Research Items

Abstract

Religion of the Torres Straits Islanders.—Dr. Haddon's Frazer Lecture for 1929, “The Religion of a Primitive People”, delivered in the University of Liverpool, has now appeared in the Annals of Archceology and Anthropology. The Islands fall into three groups, in Mrhich culture was practically at the same stage, except in so far as affected by the fertility of the soil. For in the eastern islands the soil was rich enough to support the inhabitants on their garden produce, whereas in the other two groups they had to depend upon fishing. The Islanders are all Western Papuans, but belong to different stocks, two being long-headed, while the third has a broad head. When the white man arrived, the Western Islanders practised totemism, but among the Eastern Islanders it had disappeared. They believed in the continuity of life after death. Certain pantomimic ceremonies connected with this belief were said to have come from the island of IJaru, off the coast of New Guinea. In the west the great funeral ceremonies were also the occasion for ceremonies connected with dugong hunting, when the spears, etc., were given fresh power. At these ceremonies the spirits of the dead were believed to be present. The ceremonies of Mer consisted of two main elements: (1) the dramatisation of a legend accounting for various matters connected with funeral ceremonies, and (2) the pantomimic representation of persons recently, and remotely, deceased as denizens of the spirit world. Certain men in Mabuiag were said to have friends in the spirit world and to have a gift of spirit divination. At Mawata a turtle ceremony was celebrated when the turtle were breeding. Vanous ceremonies in which masked dancers took part ensured good fishing and the ripening of wild fruits. Hero-cults invading the islands afforded an inspiring and consolidating influence previously lacking, but their origin is still obscure.