Devereux] MOHAVE ETHNOPSYCHIATRY AND SUICIDE 359 



making something normally forbidden permissible, and in the per- 

 formance of an act which, in the wrong context, or when performed 

 by an unauthorized person, is sacrilege pure and simple. The finding 

 that the Mohave deem a wedding ceremony necessary only where, 

 without this rite, the relationship would be an incestuous one, is there- 

 fore readily understandable in terms of the fact that premarital coitus 

 is a normal and accepted occurrence in Mohave society. Indeed, 

 if one views Mohave marriage solely from the sexual point of view 

 and disregards its procreative, economic, and other functions, it is 

 nothing more than an assumption of a common domicile, so as to 

 enable the partners to engage in sexual relations over a longer period, 

 with the least possible inconvenience. Such a view of marriage would, 

 quite obviously, not call for a lifting of any taboo, be it sexual or 

 not, and would therefore not necessitate a marriage ceremony. By 

 contrast, an incestuous "engagement," or affair, does stand in need 

 of being regularized, through a lifting of taboos, before it can become 

 a real marriage. Hence, a wedding rite is, in such cases, quite 

 necessary. 



In brief, this particular Mohave marriage custom — which is still 

 primitive and rudimentary enough to reveal its real and basic nature — 

 probably sheds a great deal of light upon the origin of wedding rites 

 which transform what without these rites would be simply a public 

 concubinage into formal relationship, explicitly recognized by society. 



In this context it is extremely important to note that, according to 

 Hivsu : Tupo :ma, one of the chief purposes of this rite was to compel 

 the incestuously engaged couple to "remain together forever, since 

 they wanted to marry each other so much." This objective may not 

 seem unusual to occidental man, who takes it for granted that mar- 

 riage is, at least in principle, a permanent commitment. It is quite 

 unusual, however, in Mohave society, where marriage does not imply 

 a priori and by definition a permanent commitment, since it can 

 be — and often is — dissolved simply by packing up one's things and 

 leaving (Kroeber, 1925 b). 



Thus, it is not a great exaggeration to say that the only "real" 

 wedding in Mohave society is the rite which is performed at the 

 marriage of an incestuously "engaged" couple, and that the only 

 "real" marriage, in the western sense, which obtains in the Mohave 

 tribe is the marriage of such a couple, because only in the case of such 

 a couple does the tribe seem to demand a permanent commitment. 

 The fact that this demand is not always and necessarily complied 

 with does not impair the validity of the point just made, any more 

 than the prevalence of divorce in American society impairs the 

 validity of the thesis that occidental society does demand, at least 

 in principle, that marriages should be entered into with the intention 

 of making them last forever. 



