Curses
Formulaic utterances are a necessary part of rituals intended to cause destruction (nosto), just as they are included among the means used by the dissari to remove the consequences of these harmful activities, as described. In addition, curses (porman) can be spoken that are effective without special ritual knowledge. Curses of this kind accompany the breaking of clay pots and lead to the breaking off of the social relationships concerned. Never again, a curse might run, should a certain person enter the speaker's house, on pain of suffering misfortune (bipod). I was unable to observe conflictual actions of this kind, but I was present when relationships dissolved in this way had to be restored in advance of the performance of a mortuary ritual (bur). In order to make such curses no longer effective, the ritual services of the tsorubai are necessary.
The sponsors of the bur in January (pus) 2000 were the Bilaputia Kirsani of the upper half of the village (sai), with whom I was only superficially acquainted at that point, relatively speaking. The sponsors’ houses were on bad terms with other houses of their kutum. Those responsible for the reconciliation within the Kirsani group were their tsorubai, the Sisa of the lower sai. They pressed to get the conflicts resolved, because they felt that the performance of the mortuary rituals would be hindered otherwise. After the Sisa and Kirsani took counsel at the assembly plaza of the lower half of the village, the Sisa went to the houses of their tsorubai, where the parties in conflict - especially their wives and widows - engaged in a vehement verbal altercation from within their houses. For a while, this spectacle was simply observed, while the tsorubai prepared their rituals. Two chicks were acquired, and two small pots were made from clay, in order to replace the broken pots. Once the preparations were completed, the parties in dispute, still arguing, were made to be quiet, and the tsorubai divided themselves into two groups, one of which went to each of the sponsors’ houses involved in the dispute.
Buda Sisa, acting as tsorubai, set up a site of sacrifice under the eaves of the house of the deceased Gasi Kirsani. The latter had fallen out with his brother and neighbor Doya Kirsani during his lifetime, and one of them had performed or spoken porman. The parties now had to be reconciled before the mortuary rituals, for Gasi among others, could begin. Along with other items,[1] [2] the Sisa placed sindi stalks and one of the new pots in the center of the sacrificial site. During the invocation, Gasi’s widow and Doya Kirsani stood beside him, one on his left and the other on his right. Hulled rice was scattered in the pot, and a chick was sacrificed, the blood of which was made to drip into the pot. Because the procedure had to be abbreviated on account of the scheduled mortuary ritual, the cooking of tsoru was thus merely suggested.
The Sisa then picked all the implements up off of the sacrificial site, with the help of the grass stalks, and let water that he poured on the roof run down over them. The widow and Doya Kirsani were instructed to catch the water dripping from the roof in their hands and lick it up. Finally, all three - and other witnesses to the ritual - had a drink of liquor and thus sealed the restored relationship.!8
The regeneration of these precarious relationships had taken around two hours, and the cooking preparations for the bur were then very belatedly begun. As a consequence, it was only possible to begin the feast after darkness fell that evening.
Excommunication (jati) and curses (porman) are ways of publicly managing social relationships that have been damaged or broken off. In both cases, the break is usually common knowledge, and the reestablishment of the relationships concerned is likewise a public matter. The tsorubai, as the most important ritual actors, mend the broken pots and cook and feed ritual food. Through shared food, eating, and drinking, the relationships are officially restored; the tsorubai renew the relationships and thus enable community life to run its course undisturbed and the festivals and rituals to be successfully carried out.
The animosity between the individuals in conflict in the case of a curse cannot be removed by the tsorubai, and it is improbable that the enmity is dissolved by a public ritual. In the case described above, the parties involved agreed to set their dispute aside under pressure from the tsorubai and village public opinion. They also had an interest in the successful conduct of the rituals and the feast, at which many hundred people were served. Suspicion, jealousy, and mistrust may continue to exist between the houses, however, and in the event of an illness or other misfortune, suspicion of harmful magic often - as I observed among the Sisa - falls on members of the immediate social circle, not least those with whom relationships are already tense.
- [1] Nondol leaves, kendu leaves, and goat droppings (cheli lendi).
- [2] Another Sisa conducted the same ritual in parallel in front of the bur sponsors’ other house.Along with the two porman disputes, an additional conflict in which the third sponsoring housewas involved was also reconciled. The women of both houses screamed at one another acrossthe yard and spit in contempt until some men sent them into their houses. Since a pot had not
