190 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FBull. 175 



be inferred from the fact that Nyakyusa mourners feign insanity 

 during the funeral, in order to avoid becoming insane afterward (Wil- 

 son, 1954) .^'^ We may call this a "lightning-rod defense." 



The Mohave themselves seem to contrast, at least implicitly, intensely 

 emotional funeral rites followed by a forgetting of the dead, with emo- 

 tional control during funeral rites and the remembering of the dead. 

 Thus, the Mohave Creation myth which I obtained specifically con- 

 trasts the piety of Yuman mourners at Matavilye's funeral with the 

 callousness wherewith other gi*oups, and especially the whites, de- 

 serted the scene. It is significant that, after mentioning this point, 

 several Mohave informants spontaneously referred to the fact that 

 whites freely and callously mention the names of their dead relatives. 

 Another proof that the Mohave correlate the intensity of mourning 

 with the compellingness of the taboo on the name of the dead is the 

 fact that, when lists of Mohave names were collected, Hama : Utce :, 

 half apologetically and half humorously, turned to the other inform- 

 ant, Modhar Taa:p (penis cover, foreskin, also condom) and said: 

 "So far, I mentioned several of your dead relatives. Soon it will 

 be your turn to mention mine." Since one obviously mourns for one's 

 own relatives more intensely than for other persons, the taboo on 

 mentioning one's own dead relatives is an especially strong one. In 

 fact, among the Mohave, as well as in some other tribes, uttering the 

 names of one's dead relatives is a frequently mentioned symptom of 

 psychosis. This symptomatic act may therefore be thought of as 

 the socially standardized "signal symptoms," whereby mentally de- 

 ranged persons notify the community of their claim to be considered 

 insane. 



Speaking more generally, it is both psychologically and anthro- 

 pologically plausible that the extreme emotionality of primitive 

 mourners during the wake and the funeral permits a massive abreac- 

 tion of grief (and unconscious hostility) and therefore facilitates a 

 subsequent emotional detachment from the dead.^^ (pt. 7, pp. 431-459). 



In the case of ordinary persons, who will be missed only by mem- 

 bers of their primary group, the funeral ritual apparently suffices to 

 permit the mourner to abreact his grief and to detach himself from 

 the deceased. However, in the case of leading personages (ipa 

 taha:na), who are presumably missed by the tribe as a whole, a 

 further opportunity for ritual grieving is afforded by the Mohave 



" A psychological analogue may be the following custom : Should a Dayak dream that 

 his house burns down, he promptly builds a model house and sets fire to It. In this manner 

 the dream Is permitted to come true, without causing material loss. 



"There was a striking contrast between the violent keening and grief of Sedang Mol 

 mourners accompanying a dead child to Its grave, and the casual and almost llghthearted 

 chatter of the same persons during their return from the graveyard (Devereux, MS., 

 1933-34). 



