4 from ritual to theater and back: the efficacy ... - AAAARG.ORG

from ritual to theater and back 139
Plate 4.1 The mudmen of Asaro. (Photograph by Joan MacIntosh)
marksmanship, a photo session, and a “market” (see plate 4.1). But
Makehuku is not (yet) a craft village, and the few necklaces and
string bags I saw for sale were pathetic. The day I was there no one
bought anything.
These days the people of Makehuku don’t know what their dance is.
It doesn’t frighten enemies, or anyone else. On the contrary, the mudmen
attract tourists who attend in order to be amused. The dance has
no relationship to the spirits of the dead who appear only before dawn
while the mudmen now dance when the tourists arrive a little after
midday. The social-ritual fabric of Makehuku has been torn to shreds,
and the changes wrought in the mudmen’s dance are part of deeper
disruptions in Highlands life. Because of these disruptions, and despite
the exploitation of the village by the tourist agencies who take 90 per
cent of the income for themselves, the meagre sums paid the villagers
are needed desperately during a period when the barter economy has
fallen apart and money jobs are not available. I expect future changes in
the dance will make it longer, more visually complicated, possibly