John Tyman's Cultures in Context Series Torembi and the Sepik A Study of Village Life in New Guinea |
|
Topic No. 20: Getting Married ~ Photos 386 - 422 |
|
John Tyman's Cultures in Context Series Torembi and the Sepik A Study of Village Life in New Guinea |
|
Topic No. 20: Getting Married ~ Photos 386 - 422 |
 |
| 386. The tremendous amount of work done by women is clearly of great practical value. Because of this, when a man takes a woman to be his wife, her family requires compensation in the form of a bride price. |
 |
| 387. Such arrangements serve also to keep money circulating in the community, and bind it together in a complex pattern of mutual indebtedness – since all members of the clan are expected to contribute. As a result, getting married in New Guinea is a complicated process. It can take many months, and maybe even years. (Bride price ceremony at Kosimbi.) |
 |
| 388. Parents no longer choose partners for their children, as they once did. Instead, a marriage typically begins in a home like this, when a young couple decide to live together at the house of the groom's father. |
 |
| 389. Before doing so they will have asked permission at meetings at the haus tambaran which also determine the price to be paid. These discussions involve not just the parents, as they would in many societies, but the elders of both clans … the bride's and the groom's. |
 |
| 390. Some months later an initial payment is made by the groom’s family at an informal ceremony referred to as ‘passim bel’ – meaning ‘to fasten the belly’, since it will legitimize any pregnancy. (Bride brice ceremony at Kosimbi) |
 |
| 391. The agreement is sealed, as usual, by the presentation of a live chicken and a bunch of betel nuts. To pay the balance owing, the groom’s family then contacts all those indebted to it by reason of its contributions to similar ceremonies in times past. |
 |
| 392. However, it’s impossible to raise a thousand dollars overnight. As a result it’s common for a couple to have one or two children by the time the official wedding ceremony takes place. |
 |
| 393. Early on the day appointed – after all those concerned had indicated their readiness to pay – the drums were sounded and the groom’s clan was summoned to pay the bride price. This process is known as ‘peim meri’, meaning literally ‘to pay for a wife’, since ‘meri’ is the pidgin word for ‘woman’ and ‘peim’ is pronounced ‘pay- im’. (Also see video extract number 33) |
 |
| 394. The groom’s immediate family were the first to arrive, bringing their gifts to a table in the house tambaran, and the size of each person’s contribution was carefully recorded. In this way, next time there was a bride price to be paid, everyone would know how much he could expect each of his neighbours to provide. |
 |
| 395. There was no rush of relatives anxious to contribute, however, so the invitation was sent out again. A few more trickled in; and the organizers of the event, rather anxiously, counted and recounted, the money they’d received thus far. |
 |
| 396. A debate followed, in which those who had paid up criticized those who had not. Speaking with obvious conviction they emphasized their points in the usual way ... striking the debating stool with a switch of leaves. (Also see video extract number 34) |
 |
| 397. So great was the need for money, that even women were allowed inside. Because of a squabble between rival clans, the inside of the Spirit House in Torembi Three had not yet been completed and it contained none of the secret masks and flutes stored in old-established men’s houses. Some of the older men were still scandalized by the presence of women, but the groom’s family appreciated the extra help. |
 |
| 398. Interest slackened after a while, there was much talk but little money, so the drums were sounded yet again. There was a fresh round of debate, and the recorder was eventually able to report that he was on target – the bride price had been paid. (Bride brice ceremony at Kosimbi) |
 |
| 399. While bank notes have replaced the kina shells used as money in the past, the price to be paid by the husband’s clan still includes the provision of a pig … so the bride’s family can celebrate. My friend Joseph Kwaru had a pig he’d kept for ten years … almost as a pet. It was a gigantic animal and Joseph couldn’t bear to kill it himself. So his friends hunted it down in the bush, shot it, and brought it home. |
 |
| 400. The only problem was, this was the biggest pig for miles around; and by tradition, once the groom has provided a pig for the bride’s family, her parents are bound to provide in return a beast identical in size … so the groom can celebrate with his friends. (In much the sane way, the clan which provided the bride for the groom could, traditionally, expect to be compensated sooner or later by the provision of a wife from the groom’s clan for one of its own men.) |
 |
| 401. There was no other pig in Torembi as big as Joe’s, so the bride’s family would have to buy one from another village … and this would cost them hundreds of dollars. As a result, Joseph’s gift wasn’t exactly appreciated. In other words, there was not one wedding feast but several. |
 |
| 402. At these gatherings, relatives of the happy couple would join in ceremonial dances … one represents the man, the other the woman. The ceremony is an old one, but the 20th century has intruded slightly … in the form of tape-recorded music. |
 |
| 403. On the eve of the wedding, there was a ceremony at the house of the bride’s father. No one got dressed up, though, and the men did most of the singing, standing in a circle, close to the oil lamp. The women were busy cooking the pig … just outside the door. |
 |
| 404. The next day when everything was ready, the bride’s personal signal was sounded on the garamut to call her home for the last time. Her brother trimmed her hair, in an act which symbolically severed her links with home, and she was decked out in all her finery. |
 |
| 405. As she left her father’s house the bride walked over her relatives, in another symbolic act separating herself from them. She would no longer belong to her father's family, but to her husband's. |
 |
| 406. The procession then set off, leaving the bride’s former home in Torembi Three, and moving to that of the groom in Torembi One, three kilometres away. |
 |
| 407. The bridal party wound its way through the bush, along forest paths and over log bridges crossing the gullies. |
 |
| 408. Having trained as a nurse in the city the bride wore European clothes; but she displayed the usual feather plume and kina shell, and carried a spear in accordance with tradition … with bank notes attached. |
 |
| 409. The procession continued on the trail through Torembi 2, but it was forced to pass the haus tambaran in silence because it was a new one, and the process of its dedication to the spirits was incomplete. |
 |
| 410. The route then ran through sago swamp, but the procession crossed it easily on the logs provided. And from there it was only a short distance to the northern end of the groom’s village. |
 |
| 411. At many and various points along the way the procession would halt, the bride would stand motionless (and expressionless) and the women would dance around her singing … for ten minutes or so. Their songs told of the trials and tribulations she would face as a married woman. |
 |
| 412. Most of the women wore traditional, home-made garments, but those who’d been to secondary school in Wewak displayed appropriate items of mass produced underwear. |
 |
| 413. As each round of dancing was completed, the bride once more walked over her relatives, and the procession moved off again. It would go a few more yards, and pause again, while the women danced around her again, for another ten minutes. |
 |
| 414. The rhythm to their dancing and chanting was reinforced by a musical instrument they’d invented … a bilum full of beer bottles (visible on the right) that clinked loudly. |
 |
| 415. Later the dancers were joined by a rival team from the groom’s family who, for a moment, threatened symbolically to drive them away. Nets, in one form or another, are featured in a number of tribal rituals; and fishing is, after all, women’s work in large part. |
 |
| 416. When she reached her new home, the bride sat on a chair in front of the door, and the women danced around her again. The chair was then lifted up and the bride carried bodily into the house … to resume life with the man to whom she was now formally married. |
 |
| 417. Most weddings these days take place around Christmas. This is because many of those who have left the village return for the holidays – and bring money with them. This girl had a job in the city, but had returned to the village to be married in the old way … and she carried the usual spear. |
 |
| 418. In her case, the dancing continued long after she’d entered her new home, although it was hot inside and everyone was sweating profusely. She sat there, and the women danced around her, singing. |
 |
| 419. Not all weddings are the same, though. At another one I attended the bride did not have to go far … just a few yards, to a neighbour’s house. |
 |
| 420. She wore the usual bird of paradise feathers and carried two spears, but hardly anyone else got dressed up, and the men did most of the singing. |
 |
| 421. The expense involved even in a ‘simple’ wedding like this was obvious, however, when I went inside. The guests were seated along the sides of the room, and “presents” were spread out on the floor. |
 |
| 422. The bride's material possessions were lined up for all to see – a case crammed with personal items, a supply of cooking utensils, and a new axe. These were gifts from her own family to ensure her independence, and they would belong to her, not her husband. There was also a lot of pork, ready to be divided among the guests … according to the size of their contribution. |
Back to
Cultures in Context Intro: Photos & Recordings
Text, photos and recordings
by John Tyman
Intended for Educational Use
Only.
Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum,
Oxford University, 2010.
Contact Dr.
John Tyman for more information regarding licensing.
Photo processing, Web page layout,
formatting, and complementary research by
William Hillman ~ Brandon, Manitoba
~ Canada
www.hillmanweb.com