notably menstrual blood. This is apparent, among other ways, from myths and rituals.
A human being is only complete when the vital force present in him is combined with dmeir. This complex component, which is difficult to describe, concerns the "uniqueness" of a person. Dmeir reflects someone's identity and has been compared by some people to "soul" or "spirit." However, the character of dmeir differs considerably from the notion of the soul as it exists in the western world.
Experience teaches that two important aspects adhere to dmeir. To start with, the component refers to the personal characteristics and is therefore associated with a person's name and facial features, voice, bodily shape and shadow or reflection. Instead of dmeir the islanders also speak of yalelol, someone's "shadow image." However, the fact that dmeir is related to the social identity of a person carries more weight. Due to this the concept is closely related to someone's reputation, i.e. to the image that exists of someone in society. Although related to all ways in which a person is distinguished from others, dmeir especially concerns a person's image.
Dmeir, in contrast to mormorsol, is immortal. After death someone's "shadow image" continues to exist, whereas the vital force fades away, together with the decaying of the body. Until recently a small statue, usually carved from wood, was produced as a new point of address for the deceased person. The "shadow image" could take residence in it, enabling continuation of communication with the person who has died. These statues will be discussed in detail in the next chapter.
Photograph 3.5. Houses built on poles in the village of Kokwari on Babar in 1913. The front of the house on the left is decorated with the motif of the "moon with rings."
The components each have a different origin. As for mormorsol the matter is simple: the human being receives his vital force with his body from his mother. As regards dmeir, however, there is less clarity. Yet it is certain that the father plays a main role here. As was said before, dmeir is especially related to someone's social identity, someone's image, and after the birth of a child, the father provides the basis for this.
The way in which he does this corresponds entirely with the common manner in which one distinguishes oneself from others within the community. Traditionally there is only one method on Dawera and Dawelor to acquire a grand name and build up an image: other forms of life have to be killed. Esteem is gained by successes in hunting and fishing. Besides this the hunting of heads was an excellent manner to get a reputation in former times.
After the birth of a child a small ritual is performed, providing the baby with a name and introducing it into society. The father here has the obligation to kill a number of animals (mostly fish) in the name of the child and to distribute them among all members of the community. This last deed dominates the entire ceremony. The significance of the father's acting in the name of the child is great: the baby kills, as it were, the animals and thus shows the villagers that from now on, his or her person has to be reckoned with. Due to the death-dealing activities of the father, the child establishes the beginning of a reputation, on receiving its own name.
Photograph 3.6 Front of the former "great house" of the descent group Kapressy on Dawelor (1913). The insert shows a shutter, decorated with the motif of the sun, from the "great house. "Height/width 33 cm (RJM).
Photograph 3.7. Decoration at the stem beam of a boat on Dawera, showing the wheel of the sun. The insert shows two prows of tree-trunk canoes-from the island of Damer. Length 153 cm (top) and 132 cm (below) (RMV).
Figure 3.2.
Traditional village on Dawera/Dawelor
A Entrances
B Pilot
C Bailer boy
D Right helmsman
E Left helmsman
Man as Boat and Helmsman
During the process of creating new life, the parents' role seems to be the most significant. However, in the minds of the islanders, they are entirely dependent on their ancestors. According to these notions the ancestors are the ones who determine whether both components (mormorsol and dmeir) will be available via the parents; without consent and help from the ancestors no new, "complete" human being can be formed. This dependency relationship is expressed in a botanical idiom. The ancestors are considered to be the "trunk" of a tree, of which the living represent the "top." And just as the development of new shoots depends on the functioning of the basis of a tree, the survival of man lies in the hands of the ancestors.
As far as the woman is concerned, the notion exists that she received the potency to give birth to children, her fertility, from her mother. The latter, in her turn, received it from her mother, a series dating back to the first female ancestor who arose from the soil of the island. In a similar manner a father, during his activities to provide dmeir for a baby, is dependent on the male ancestors. For, without their help he is incapable of killing and cannot distribute fish to the villagers, in the name of his child. This potency to kill dates back to the first male ancestor, a mythical immigrant (see below).
Returning to the boat symbolism in relation to man, the distinction made between dmeir and mormorsol is very important. The language of Dawera and Dawelor reveals that a person's body, the part in which mormorsol manifests itself, is compared to a boat. The local terms for nose and toe correspond with bow and helm, and the shoulder blades are called wedyol, a word which means paddle. On the basis of this, the identification of dmeir, someone's image in the community, as a helmsman, a person who represents the boat to the outside world, is obvious. This association is indeed made on the islands. The boat represents the vital force and the helmsman a person's image.
Of course the question arises: What does the use of these nautical terms amount to? Is it just a matter of "playing games" in a world steeped in boat symbolism, or is there more to it? The latter is probably the case.
It seems that an interdependence is expressed by the terms boat and helmsman, as constituent parts of a whole. The nautical terminology presumably reveals that the creation of the whole depends on the availability of the constituent parts. On various occasions, creating something is worded or represented on the islands as bringing something "on course" (see also below). And boats can only set sail when two preconditions have been met: both boat and helmsman have to be available.
Boat symbolism seems to indicate that mormorsol and dmeir are indispensable components of the human being. Without both vital force and social identity or image, there can be no talk of a "complete" person. At the same time the ancestors' role in society is also symbolically emphasised.
The Family and Boat Symbolism
The nautical symbolism regarding the founding of a family is certainly not a matter of "playing games." In order to bring a family "on course," entering a sexual relationship is necessary, something that has to take place within the framework of marriage. This "precondition" for the creation of progeny is expressed through boat symbolism.
Imagery is an important form of expressing this symbolism. The woman is compared to a boat with an open waste pipe lying on the beach, waiting for a man who wants to go sailing. Only when the man, the helmsman, embarks and—as it is put—seals up the drainage hole, can the boat set sail, that is to say: a family
