664 



3. The Feast (Madiina). 



Sociological Importance of the Feast. — It has been neces- 

 sary to make mention several times of the great annual feast 

 of the Mailu, as it is associated with so many aspects of native 

 life. It has also been stated that the feast forms a central 

 feature in the social and mental life of the natives. In this 

 respect the Mailu do not differ from the other Western Papuo- 

 Melanesians of the south coast, and, as far as I was able to 

 ascertain, from the inland people, (s^) 



By the expression that the feast is a central featvre in the 

 native social life, I wish to indicate that it occupies a great 

 part of the activities of the native, both economic and social ; 

 that it is the main object, or, rather, the culminating point 

 in his life's interest, and that it is a mainstay of the native's 

 social organization. At the feast and during the feasting 

 season there is an enormous display of all that the Papuan 

 native really cherishes — drums, ornaments, dancing, fighting, 

 women, and, above all, pigs. Again, the feast and its pre- 

 paratory stages are connected, as was shown above, with 

 marriage and sexual life, with trading (on Mailu Island), and 

 with agricultural activities (making of sago and making of 

 gardens on the mainland). Certain forms of Gora, or taboo, 

 are exclusively practised in connection with the feast. Again, 

 as was stated in chap, ii., sec. 3, the organization of the clan 

 is strictly connected with the feast ; the main characteristic 

 differentiating the clan from the subclan being that the former 

 was a feast clan, Madvna duhn. These features will appear 

 still more clearly in the course of the following description. 

 In order to see the native life in the right perspective it is 

 essential to realize this paramount social importance of the 

 feast, as well as to realize that for the native the feast is one 



(B5) (7/. O. G. Seligman, op. cit., chap, xii., where the Koita 

 feast (called Tabu) is described. Prof. Seligman states also that 

 the big annual feast plays an extremely important role among 

 the Sinaugholo, who live inland from Gnhugdhu, some 30 miles 

 east of Port Moresby. The Sinaugholo and kindred peoples stretch 

 as far east as inland of Cloudy Bay. In Cloudy Bay I had the 

 opportunity of talking with a native of Keveri valley, in the 

 main range, who told me that in their tribe there is an annual 

 feast of much the same kind as among the coastal Maihi. Again 

 going east, festive ceremonies of the same type Avere stated to 

 exist among the Uddma, inland of Amazon Bay and Port Glasgow, 

 and among the tribes living inland of Orangerie Bay. At the 

 big (S'o'i feasts I witnessed, among the Southern Maseim betAveen 

 Farm Bay and Mullins Harbour, the inland people, belonging to 

 a non-Massim stock (the JBoroicui, Magawaru, etc.), performed a 

 big Bau^a dance. And it was said that they know more about 

 the sacred dances, Govi, Bdu'a, and Kohiai, than the coastal people 

 of that district. 



