11Story

23 December 2008

Burning the forest of the stone spirit Goo

"We have eaten the forest"

Contents:  "We have eaten the forest"  - Introduction  - Aim of the exhibition  - Synopsis        * Ethnology as an art of living        * The Sar Luk villagers        * A poetic and oral tradition        * Burning the forest of the stone spirit Goo        * Works and days        * Buffalo sacrifice        * Sickness and death         * Sar Luk today  - The purpose of ethnography: an interview with Georges Condominas with Yves Goudineau  - Biography of Georges Condominas  - Main publications

 

Burning the forest of the stone spirit Goo

 

“All households completed the felling of their patch of forest by 8 March. The dry season is in full swing, and the felled trees are drying out rapidly where they lie. The day before yesterday, after he had gauged the state of the cleared area, Bbaang-the-Enclosed went round all the houses to announce a general gathering the next day, with a view to clearing the perimeter of the field in order to protect the surrounding forest (…) The men cut up the trees and the women and children clear the ground with hoes and sweep up the fallen leaves.” “The smoke-filled air is suffocating, but from half past three, in each household, a woman will carry out the first ritual sowing of vegetables. I follow Aang-with-Ptyosis into Kröng-Jôong’s field (…) I then go to visit Baap Can’s patch. Jaang-Srae stokes up the fires that are on the point of going out, so that the maximum number of branches will be consumed and there will be less work to do later on."

 

Sowing times

 

"Each man thus makes two parallel lines of holes, from two to three centimeters deep, regularly spaced a foot apart. In their turn, the women leave in small groups; they walk bent over, and by spreading the index from the other fingers, into each hole they drop several grains of paddy (three to five) that they've drawn from the kriet, attached to their belt on the same side as the hand which sows."

 

		During sowing, the men make seed holes using digging sticks, while the women follow behind them and plant the seeds
© Georges Condominas

 

		Seed basket, kriet wial (“basket-decorated”), exchanged against six feet of black calico with Bbaang-Lang, also known as Bbaang-the-One-Eyed. At sowing time, the men make holes with digging sticks, and the women follow, dropping two or three paddy seeds in each seed hole; taking small handfuls of seeds from the basket, which they carry at their sides, attached to their belts by bark string. Bamboo ngör (Arundinaria sp.), liana kroo mbôh ôm bôok, rattan palm reh.
Seed basket Bamboo ngör (Arundinaria sp.), liana kroo mbôh ôm bôok, rattan palm reh. 71.1950.24.55 © musée du quai Branly / P. Gries / B. Descoings

 

Harvesting

 

"The five young girls and women, under the supervision of Jôong-the-Healer, continue to fill their khiu (stomach baskets) with fine ripe grains which they empty into big baskets. [...]  With one hand they strip the grains back from the ear, then throw the handful in the small stomach basket,while the other hand is gathering grain in the same way."

 

		Stomach harvest basket, khiu kec ("stomach basket – harvest") for early rice (baa aang and baa kroong) and especially for everyday rice (baa mei). The harvester (man or woman, adult or child), having fixed the basket to the stomach by belting its shoulder strap around the small of the back, throws in handfuls of rice which are shelled by hand while advancing. Bartered for a brasse of fabric.
Stomach harvest basket Bamboo ngör (Arundinaria sp.), small rattan (reh), khuar bark. 71.1951.3.102 © musée du quai Branly / P. Gries

 

Agrarian rites

 

“Paddy is the foodstuff par excellence and its harvest represents the crowning of an entire year's efforts; it cannot begin without a special rite. This rite, the Muat Baa, or "Knotting the Paddy", inaugurates a season rich in taboos; because this is a very serious time, one must play all one trump cards, one must coax the paddy, attach it to oneself, and commit no act which will anger it and make it flee: its presence is essential to the maintenance of life. One must eat neither cucumber nor pumpkin, neither fish nor egg, all slippery beings and bad examples for the rice; neither stag nor rat nor dove, all great devourers of the precious grain; nor should one, by extension, eat any meat. One must not whistle or sing in the fields, nor argue, nor cry; for this displeases the Soul of the Rice.”

 

		Truu bringing back the soul of the paddy during an agrarian ritual. He still has a Basque beret from his time in the French army, and always wears it back-to-front so the maker’s label is on display, prettily colored to his liking.
© Georges Condominas

 

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