358 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 175 



the "suicide" in question does not even involve actual illness or death, 

 except insofar as it is believed that such incestuous marriages — like 

 extramarital incest (Devereux 1939 a) — ultimately cause the extinc- 

 tion of the "entire family." 



Most informants — with the exception of Tcatc — felt that the rite 

 in question represented a kind of partial and symbolic social suicide, 

 which amounted to nothing more than a change in the bridegroom's 

 social identity. Whether this putative "change" in the bridegroom's 

 social identity was actually implemented by a change in the behavior 

 of his "former" kinsmen toward him, or whether it was a more or less 

 empty and formal gesture, without practical consequences of any kind, 

 could not be ascertained, since this rite is, and has been for some 

 decades, wholly obsolete. 



The first — and, in a sense, most important — point to be discussed is 

 one which the Mohave themselves did not even mention. Mohave mar- 

 riages are, and have always been, highly informal arrangements, 

 entirely devoid of ritual aspects. After a rather desultory courtship 

 in the case of virgins — or at least of girls who had not been married 

 previously — or after a brief and casual affair in the case of widows, 

 divorcees, and married women, the couple simply began to live in 

 the same house, thereby signifying that they were married (Deve- 

 reux, MS., 1935 ) . By contrast, "incestuous" marriages were validated 

 by means of a public feast at which, previous to the introduction of the 

 horse, a piece of the groom's farmland was alienated, while after the 

 acquisition of horses, a horse belonging to the bridegroom was killed, 

 and, according to most informants, eaten. The avowed purpose of 

 this practice was the dissolution of the kinship tie between the spouses, 

 or, according to some informants, also between the girl's and the boy's 

 immediate families. Otherwise stated, the chief objective of this 

 rite — which was the only '"''reaV marriage ceremony in Mohave 

 culture — was the lifting of a taboo, or, if one prefers, the formal 

 "modification" of the existing situation, in which the incest taboo 

 would have to be observed. 



"VVlien the rite is described in such terms, it does not automatically 

 create the impression that it is primarily a true wedding rite. Yet, 

 a moment of reflection will show that, in the last resort, every wedding 

 rite represents, in one way or the other, a lifting of taboos obtaining 

 until that moment " and a regularization of a situation which, with- 

 out this rite, would be wholly objectionable or deplorable. In 

 fact, it is even possible to suggest that almost every rite consists in 



" The taboo which la lifted In the course of wedding ceremonies need not be a sexual 

 one. Thus, In the Trobrland Islands (Mallnowskl, 19^.2), where complete premarital 

 freedom — or, rather an obligation to be promiscuous (Devereux, 1955 a) — obtains, the 

 marriage lifts the taboo on the couple eating together and on having children. Among the 

 Sedang Mol (Devereux, MS., 1933-34), the wedding ceremony lifts the taboo only on 

 normal (vaginal) coitus and on having children together, perverted coitus being tolerated 

 both premarltally and extramarltally. 



