When the Shark Bites the Stingray: The Night Sky in the Construction of the Manus WorldAuthor(s): Götz HoeppeReviewed work(s):Source: Anthropos, Bd. 95, H. 1. (2000), pp. 23-36Published by: Anthropos InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40465859 .Accessed: 27/11/2011 00:41

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Ê ANTHROPOS

I J 95.2000: 23-36

When the Shark Bites the Stingray The Night Sky in the Construction of the Manus World

Götz Hoeppe

Abstract - It is argued that to understand the Manus' con- struction of their environment their view of the night sky has to be taken into account. In Manus thought, celestial bodies and constellations were believed to reside at the edge of a saucer-shaped world, being able to permeate sea and sky and interact with the peoples* immediate environment. While only a small number of constellations had been named, these were suf- ficient to function as a calendar, a visualization of the seasonal cycle and a metaphorical explanation of the seasons. As such, they made the Manus world autonomous in the sense that the causes supposed to bring about seasonal change were situated within this world or at its edge. [Admiralty Islands, Papua New Guinea, Manus, ethnoastronomy, eihnoscience, symbolism]

Götz Hoeppe, M.Sc. (Physics, 1993), is a Ph.D. student in ethnology at the Freie Universität Berlin. Previously, he had studied physics and astronomy in Göttingen and Albuquerque, and worked as an astronomer. Current interests: perceptions of the natural environment in Asian and Pacific societies. Publications: Blau - Die Farbe des Himmels (Heidelberg 1999) and articles on stellar and extragalactic astronomy.

1 Introduction

Sur cette immense tableau d'une nuit céruléenne, la rêverie mathématicienne a écrit des épures. Elles sont toutes fausses, délicieusement fausses, ces constella- tions! Elles unissent, dans une même figure, des astres totalement étrangers. Entre des points réels, le rêve cons- tellant tire des lignes imaginaires. Dans un pointillisme réduit au minimum, ce grand maître de peinture abstraite qu'est le rêve voit tous les animaux du zodiaque.

Gaston Bachelard 1994 [1943]: 202

In his book "L'air et les songes" (1994 [1943]), Gaston Bachelard reflects upon such elusive natu- ral phenomena like the colour of the sky, the shape of clouds and the movement of the wind. Chapter seven is devoted to the constellations. Therein he marvels at the richness of patterns to be discovered in the sky of a starry night, calls the zodiac a "Rorschach test of juvenile mankind" (1994: 202) and wonders how people came to replace the night sky by a "sky of books," separating themselves from a direct, unprejudiced visual perception of the natural environment (203). Bachelard' s notes could be read as a suggestion for a research programme in cognitive anthropology, but his insight has yet to inspire anthropologists. While recent work on indigeneous perceptions of the natural world has concentrated on ethnobiological systems of plant and animal classification (Atran 1998), the conceptualization of landscape (Hirsch and O'Hanlon 1995), and the ongoing debate on the dualism of nature and society (Descola and Pálsson 1996), the night sky and its objects have been largely neglected. If indigenous astronomical knowledge was considered at all, then mostly in regarding stars and constellations as calendrical markers (e.g., Descola 1994: 62-76) or - espe- cially in the Pacific - as tools for navigation (e.g., Akimichi 1996; Goodenough 1996 and references therein).

In üüs light it seems appropriate to remem- ber Bachelard' s words and to investigate the role of the periodically changing appearance of the starry night sky in a people's attempt to make

24 Götz Hoeppe

Map: The Admiralty Islands archipelago.

sense of their physical environment. This paper attempts to do so, in considering the Manus of Papua New Guinea. My argument will be that, to understand their view of their spatial and temporal environment, one must take into account their per- ception of the night sky and its regular variation. Without doing so, an attempt to understand the Manus' construction of their environment would remain incomplete and its autonomy ignored. In particular, I want to show that, to the Manus, the night sky did not only serve as a "calen- dar," but was also seen as a representation of the seasons which was suited to make sense of the changes as they were observed in the environ- ment.

The Titan-speaking Manus (sometimes called Manus tru) are one of three main groups of people in the Admiralty Island archipelago (see map). They are famous throughout the area as previously successful seafaring traders and fishermen (Mead 1930: 130). Since Margaret Mead and Reo Fortune stayed in the Manus village Pere in 1928/29 (Mead 1930, 1956 and 1975; Fortune 1935), anthropo- logical inquiries into their culture were made by Schwartz (1962, 1978), Romanucci-Ross (1985), Gustaffson (1992), Otto (1992), and Ohnemus (1996).

The data presented in this paper stem from my fieldwork in autumn 1994 and were supple- mented and substantialized by unpublished notes and advice kindly provided by Theodore Schwartz, who in 1963-67 studied Manus orientation in space and time as part of his plan to attempt a comprehensive ethnography of cultural trans- formation in the Admiralty Islands. Older ethno- graphic and linguistic notes by Meier (1906), Par- kinson (1907:347-410), Thurnwald (1912), and Nevermann (1934) are also taken into account. During my stay I visited all Manus villages and talked extensively with nine older men who had been pointed out to me as being particularly knowledgeable about the stars. These interviews were supplemented by conversations with seven younger men, who used the lunar phases as an aid to time fishing trips. There was no woman among my informants. The interviews were conducted either in tokpisin (Neomelanesian Pidgin English) or in Titan, when younger Manus men helped translating.

This article is arranged as follows. After a brief outline of Manus culture (section 2), spatial orien- tation within their world is considered (section 3). Locally known celestial objects are identified and their places in the environment are then described

Anthropos 95.2000

When the Shark Bites the Stingray 25

(section 4). In section 5, the relation between the seasonal cycle and its expression in the night sky is detailed. Finally, the implications on the Manus' construction of their world are discussed.

2 The Manus: People of the Sea

Today, the Manus live in villages on the south coast of Manus Island and an adjacent group of small, mountainous fringe islands, all being surrounded by coral reefs. With the exception of the Manus group on Mbuke island, which has lived there since much before 1928, the other Manus groups were settled on the islands after World War II (Mead 1956: 277). Previously, they had lived in settlements of houses built on piles over the reef off the sea shore. Having owned small patches of land only, their economy was dominated by trad- ing, fishing, the catch of sea turtles, and occasional raids of non-Manus villages predominantly in the northern reaches of the archipelago. Agricultural products (yams, taro, sago, coconuts) and materials for building canoes and houses were traded for fish with neighboring Matankor and Usiai groups (Mead 1975: 293 ff). As such, the Manus literally used to be "people of the sea," as whom many of them still regard themselves today with much pride. This strong link to the sea is further em- phasized by the former belief that their ancestors reside in the ocean (Gustaffson 1997, personal communication).

Besides the islands nowadays inhabited by the Manus (Whal, Mbuke, Baluan, Tilianu, and Ram- butyo), there are a few uninhabited islands further south which are owned by the Mbuke (Mwilitau Islands) and Baluan people (Alim and Johnston Island), respectively. These islands, the south coast of Manus and the small islands Bipi (at the western end of Manus) and Nauna (in the east) roughly define the Manus world. In the following the sea extending between them will be called the Manus Sea. Its north-south extension is about 75 kilometers, while its east-west elongation is about 200 kilometers. It is a small world in the sense that all parts of it could be reached with a nrol, the large outrigger canoes with two sails, in two days, assuming average wind conditions. Every island except Manus can be crossed in a day by foot.

Separating the Manus world by at least 175 kilometers of open ocean to the nearest islands in the east (Mussau and New Hanover) and 300 ki- lometers to the south (New Guinea), the Bismarck Sea marked a "wall" which was but rarely cross- ed by trading expeditions (Parkinson 1907: 351 f.;

Nevermann 1934: 297 f.). In the 1920s, long-dis- tance ocean travel was even forbidden by the colonial government as being considered "too great a risk for life" (Fortune 1935: x). In the Manus Sea, however, particularly the Manus group from Mouk was famous as traders between the different groups (Mead 1930) until their settlement in the late 1940s on neighboring Baluan (Otto 1992: 264). To them, the nrol were the essential means of transportation. Though largely substitut- ed by motordriven boats today, nrol of different size can still be seen in all Manus villages. Owning a nrol and being skillful in navigation and fishing is held in great esteem. Thus, when in November 1994 the death of Paliau, founder of the Makasol movement (Schwartz 1962; Gustaffson 1992; Otto 1992) was to be commemorated with a "traditional boat race," crews from most Manus villages were going to participate. Even though this race had to be cancelled due to the belated onset of the monsoonal winds, there was a lot of excitement and pride around when the crews - the men of the sea - met in Pere.

3 Sea and Sky as Permeable Places

In Manus thought, sea (nras) and sky (lank) were regarded as two regimes belonging to the same world. The sky was not further differentiated: birds, tyinal (mythical beings), and stars may all move within lank (Meier 1907:659, 661, 933). There was thought to be contact between the sky and its objects and the sea. Even though celestial objects were thought to be farther away than any place one went to with canoes, the Manus regarded them as "distant only as an island or mountain within the Admiralty Island archipelago is distant. They are reachable in myth, but not in ordinary life" (Schwartz 1998). More precisely, celestial objects and the monsoonal winds (ai and kup) were thought to originate directly behind Bipi and Nauna, at the fuzzy western and eastern limits of the Manus world. According to Schwartz, these two islands were regarded as the "last places," Nauna being called kor a sa motchotch ("the place that goes [up] to the end") and Bipi kor a la motchotch ("the place that goes [in a plane] to the end"). When overhead in the sky, sun, moon, stars, and the Milky Way were supposed to be at the same distance as the clouds visible during daytime. As we shall see later, both clouds and celestial objects were thought to be moved in the sky by the monsoonal winds. Apparently it was not considered that the stars, after setting in the

Anthropos 95.2000

26 Götz Hoeppe

la/le »

sa/se **« lank t J

SUa/sue nras 'Nauna /

sa/se N. Pere Bipi^s^ sa/se

la/le

Fig. 1: In the Titan language directional verbs are used in referring to motion in the Manus Sea (nras) and to the motion of celestial objects in the sky (lank).

western sea, moved underneath or in the sea in order to reappear in the east.

A look at the Titan language, particularly its verbs referring to spatial movement (Mead 1956: 67; Schwartz 1998), underlines the continu- ity of sea and sky. Among the directional verbs, sa/se refers to upward motion and to going from a lower to a higher place (sa changing into se when followed by a noun), lañe to short-distance and horizontal motion, sua/sue to downward motion and si/sie to come from a higher to a lower place. These verbs are used in different ways when applied to travels between the various islands of the Manus Sea (Fig. 1). Taking Pere village as the point of departure one would say: yo pa ku le mbuke ("I want to go [horizontally] to Mbuke"). However, in going to Baluan one says: yo pa ku se baluan ("I want to go up to Baluan").

Thus, in going southwest to Mbuke the verb lañe expresses a "horizontal" movement, while going straight south to Baluan literally means "to go up" to this island. More generally, the usage of these verbs follows a pattern in which motion to nearby places is described with lañe, while motion to distant places uses sa/se and always means to go up. In describing motion to places on the entire south coast of Manus and to Mbuke, Whal and Pak, lañe is used, while going to Nauna, Ram- butyo, Baluan, Lou and Johnston islands implies the use of sa/se. Going to all places beyond the Manus Sea requires the use of sa/se as well. On the other hand, travelling between two islands going to which sa/se was applied as seen from Pere (like Nauna and Baluan), would be described by laAe: once one is "up" one remains there on the way to other "up"-places.

Altogether, a saucer-shaped world emerges with the south coast of Manus being at its bottom. This view, however, is complicated for two reasons: firstly, one can go much further in the east-west direction with using lañe than going south, where soon one has to apply sa/se. Moreover, going

to the northern side of Manus is indicated by sua/sue and literally means to go down. As far as the language use is considered, the saucer-shaped world is stretched in the east-west direction and bent downwards towards the north.1

In describing the motion of celestial objects, the same directional verbs are used: their rising over the horizon is referred to with sa/se, their apparent motion across the sky with lañe, and their setting is indicated by sua/sue or si/sie ("to go from a higher to a lower place"). Thus, after going "up" in the east, they cross the sky along horizontal paths before going "down" to set in the west. For example, the greeting "good afternoon" is expressed as: matan mwarai i la ("the sun has gone [in its plane]").

Linguistically, the motion of celestial objects can thus be seen to be a continuation of the pattern of motion applicable to travel in between places in the Manus Sea. As such, the sky (lank) and the paths which its objects describe therein, closes - or rather completes - the saucer-shaped world like a lid on its top.2 This agrees with the Manus belief that sun, moon, stars, and clouds are moving in about the same elevation over the ocean surface. Studying the Manus language at the beginning of the 20th century, the German missionary Josef Meier understood the setting of the sun literally to mean "the sun submerges [into the water]," (1906: 474). Being in accordance with the visual impression gained on the islands, where the sun, moon, and stars rise out of the sea and set back

1 Similarly, some Papuan languages relate near-far distinc- tions to vertical displacements; see Levinson (1996: 361).

2 The "flattening" of the Manus world is paralleled by some European observers' perception of the shape of the celestial vault. Instead of perceiving all directions of the visible sky to be equally distant, it has been often noted that the sky appears to be more distant towards the horizon, resulting in an apparent flattening (see e.g., Perntner and Exner 1922: 17-28). This effect is usually ascribed to the lack of reference objects at higher elevations in the sky.

Anthropos 95.2000

When the Shark Bites the Stingray 27

Table 1: Manus Constellations

Titan name Meaning Identification with Western Source names

tjasa (ldasa) homonymous Pleiades (star cluster in Taurus) Meier (1906: 473); with name of Parkinson (1907: 377); mangrove tree Thurnwald (1912: 341);

Nevermann (1934: 372); Schwartz (1998); this study

sotulumo three men 8, £, and Ç Orionis (belt of Schwartz (1998); Orion) this study

manuai bird Sinus (a Canis Majoris), Parkinson (1907: 377 f.); Procyon (a Canis Minons), Schwartz (1998); Canopus (a Cannae) this study

keitole cross Southern cross (Crux) this study kobat crab Corona Borealis (?) this study mbei fish Corona Borealis (?) Thurnwald (1912: 342)

peo shark stars of Sagittarius Schwartz (1998); this study

pei stingray stars of Scorpius Meier (1906: 473); Schwartz (1998); this study

kailou kailou fish Delphinus Parkinson (1907: 378)

papai papai fish a and ß Circinus Parkinson (1907: 378)

kapet Zumben net Corona Australis Parkinson (1907: 378); Schwartz (1998)

atokapet fishing net Hyades (star cluster in Taurus) this study lawon kapet fishing net U-shaped group of stars in this study

Eridanus

pitui an kor land star a, ß, y Aquilae Parkinson (1907: 378)

pitui an njam mosquito star Corona Borealis (?) Parkinson (1907: 378)

into it, this further emphasizes the concept of sea and sky to be permeable to celestial objects. This permeability sets the stage for the construction of mutual relations between sea and sky (section 5).

4 Celestial Semiotics: Objects of the Night Sky

Known classes of celestial objects include ma- lai/mwarai3 (sun), mbul (moon), pitui (star), pwanchal/sowelele (the Milky Way) and apatalit- chiri/ramatangip (the planet Venus). In the Titan language, no distinction is made between stars

and constellations: both are called pitui. Given the splendour of the Manus night sky, with an innumerable number of stars being visible dur- ing cloud-free nights, one may be surprised that most bright stars and (to western eyes) "apparent" constellations are lacking Titan names. Examples in the northern sky are Betelgeuse (a Orionis), Vega (a Lyrae), Deneb (a Cygni), Polaris (a Ursae Minoris), Cassiopeia, Perseus, Andromeda, and Ursa Major. In the southern hemisphere there were no names for e.g., Achernar (a Eridani), Fomalhaut (a Piseis Austrini), and a Centauri. All these were called by the generic name pitui.

While the significance of some constellations is doubtful, being known to few individuals and hav- ing been previously identified with different stars (see Table 1), others have been in common usage and can be identified with much certainty. The

3 These two synonymous names indicate a phonetic shift common to the different Titan dialects which are spoken by various Manus groups.

Anthropos 95.2000

28 Götz Hoeppe

Fig. 2: The Manus constellations "stingray" (pei) and "shark" (peo) as seen before setting on the western horizon. They consist of stars of Scorpius (lower part) and Sagittarius (upper part). The greek letters refer to the Western designation of bright stars be- longing to Scorpius and Sagitta- rius, separated by the dashed line.

following constellations have been in widespread usage, being of particular relevance as indicators of seasonal change:

Tjasa (Pleiades, a Star Cluster in Taurus)

As the constellation best known to the Manus, tjasa has previously been identified by Meier (1906:473), Parkinson (1907:377), Thurnwald (1912:341, as kiasa), Nevermann (1934:372), and Schwartz (1998). Unlike the other Manus constellations, the noun tjasa is not figurative, i.e., it is not the name of an animal or some object. However, it is homonymous with the name of a mangrove tree (Schwartz 1998).

Sotulumo (Three Stars in the Belt of Orion: 8, e, and Ç Orionis)

In the Titan language, tulumo is the numeral three when applied to animate beings (Meier 1906: 228).

All my informants knew this constellation and sometimes gave a little explanation like sotulu- mo depicting the "three wise men" coming at Christmas (indeed, sotulumo is well visible in the December evening sky) or - more commonly - three men in a fishing canoe.

"Bird" (manuai)

All of my older informants knew about the constel- lation manuai (bird or eagle), though sometimes not being exactly sure about its place in the sky. Most commonly, it is identified with three bright stars: Sirius (a Canis Majoris), Procyon (a Canis Minoris), and Canopus (a Carinae) and as such this large constellation extends over one third of the night sky. Being shaped like a V, with Sirius marking the bird's body, Canopus the southern wing and Procyon the northern one, manuai is seen to have its wings "up" when rising in the east and its wings "down" when setting in the west. As pointed out by Goodenough (1953: 30), manuai

Anthropos 95.2000

When the Shark Bites the Stingray 29

Table 2: Annual Cycles in the Manus Environment

Month Wind Sky Sea Islands/Land (kauo) (lank) (nras) (kor)

October/ ai begins "Shark" bites Sea is getting Yams and taro are November (NW-Monsoon; "stingray's" rough. Water planted,

rainy season) tail. colour becomes tjasa rises in the greenish. Maxi- eastern evening mum abun- sky. Milky Way dance of fish, stretches from "Fish constel- NNW to SSE. lations" in the

sea.

March/April Milky Way tjasa sets in the Fish abundance Sea turtles start blocks the ai western evening decreases. laying eggs (until wind. sky. "Fish con- July).

stellations" rise "out of the sea."

May kup begins Milky Way Water colour is (SE-Monsoon; stretches from blue, dry season) NE to SW.

June/July "Fish constella- Minimum Harvesting period tions" in the abundance of (yams) begins, sky. fish.

September Milky Way "Fish constella- blocks the kup tions" set "into wind. the sea."

seems to be identical with the constellation maan known in the Central Carolines. It also agrees with the Anuta constellation manu, as described by Feinberg (1988: 100 ff.)- Both maan and manu de- note "birds", suggesting this constellation's "pan- Oceanic" character. This is the only hint pointing towards an exchange of astronomical ideas among Manus and other islands of the Pacific.

"Shark" (peo) and "Stingray" (pei)

In the Titan language, pei denotes the stingray (Trygon violaceus' Meier 1906: 473, Nevermann 1934: 46) and peo the shark. The naming of pei is particularly suggestive, being almost identical with the (Western) constellation Scorpius. Its head and body is formed by a (Antares), ß, S, and 7C Scorpii, while e, 'i9 x, and Ç Scorpii form its long tail. Iden- tifying peo is less certain. While I understood it to consist of the remaining bright stars of Scorpius plus some bright stars of Sagittarius, Schwartz (1998) claims peo to include i, k, '), and X

Scorpii, the latter two stars being its eyes (Fig. 2). According to Schwartz, Antares - Scorpio's brightest star - was (correctly) recognized to be

slightly reddish in colour and was as such called katchamputon, a term also used for the cloaca or umbilicus of some animals.

The Milky Way

Visible all year round in the night sky, two names are known for the Milky Way: on Whal and Mbuke it is called pwanchal ("the way"), while elsewhere it is named sowelele ("the border"). Schwartz (1998) mentions for it the names sope- rere or sorere which are synonymous with sowe- lele. On Mbuke, pwanchal is a clan name (Gustaff- son 1997, personal communication). It has been commonly thought that the Milky Way consists of clouds.

Besides these objects, the planet Venus is known to the Manus by two names, which are thought to refer to different stars: when visible in the morning it is called apatal or apatalitchiri, while appearing in the evening sky it is called ramatangip - "man who lies" or "deceiver" -, since it is visible before the other stars show up but goes down when they appear, leaving in order

Anthropos 95.2000

30 Götz Hoeppe

to copulate with their wives. As such, ramatangip is the only celestial object to which human behav- ioural traits are ascribed!

Supplemented by the less certain identifica- tions from Table 1, which will later be referred to, essential features of the Manus' astronomical nomenclature emerge. Most constellations seem like projections of objects of their immediate en- vironment into the sky. Moreover, all important constellations are close to the celestial equator. Seen from the Admiralty Islands they rise due east, move across the sky through the zenith and set due west, following the most conspicuous paths in the sky. Finally, the best-known constellations are not evenly distributed along the celestial equator, but occur in two groups: tjasa, marmai and sotulumo are situated in the sky almost oppositely to pei and peo. This implies that at any time of the year some of these constellations are visible in the night sky. The opposite position in the sky of tjasa in respect to peo was described to Schwartz as a kaleal relationship between them, kaleal being the pre-marriage avoidance between a man or a woman and their prospective affinal kin. Original- ly, tjasa and peo were supposed to be in a true kaleal relation, not being visible simultaneously in the sky, but then peo violated kaleal and does now set in the sea after tjasa appears in the evening sky.

5 Cycles in the Sky and the Sea

In the Manus Sea, the annual weather pattern is dictated by the monsoonal winds. From November until April, these come from the northwest, being termed the ai wind. The name ai is not only applied to the wind and its direction of origin, but also to the rainy season by which it is accompa- nied. Conversely, a southeast wind, kup, dominates between May and September, marking the dry season during which occasional heavy rainfalls can occur. In between the ai (northwest monsoon) and the kup (southeast monsoon) seasons, calm periods are common. These two seasons were fundamental to Manus life: the winds determined where one could go with the canoes, the monsoonal rain set out the planting season and during ai the maximum annual fish abundance occurs in the Manus Sea. Therefore, the gross features of the Manus year which could have necessitated planning are the seasonal winds, wave patterns, rains, and the fish abundance in the sea. We will see that the specif- ic visibilities of celestial objects are consistently linked to them (Table 2).

5.1 Sun (malai/mwarai) and Pleiades (tjasa) as Seasonal Markers

To the Manus, the sun (malai/mwarai) was the most important indicator for the passage of time, marking day (rang) and night (piaun). It also served as an annual calendar. Seen from the Ad- miralty Islands the azimuth of sunrise and sunset, i.e., its direction on the horizon, varies by about 46° degrees in the course of a year, a well notable shift. At its southern solstice in December, the sun rises and sets towards the south, in contrast with the northern solstice in June, when it rises and sets in the northernmost direction. Thus the sun moves towards the south from June until Decem- ber and towards the north from December until June. Seen from Pere village, the sun rises and sets over Manus island during most of the ai season (northwest monsoon) while it does so over the sea during the kup season (southeast monsoon). With landscape features defining a village's horizon, the rising and setting azimuths of the sun were forming a reliable calendar. Schwartz relates that Pokanau, his main informant in 1953/54, had still observed the sunset direction to fix the time in his youth. The continuous shift of the solar rising and setting azimuths was ascribed to the action of the kup and ai winds: the former pushes the sun towards the north, the latter back to the south.

To recognize the constellations as meaningful markers of the season requires specifying the time of their visibility (evening, midnight, or early morning) in relation to their place in the sky. As can be inferred from Fig. 3, the visibility in the sky alone is unspecific as a seasonal marker. For example, tjasa can be seen in the night sky from mid- June, when it rises just before sunrise, until mid-April, when it sets just before sunrise: it can be seen during ten months of the year. Similarly, all the other constellations are visible over such a long time-span. It is necessary to specify the time and place of visibility of a constellation in order to restore its usefulness as part of a celestial calendar. The Manus did so by paying most attention to the night sky in the evenings, watching the constellations over the eastern and western horizon. When visible further up in the sky, they were less carefully regarded.

In this line, the rise of tjasa in the eastern evening sky is commonly understood to mark the onset of the ai (northwest) wind, accompanied by the rainy season and the period of maximum fish abundance in the Manus Sea: When tjasa comes up in the east, the rainy season will start and strong winds will come (Cholai, Whal, 60s).

Anthropos 95.2000

When the Shark Bites the Stingray 3 1

mbei WÊÊÊÊ ■■■■■^^^^■■■■^■^■■■^■■■■^^^■^^■■■^^■■^^^■^^■M

| peo ^^ ■■■■■IIMHBIil^M^^^HMHMHI^HHH^MH^M^MBI

pei' ■■■■im w^ÊÊÊÊÊ^^^mÊÊÊmÊÊÊÊÊÊmÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ^^^a^^mm^m^^Êm

, kailou ■■■^^^^^■■■■H ^^■■■¡^^■■■^■■^^■■¡^^^■i^i^Mi^^^i^MM /^sotulumo ■■■¡^^^^^■^^■■■■■■■^■■■■■^■■■■■ili^H ■■^■■■^■■■■■H

| ? kapet ^ | I atokapet ■HHHiil^HHHIHMHH ^ ■■^iHH

umben • 1 - -

ai wind (northwest monsoon, rainy season) kup wind (southeast monsoon, dry season)

Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep

visible in night sky visible in eastern evening sky

Fig. 3: Visibility of Manus constellations throughout the year.

Tjasa announces the rainy season (Pongi and Martin, Mbuke, 50s).

Before tjasa appears, the sea water changes its colour. When tjasa then becomes visible, there is a good fishing season until tjasa is above [in the zenith]. When tjasa appears on the eastern horizon, we start planting yams and taro (Francis, Mouk, 50s).

When tjasa is visible, many fish can be caught and there are many birds (Martin, Mouklen, 70s).

In announcing the profound seasonal change oc- curring with the ai wind, the appearance of tja- sa - the most prominent Manus constellation - was seen to mark the beginning of the year. In Neomelanesian Pidgin English, tjasa is translated as yar (year). Accordingly, Nevermann writes: "Time is reckoned in days, nights, the new moon and the Pleiades year, the latter reaching from one appearance of the Pleiades, coinciding with the onset of the northwest monsoon, until the next one. Twelve lunar months make up one year, without the days being counted precisely" (1934: 372).

Apart from the year as defined by tjasa, the lunar month provided a convenient unit for day- to-day timekeeping. Is it then possible to infer that there has been a Manus calendar as a combination of sidereal (Pleiades) and synodic (lunar) timekeep- ing? In a strict sense, this would pose a problem,

since these two units of timekeeping do not match precisely. A synodic year of twelve lunar months is shorter than one sidereal year by eleven days. Therefore, each annual reappearance of tjasa was accompanied by a different lunar phase, a situation called the "problem of intercalation" by Leach (1950: 247 ff.). As long as the matching of these two measures is not defined, it is - according to Leach - inappropriate to speak of a "true" calen- dar. The Manus, however, did not perceive this to be a problem: the Pleiades year and the lunar months as units of timekeeping were of importance in different contexts and were as such not forced to agree precisely with each other. While tjasa served as a seasonal marker, the lunar phases provided a short-term calendar of importance in cooperating events among the Manus villages. In Manus life, there was nothing that required a precision which would have made a solution to the problem of intercalation necessary or desirable.

5.2 The Migration of "Fish" between the Sea and the Sky

When tjasa rises in the eastern evening sky, "shark" (peo) and "stingray" (peí) are about to set below the western horizon. A popular story links

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32 Götz Hoeppe

this event to the onset of the ai season (northwest monsoon): You see: "shark" follows "stingray" all over the sky. Since appearing in the east, "shark" has done so. But now, as they are over there [pointing towards the west- ern sky], "shark" has reached "stingray" and bites its tail.4 So "stingray" hits the water with his tail and moves about rapidly. And this is why there are rough seas and strong winds when "shark" and "stingray" go into the sea (Ponawan, Tilianu, 50s). A few weeks later, tjasa in its ascent in the evening sky is joined by sotulumo and "bird" (manuai), its huge wings pointing upwards. Still being close to the surface of the sea, the beat of "bird's" wings is said to contribute to the ai (northwest) wind.

In November, about one month after the ai season has begun, "shark" and "stingray" have completely set "into the sea" and are no longer visible in the sky. Both "shark" and "stingray" are classified as mbei (fish). They were probably not the only constellations symbolizing fish (Table 1). Rather, three other constellations have been previously identified with fish or fish species: mbei (Corona Borealis; Thurnwald 1912: 342), kailou (a fish species symbolized in Delphinus; Parkinson 1907: 378), and papai (a fish species symbolized in a and ß Circinus; Parkinson 1907: 378). With all of these being relatively close to "shark" and "stingray" in the sky, they are visible during the kup season and have apparently set into the water at the beginning of the ai season, when tjasa rises in the east. Regarding the constellation mbei, Thurnwald writes: "When the Pleiades rise in the sky, one begins to look out for fish, since then the 'fish' are in the water. In fact, a group of faint stars is setting when the Pleiades appear, and this group is called 'the fish' {mbeiT (1912: 342).

Even though Thurnwald' s identification of mbei with Corona Borealis might be questionable (it was pointed out to me as kobat, crab, and as njam, mosquito, to Parkinson 1907:378), what he says about mbei seems to be valid for all the constellations symbolizing fish. They have set "into the sea" at the beginning of the main annual fishing season and reappear in the eastern evening sky in April, just after the fish abundance in the Manus Sea decreases after the termination of the ai (northwest) wind (Fig. 3). At any time in the course of a year, "fish" are thus either physically present in the sea or figuratively in the night sky. Altogether, "shark" biting "stingray," the beat of

"bird's" wings, and the setting of the "fish con- stellation" into the sea account for all significant climatic features of the ai season, except for the rains.

When the "fish constellations" reappear in April, tjasa, sotulumo, and "bird," which have been visible throughout the ai season, are setting in the west. While "bird" has been said to be calm when it was up high in the sky, its wings stretched out horizontally, in setting, its wings are pointing downwards. Now being close to the sea, the wings' beating is said to be more effective and makes the kup (southeast) wind commence. While this may seem a simultaneity satisfying seasonal change, the place of "bird" in the western morning sky is roughly in opposite direction to the winds actually experienced by the Manus.

At the beginning of June, when the kup season is in full swing, heavy rains may occur which are termed mpura un tjasa (rains of the Pleiades). Only a few weeks later, tjasa becomes visible before sunrise. As the "fish constellations" move closer to the western horizon, tjasa successively becomes visible earlier every night, until in October it rises in the eastern evening sky and is visible throughout the night. Now, as the year is completed, it is time to look out again for the signs of the ai season.

Since some constellations from Table 1 relate to the activity of fishing, it is appropriate to consider their places in the sky in relation to the "fish constellations." Of relevance are the constella- tions sotulumo ("three men [in a fishing canoe]"), kapet/umben, atokapet, and lawon kapet (different kinds of fishing nets). As shown in Fig. 2, all of these are visible in the evening sky at the beginning of the ai season, with the exception of kapet/umben. This suggests that the visibility of constellations symbolizing fish alternates with those relating to the activity of fishing. However, given the uncertainty of identifying the constella- tions pertaining to fishing, one should be wary of overinterpreting this material.

To the Manus, stars and constellations were not the only indicators of seasonal change. For example, one informant related the rise of tjasa to coincide with a change in the colour of seawater, followed by the increasing abundance of fish. This claim is confirmed by modern oceanography. In- deed, the upwelling process, which can be assumed to occur in the Manus Sea, makes the sea colour and fish abundance change synchronously with the predominant wind. During the northwest monsoon, the ai wind blows offshore on the southern side of Manus Island, pushes the nutrient-poor surface water off the coast and substitutes it with nutrient- 4 Some shark species are indeed known to feed on stingrays

(cf. Helfman et al. 1997: 327).

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When the Shark Bites the Stingray 33

rich water from deeper layers of the ocean. When this water surfaces, it will lead to an increased production of phytoplankton and then of zooplank- ton. Sustaining on zooplankton, fish will soon be more numerous in the sea. The fish abundance will decrease only when, due to the end of the northwest monsoon, the supply of nutrient-rich water is interrupted. During the upwelling, the colour of the surface water will change from deep blue (the colour of nutrient-poor water) to greenish or yellowish (Valiela 1995: 79 ff.).

5.3 The Milky Way's Motion and the Monsoonal Winds

As mentioned above, the sun's seasonal motion towards the south and the north was thought to be due to the action of the ai (northwest) and kup (southeast) winds, respectively. In general terms, these were regarded as being responsible for the motion of all celestial objects, an idea well illus- trated by the Milky Way's apparent annual motion. The Milky Way (pwanchal/sowelele) was believed to consist of clouds similar to those visible in the daytime sky, and due to this affinity the influence of the winds on its motion was perhaps especially evident. When asked about the seasonal motion of the Milky Way, typical responses were:

When pwanchal is low in this way [pointing at the northwest], the wind is coming (Cholai, Whal, 60s). If sowelele is there [pointing at the northwest], it has been blown there by the [southeast] wind. At the end of these winds, in May, sowelele is on the other side [in the southeast] (Polaiap, Mouk, 60s). When sowelele is in the northwest, there soon will be wind from the northwest. When sowelele is in the southeast, there soon will be wind from the southeast (Martin, Mouklen, 70s).

A computer simulation, carried out for me by Mr. Jochen Rose (Wilhelm-Foerster-Sternwarte, Berlin) shows the Milky Way's place in the eve- ning sky to be in accordance with these obser- vations. At the beginning of the northwest mon- soon (October/November), a bright patch is visible in the northwest direction, the Milky Way band stretching from NNW to SSE. At the end of the northwest monsoon (in early May) the Milky Way band stretches from the southwest to the northeast, no part of it lying in the northwest. Thus, at the end of either monsoon the Milky Way is visible in those directions of the evening night sky into which the monsoonal winds would have blown atmospheric clouds. In between the ai and kup

seasons the Milky Way stretches from north to south. According to Schwartz, it was then regarded to obstruct the winds, causing the calm transition periods between ai and kup. Only when it was pushed on persistently by the winds it would turn and let them pass through. As such it formed a moveable border, hinted at by its Titan name sowelele/soperere.

5.4 The Moon and the Catch of Fish

Beside seasonal changes in the sky, the phases of the moon were carefully observed by the Manus. These were useful for general timekeeping and to estimate times suited for fishing in the coral reef. The latter reveals their insightful evaluation of the environment, since the Manus are aware of the profound influence of the lunar phases in combination with local reef topography on the catch of particular species. Even in 1994, some rules derived about this lunar influence were kept secret by some clans, being considered valuable knowledge, which was still actively used by youn- ger Manus men. Without going into much detail, typical responses about the lunar influence are the following: Full moon and new moon are good for fishing, because the fish get their children at this time and cannot jump out of the net (Pongi and Martin, Mbuke, 50s). Three days after full moon the fish gather in groups, but only for one day and one night. When tjasa is above the eastern horizon and there is new moon, it is a good time to fish the par-fish. When the moon is half, this time is over (Ponawan and Cholai, Pere, 30s). At full moon there are many fish, especially karua. Fish are like men: when there is a big light, we come around together. Like us around this oil lamp [referring to the interview situation, in a hut at night] (Pouru, Loamat, 70s).

The fish karua is a mullet species (Mugilidae). Thus, fish gather in the full moon's light like men around a lamp, they get "pregnant" and cannot "jump" out of the nets when in this condition. Hu- man dispositions and social attributes are ascribed to the fish and the known world of man is taken as an a priori model for the unknown world under the water surface.

6 Interpretation

What has been said about the sky and its objects, their motion and visibility, rounds off the Manus

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34 Götz Hoeppe

world in spatial and temporal ways. It is bounded in that it is limited spatially and is temporally dominated by the periodicity of the seasonal cycle. Spatially, the extent of this world is indicated by linguistic usage: directional verbs indicate its fringe to be bent "upwards." Going far away inev- itably means to "go up" until, somewhere behind the "last places" Bipi and Nauna, this motion is continued by celestial objects which move from the sea (nras) into the sky (lank). The transition between the sea and the sky - a frontier permeable to birds and celestial objects - can thus be located at the fuzzy edge of the Manus world, the sky forming its uppermost reaches.

Temporally, the night sky rounds off the Manus world in that the meanings and visibilities of specific celestial objects are linked to the annual cycle: they illustrate seasonal change and partly account for it as agents of environmental variation. Much of the usefulness of the night sky arises from the synchronicity of its changing appearance with the seasonal cycle. Using the night sky as a mnemonic seasonal calendar is indeed common to many societies around the globe.5 For the Manus, the link between the night sky and seasonal change is particularly evident and transcends sole calen- drical use. This might be due to their exposure to the dangers of living in a marine environment (Acheson 1981), where the periodicities visible in the sky were welcome to increase the certainty of adaptation.

Objects and constellations of the Manus sky can be divided into those which are used predictively (sun, moon, tjasa) and those which are regarded more confirmatively (most figurative constella- tions). Predictively, the sun and tjasa are the most important indicators of seasonal change. Being a nonfigurative constellation, tjasa (the Pleiades) is not linked to a story in which it would assume the role of an active agent. On the other hand, the figurative constellations and the Milky Way consistently represent the annual weather pattern and its variation. Stories relate them to be active in shaping the seasons. To do so, a small number of named objects and constellations has been suffi- cient, since these are aptly situated in the sky. The two groups of constellations visible in the evening sky at the beginning of the ai season (tjasa, sotulumo, and "bird") and the kup season ("shark," "stingray," and the other "fish constellations"), respectively, carry meanings pertaining to climatic changes synchronous with their visibilities. The

constellations depicting animals, especially "bird," "shark," and "stingray" symbolically influence the local climate. They do so in ways which are analogous to causes and effects as known from the Manus' immediate environment: the beating of "bird's" wings causes the monsoonal winds, the rapid motion of the "stingray's" body makes the sea rough and contributes to the monsoonal winds as well. On the other hand, the migration of "fish" between the sea and the sky is a symbolic metamorphosis which agrees with the observed variability of the fish abundance in the Manus Sea. It is convenient to realize that when the "fish" are in the sky, they cannot be in the sea simultaneous- ly. As such, the night sky serves as a mnemonic for the variation of the fish abundance in the sea, in agreement with the Manus' experience of offshore fishing.

In this respect, the Tukano of Northwest Ama- zonia (Colombia) may be mentioned. According to Reichel-Dolmatoff (1976:313), they associate all game animals with constellations and may only hunt them when the respective constellation is visible in the sky. The Manus seem not to have made such a well-defined link between the fish constituting the catch and those represented as constellations: the thirty or so fish species which are actually caught are in marked contrast with only four possibly identified "fish constellations," the other, mbei, being the Titan generic name for "fish." Moreover, none of the Manus would literally believe that constellations turn into actual fish and vice versa. Or would they? The answer might be found in "the exhortation of the Ma- jorca storytellers: Aixo er y no era (it was and it was not)" (Ricoeur 1977:224). They did and they did not. The line between the literal and the metaphoric may be thin (see also Veyne 1983). Seen as a metaphor, the metamorphosis draws its reason from the synchronicity of change in the sky and in the sea. As such, the "fish constellations" are aptly named to take the variable fish abundance into account. In the same line, the influence of "bird" and "stingray" on the climate may not be taken literally, since their rising and setting directions in the sky do not agree with the direction of the kup (southeast) and ai (northwest) winds which they are said to cause. What rather seems to have mattered to the Manus is to relate the times of their visibility to the seasonal changes experienced in the environment.

While these constellations may not have been seen as literal agents accounting for causal expla- nation, the visible motion of the sun and Milky Way may be different. The sun's seasonal motion

5 Leach 1950; Lévi-Strauss 1964: 203-261; Schlegel 1987/88; Descola 1994: 62-76.

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When the Shark Bites the Stingray 35

towards the north and the south and the Milky Way's apparent motion across the sky are in agree- ment with the ones they had if they were pushed on by the monsoonal winds. In this case a direct cause can be identified easily. Given the Manus belief that the sun and the Milky Way are at the same elevation above the sea as the ai (northwest) and kup (southeast) winds, it seems inevitable that these winds, which affect the motion of so many things in the Manus' environment, do act on these celestial bodies as well. Therefore, the visible motion of the sun and the Milky Way make the Manus idea of their location in the same sky as the monsoonal winds plausible.

It seems, therefore, that causalities of different stringency are of relevance. If we were to take all the "stories" about the effects of "bird's" wings beating or the "stingray's" tail being bitten by the shark literally, an intricate network of inter- relatedness in the Manus world emerges. Seen in this light, the relationships constructed therein rather consistently account for seasonal change as experienced by the Manus. Without human inter- vention, a set of agents thus interacts to account for climatic variation, to which the Manus have to adapt themselves. In gross terms the agents constitute a system of mutual influences, which is autonomous in the sense that the causes are situated within the Manus world or at its fuzzy edge (Ulanowicz 1990). The metaphorical action of "bird" and "stingray," the symbolic migration of fish and the permeability of sea and sky to celestial objects fill explanatory gaps which are left open by the more stringent causalities at work in explaining the seasonal motion of the sun and the Milky Way. What is lacking in this network is the incorporation of the rainfalls. However, in contrast to the marked changes in the wind direction or the fish abundance, the rainfall is much more evenly distributed throughout the year. The absence of a link between the rains and the sky thus underlines the impression that changes in the sky are used to illustrate changes in the Manus' environment, rather than affirming a status quo, or, in this respect, a relatively constant amount of rainfall.

The night sky, the "immense screen of the starry night" (Bachelard), thus seems like a screen onto which not only a calendar, but rather a narrative of annual environmental variation is inscribed. For such a purpose, the night sky is particularly well-suited. At first, its changing appearance is synchronous with the seasonal cycle. Secondly, to identify constellations in the visible pattern of stars makes it possible to attribute to them meanings which are in accordance with seasonal

change. The construction of analogies between the everyday experience of cause and effect and these constellations, makes them useful as agents which bring about seasonal change. It is in this line that the night sky rounds off and unifies the Manus' view of their world.

This paper grew out of a talk given in Copenhagen at the conference "Pacific Peoples in the Pacific Century: Society, People, Nature" in December 1996, organized by the European Society for Oceanists. Above all, I want to thank all my Manus informants for their considerable hospitality, generosity, and patience. Prof. Theodore Schwartz (University of California, San Diego) did not only provide a significant amount of the material used here, but was also patient in answering many questions and commented on an earlier draft. I am grateful to Dr. Berit Gustafsson (National Research Institute, Port Moresby), Prof. Ute Luig (Freie Universität Berlin), and Prof. Jürg Wassmann (Universität Heidelberg) for commenting on different drafts of this paper. Jochen Rose of the Wilhelm-Foerster-Sternwarte (Berlin) did the computer simulations of the Admiralty Islands night sky. Prof. Jürgen Lenz (Institut für Meereskunde, Kiel) drew my attention to the upwelling mechanism and Richard Pearse (Lorengau, Manus Province, PNG) in- troduced me to the history of Manus province since 1953. Carol Otto (Berlin) kindly helped to improve the English.

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