Devereux] MOHAVE ETHNOPSYCHIATRY AND SUICIDE 451 



kind/^ which probably explains why the Mohave are so ambivalent 

 about the custom of funeral suicide. The unf amiliarity of the safety 

 valves built into special rites, such as funerals, also explains why they 

 are less satisfactory than are the routine defenses built into daily 

 practices. 



Another important aspect of ritual regressive behavior during 

 funerals is that not all members of the crowd assembled near the pyre 

 are entitled or expected to behave in an equally destructive manner. 

 Close relatives of the deceased will throw more property, in a more 

 frenetic manner, on the pyre than will others and usually only the chief 

 mourner is expected to dramatize his grief by making a suicidal 

 gesture. Funeral ritualists, secondary mourners, and the rest of the 

 crowd are denied even this type of emotional outlet. It is therefore 

 not in the least surprising to note that, in some cases, funeral orators 

 and secondary mourners, who are denied both the special outlet of 

 exalted fmieral behavior and the normal outlet of sexual activity, not 

 only violate the taboo on sexual intercourse (Case 48), but sometimes 

 even engage in behavior which would be considered outrageous even 

 at an uninhibited party (Devereux, 1947 a). It is hardly nec- 

 essary to add that the extreme scandalousness of such behavior, 

 especially at a funeral, is, in itself, proof positive both of the com- 

 pensatory nature of Mohave sexual activity and evidence that funerals 

 elicit regressive ("extreme'') behavior, precisely because they mobilize 

 ordinarily well-controlled ego-dystonic impulses under circumstances 

 in which recourse to normal, routine outlets (sexual activity) is for- 

 bidden. In brief, the destructive and self-destructive behavior of the 

 chief mourners, and the conduct of persons who behave scandalously 

 at funerals are equally regressive, because both are the inevitable by- 

 products of the "psychological climate" of funerals, which mobilizes 

 ordinarily well-controlled objectionable impulses. Hence, these two 

 extreme patterns differ only in that the regressive behavior of the 

 chief mourners is culturally more or less sanctioned, whereas that of 

 the sexually misbehaving members of funeral crowds is contraiy to 

 all rules and conventions. 



It is therefore safe to say that one function of Mohave funerals is 

 to promote regressive (symptomatic) behavior at funerals. Tliis, 

 however, is not an unmitigated evil. Indeed, even though the Mohave 

 are ambivalent about excessive mourning reactions and certainly do 

 not condone sexual misconduct at funerals, the regressive behavior 

 encouraged at funerals has, in the long run, at least one important 

 beneficial effect : it permits the massive and instantaneous abreaction 



"<* A detailed discussion of the functional difference between routine (culturally pro- 

 vided) defenses and improvised idiosyncratic symptoms will be found In part 2 (pp. 57-71) 

 and in Devereux, 1956 b and 1957 b. 



