Page 32 - Melanesia

E nemies taken or slain in war and in times
of Pacific want, the enslaved relics of
earlier triumphs were, regardless of age or
sex, offered to the war god of the clan before re-killing of them with their own hated weap- a bamboo knife, simply splitting a new edge
being butchered, baked and consumed on
his behalf by his descendants. “Many corpses
were consumed on the battlefield, but where
feasible, the clans composing a war party
strove to take home the fruits of victory for
sacrifice at their respective spirit houses.”
A rmies and war parties in the field gener-
ally ate the flesh of enemy bodies or
bokola, as bodies destined for the oven were
called, with a basic minimum of ceremony
and ritual. The mutilated corpses were cut
up, wrapped in vudi or plantain leaves and
cooked in pit ovens or lovo. Revenge was a
major motive, this being a way to carry the
harassment, punishment and humiliation
of an enemy beyond death and to obtain
extreme satisfaction from his or her down-
fall. The basic revenge and religious motives
underlying Fijian cannibalism shows clearly
in the triumphant cibi death dance, the set- T he bodies were generally cut up and
ting of bodies in a lifelike sitting stance, the prepared for the oven by a priest using
ons and the butchering and dismembering whenever it got blunt. But if there was a
of them by priests. If the war parties were a very large supply, ordinary men and even
long way from home, then the bodies were women helped in dissecting and preparing
often cut up and the pieces of meat lightly them for the ovens. After being cut, the meat
roasted over open fires to preserve them. was scorched over a fire and the hair and
Usually the carcasses were simply gutted skin then scraped off with the kai (bivalve
to prevent instant rotting and taken home shells) in the same fashion in which pigs are
otherwise complete in which state they were prepared for lovo now. Often the flesh was
required for the welcoming ceremony of wrapped by preference in the leaves of vari-
the women. Most bodies eaten were those ous other plants which were then eaten as
of enemies taken in war but if bodies were vegetables with it, being said to relieve the
required for religious and feasting purposes constipating qualities of human flesh. The
and no war was in progress, slaves or low sauce obtained from cooking the fruit with
class people might be killed or even pre- the human flesh was eaten by aid of spoons
sented as live offerings or ambushes were set made from enemy bones. Rather than wait-
for unsuspecting neighbors of low class. The out the long baking process, ravenous chiefs
vanua kaisi or slave lands suffered most in sometimes had small cuts — noses, for in-
this way, with several contemporary accounts stance — quickly roasted in an open fire and
referring to groups which had offended in gobbled them down to curb their appetite.
the past and who were considered fair game
for sacrificial cannibal purposes.