Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
to be established at a greater distance, and women have to trudge further and further afield
to maintain their crops, and fetch food for parasitic pigs which nobody eats.
After 10 years or so of steady increase in the numbers of pigs, the women find them-
selves encroaching on the territory of another clan whose women are similarly engaged
trying to find land to feed their burgeoning pig populations. Arguments break out, pigs that
break into gardens are killed by furious gardeners, reprisals are made, the women complain
to the men that they can't cope with the work load, and eventually the elders come to the
conclusion that there are too many pigs.
At this point two or more conflicting clans each hold a year long series of feasts, called
a
kaiko
, where they sacrifice pigs to the ancestors and invite their allies amongst the neigh-
bouring clans to participate in orgies of pig-eating. At the
kaiko
observed by Rapaport, held
by a tribal group of some 200 adults and children, about 110 full sized pigs were eaten leav-
ing just 59 mainly young pigs alive. The festivities and dancing provide an opportunity for
social intercourse and trading between clans, and for young adults to find a spouse. They
are also an opportunity for guests from clans which have not declared
kaiko
(and hence are
not allowed to eat their own pigs) to share the pork provided by a host clan. It is mainly
women and children who get the pork, as adult males are not allowed to eat pig until their
own clan calls a
kaiko
- which is fair enough, given that the women do most of the work
keeping the pigs fed.
When the festivities have come to a climax the conflicting clans, by agreement, parti-
cipate in clearing a patch of the forest for battle and then they declare war. The ensuing
hostilities:
lead to many casualties and eventual loss or gain of territories. Additional pigs are
sacrificed during the fighting, and both the victors and the vanquished soon find them-
selves entirely bereft of adult pigs with which to curry favour from their respective
ancestors. Fighting ceases abruptly, and the belligerents repair to sacred spots to plant
small trees known as
rumbim
. Every adult male participates in this ritual by laying
hands on the
rumbim
sapling as it is put in the ground … From now on, the thoughts
and efforts of the living will be directed toward raising pigs.
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The saplings, as they grow, act as a guide to the passage of time (the Maring can't count
up to 10), and as long as they remain in the ground, a truce is maintained. When, after 10
or 12 years the pigs have again multiplied beyond their carrying capacity, and
kaiko
is de-
clared once again, the
rumbim
are uprooted, and the cycle once again shifts from green to
red.
Why do the Maring indulge in this boom and bust approach to pig husbandry, rather than
simply rearing and eating the pigs at a constant and sustainable rate? At first sight this re-
sembles the tribal herdsman's strategy of keeping large numbers of cattle on the hoof as
