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

2
ACTUALS
Tiwi society is established on what a non-Tiwi might consider an
absurdity. These north Australian Aborigines make no connection
between intercourse and pregnancy. The mother is the sole biological
source of the child. The mother’s husband controls his wives and his
children and of these he particularly values his daughters. Women, like
money with us, are the main means of exchange. It is not necessary to
detail the system. The result is that old men have young wives and
young men marry crones.
Where there are old men with young wives and young men without
sex mates there will be adultery. A Tiwi elder accuses a young man of
adultery by coming to the center of the village, preferably on a feast day
so he can be sure of a large crowd, and calling the offender out. The old
man is painted from head to toe in white. In one hand he carries some
ceremonial spears and in the other hunting spears. A crowd arranges
itself in an ellipse with the old man at one elongated end and the
young man at the other. Everyone in the village, and often outsiders
too, are present – men, women, children, dogs. They sit, stand, move
about, according to their excitement. The young man is naked, except
for a few strokes of white coloring applied to his flanks. The more
white he wears the more defiant he declares himself to be. Perhaps he
carries a spear or two or only a throwing stick. The old man begins a