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Dani warfare: Much broken up into fierce clans, the Danis up to about 10 years ago practiced what the anthropologists call ritual-warfare, which means that they regularly faced each other in formal battle. Now the Indonesian government and the missionaries have nearly eliminated all warfare between tribes. Chiefs now have less and less of a basis for their authority; they became chiefs partly because they were fearsome and skilled warriors. Watchtowers once stood along the perimeters of the garden areas so that the no-mans-land beyond could be watched and enemy raids seen before they happened. Each tower was the responsibility of those men who had gardens in the immediate vicinity. During the day, while the women worked in the gardens, men took turns as sentries in the towers. Messages and challenges were yodelled from one tower to the other. Now all these watchtowers have been torn down by the Indonesian authorities. The Danis did not fight a war (weem) for an ideology or in order to annex land or to dominate people but only to avenge ghosts of dead warriors. Often battles, between one alliance in the valley against another, were called out in the mornings. If the battle was not called off because of rain about 200 men would enjoy the fight. If a Dani did not want to fight he was not called a coward or made to suffer. Sallys were highly ritualistic, not intended to wreak carnage, and fighting on the open front line seldom lasted for more than 10-15 minutes. Rarely did a man die, and then only if he was clumsy or stupid. If a death did occur, the enemy plugged the rectum and ventral base of the penis of the dead man with grass to prevent bad magic. The main force stood relaxedly on a hill nearby watching the battle, smoking cigarettes, gossiping, and meeting friends who had come from other areas to participate. When darkness came and the battle was almost over, the warriors of each side would hurl abuse and taunts at each other, causing much laughter between them. When they learned later that an enemy had died of wounds they went out and congregated on hilltops to sing in pitched victorious choruses and yodels, sounding like cheers from a football stadium.
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we must point out a very important distinction which the Balinese make between
two clearly separate groups of ancestors. The first of these groups consists
of the dead who are riot yet completely purified. This group is in turn subdivided
in pirata, those riot yet cremated, and pitara, those already cremated. The
former are still completely impure; the latter have been purified, but are still
considered as distinct, individual souls. The second group consists of the completely
purified ancestors who are considered as divine. Everything Bali Indonesia |
