapi) and bathing of the body (duu). The women break into two groups. One leaves for the taro gardens to unroot the taro and pile the taro in an oval arrangement to accommodate the corpse as a bed does. The group that has remained bathes the body with one taboo to follow: if the deceased is a male, the relatives he can relate to as a sister are not allowed there and vice versa.

The body is placed on the taro bed and mourners are permitted to view and touch to show their grief.

From the moment of death, the family is banned from gardening. They are permitted only to harvest. Nearby villages, as a gesture of respect, stop all burning of garden rubbish.

Taro (ba’u) is significant in Kieta society. It is a source of power and prestige. All mythology, legends and folklore can miss out other food crops, but not taro. The placing of the death on a taro-bed shows a request for blessing from the spirit world (mourners bring in their taro) and pays homage to the spirit world for all the good things it has given; hoping in return that the spirits take good care of the community.

After the mourning period is over, the coffin is removed from the house and placed on the lawn. Immediate family members assemble near the casket and a village elder bathes them with water and magical herbs (papa’ranang) to remove all negativity so they remain free from conflict with the deceased.

As the casket is carried to the tomb, an elder equipped with a kind of magical herb called sirivi which he has purposely removed from the papa’ranang, walks around the village calling on all the spirits (aabo) to follow him to the burial site. As the casket is placed in the tomb (daako), the elder places the sirivi in the tomb with all the spirits attached to it.

Early the next morning, the day after the daako, all the rubbish created during the funeral is collected and burned (kat’te) by the family. Cleaning up the village shows that the family is free to move on with other requirements of the death process.

The traditional timing for ending of sorrow (kep’pu-nuu) is always two weeks after the kat’te. The men leave the village for hunting or fishing. The women gather garden food. All these activities are done within two weeks. On an appointed date all those who came for mourning are called together to eat the food.

The sorrow period is partially over with this small one-day feast. Gardening resumes; burning in the gardens is allowed.

This paves the way for two major feasting events: the ntaa- kong-kong that prepares the family for the final feast to officially end the sorrow process, the kat’te turaa.

During the kep’pu-nuu, there are several rites.

In kereng-kereng, people choose to abstain from consuming the various food types the dead person was eating two weeks before death. Certain people will also choose to stop combing their hair and grow dreadlocks (mama’ku) which they cut at the feast of kat’te turaa.

In kabo-kabo-ro the dead person’s properties are carefully sorted and disposed off. Some are given to relatives, but a good proportion are put into a traditional bag (tora) and stored for burning during the final feast (kat’te turaa).

For the declaration of ntaa-kong-kong, the people set the date for clearing the bush in preparation for the planting of big public taro garden (kota). Pigs are given to each person of the family.

All these tasks completed, the family and relatives get on with their business for a month or so before starting the last two processes of ending the sorrow.

Ntaa-kong-kong is a small feast a month or two after the kep’pu-nuu. It is the ceremony that signals to begin gardening and pig domestication for the kat’te turaa. The women remain in the village and prepare the food and pork as the men clear the bush out for the public taro garden (kota).

Taro grows well in the higher altitudes of Kieta. It usually takes a year to harvest. So, the final feasting to officially declare that the sorrow is over, takes about 18 months, depending on the maturation of the taro.

Kat’te turaa is the final feast to marks the end of the long ritualistic funeral journey. Persons who abstained from combing their hair and, those who abstained from eating certain food bring in their pigs and those they invited as their guests to witness the ceremony come and dance the kovi (flute singsing) until dawn.

At three o’clock in the morning, the deceased person’s selected belongings are burned in a fire. As the fire finally consumes the clothing and so on, a singsing group is called to dance over it; dictating that we are now over with this sorrow.

When the sun is up and shining, those who abstained from combing and eating certain food are called and the family of the late person serves them.

All completed the people slaughter the pigs and distribute the meat to various people to take home to their homes.

Death in my Kieta society starts a long process of ritual that must be undertaken in accordance to tradition. Non-compliance brings a curse upon the family from the spirit world.

Note: As off 27 MAY 2011, this article was in Keith Jackson & Friends: PNG ATTITUDE (http://asopa.typepad.com/asopa_people/2011/05/the-complex-rituals-of-death-in-kieta-society.html)

It was part of my anthropology assignment