The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Columnist Sherryanne De La Boise
"Adventurous-Entertaining"
email: sherryanneQuill@yahoo.com
(her mother resides in Stronghurst)
Introduction - Part I of IV
This is the season of feasting and in my travelogue, I am at the point where I am to spend several weeks amongst cannibals.
Our laws forbid this practice, but when Michael Rockefeller was in Papua New Guinea, hording up treasures for his father's new museum, he came to this tribe that wanted retaliation: A white trader had killed a member of their family and just abandoned the body to the wilds.
Rather like fleeing a vehicular accident, rather than pulling over and being upset that the accident occurred.
They seized the lead white trader, hoisted him up on bis poles (more on these next week), and then treated him to a hot bath, before they turned up the flame and feasted.
The Mayans also ate their enemies. They even went so far as to remove the flesh in its entirety, less hands and feet (but keeping the face and scalp), making it into a lace-up costume to be worn on festival days. There is an adorable, child-sized one on display in the Field Museum in Chicago. The guard says that he can tell who actually reads the entire description, as "human leather" only appears in the second to last paragraph.
In Peru, the Incas would take a beautiful virgin, that they had educated and raised with the expectations of a great marriage.
At her initiation party, they would get her so high that she could not protest when they buried her in a corner under their own excrements, thereby suffocating her. Her body was still warm, as they ritually carved it open and feasted with their Gods. Oh, I should have written this article before Halloween:
So, here I am, a woman of traditional build, trying to do research on the Asmat cannibals, while trying not to get put into a stew pot.
The first village is in transition from native class to middle class, just because they live on valuable real estate. They are adjacent to the growing, modern capital, yet it is protected as a wildlife perserve. Since becoming a territory of Indonesia, the government wants them to pay their fair share of taxes.
This would require that the people develop a need for cash, work to get that cash, and a means of tracking how much so that taxes can be assessed.
The government also has the tricky problem of how to collect taxes without being eaten.
They still are native class, but they need to have cash for cigarettes and the clothing that the Indonesians government is requiring them to wear. No more going topless, when they leave the village.
The men are in long basketball shorts under grass skirts (worn for the visitors) and 50/50 on shirts. It's very hot here. The women sport ill-fitting bras and grass skirts that are open on both sides - bare legs to the waist.
The second settlement is in the capital city. The Asmat who have left the villages for higher wages are residing in poverty. They wear none of the native attire. It may take a few generations, but they are on their way to middle class.
Life is very hard. There is a drought. Feasting, which involves roasting and boiling is not possible.
The children are very dirty. They barely pay taxes, but the government has succeeded in showing them desirable capitalistic goods, so they will persevere to gain middle class, tax paying status.
The third settlement that I will visit, is high up river, in a remote village. They are still completely native class, though they have a need for cash to keep operating the school. It goes to fourth grade and is taught, with great distain, by Indonesian 20 year olds who are doing this to pay off their educational debt to the government (University is free if you teach for the first four years afterwards. Your placement is not your decision).
The teachers are cute, and hip, and cool. The students cannot help but want to emulate them. This is why the chief only allows education to the fourth grade: He is trying to keep his native family together.
Don't be too harsh on the chief, for he seems very similar to the leaders of the Amish (whom I have not studied) in that desire to keep what has been good for many generations. And, remember that the Hebrews, of the old testament, did sacrifices (Abraham and his son).
No one smiles.
Russians never smile. If you walk around with a smile, Russians think you are a bit daft.
My Russian language teacher was stationed in Moscow at the U.S. embassy. One nice day, he was smiling at folks, as he enjoyed a cup of coffee. People kept dropping coins into his drink.
Same with the Asmat. Even when speaking kindly, their faces remain in a harsh scowl. As the men of the tribe approach us in fast moving dugouts, they are standing and chanting, ""Yaaaaah, Yaaaaah, Yaaaaah, Yaaaaah, Yaaaaah" in rhythm to a slow drumbeat.
They are decked out in full war gear. When the chief's boat starts to do a constant drone, the others join in for 80 seconds, watching the chief as he hold his spear in the air.
When he brings it down, everyone goes, "Huh" and looks in the direction that the chief is pointing. If it is positive, the droning starts anew. If it is negative, then those spears are going to be piercing us and our rubber rafts. I understand why Captain Cook decided not to land here.
All three of these settlements will be approached by water, on tiny inflatable boats. Others will have their cameras pasted to their faces.
I am going to sit back and let the experience flow over me.
So, stick with me, as I tell you about these people who never smile and have given up being cannibals for about as long as I have given up being tan.