Pamela wrote:
Vernon
Many thanks for the status info and the photos of the two different Blazing Fire motive pua.
'my grandfather's great-grandmother' - your great, great, great grandmother (I think)! Not sure which sounds oldest! Very special that it has survived so long and so well.
Something that always worries me - with the care of textiles in mind - is how some of the most beautiful pua were used to wrap heads. I think of this as a messy business and that the pua would be stained. I realise that this is very Western and counter to the core cultural values for which the pua were woven.
Dear Pamela
I was going to reserve the debunking of one of the greatest myths associated with the pua kumbu in a proper published article or book. But since you have brought up the subject, perhaps I'll give a quick explanation.
The idea of a bloody head dripping with blood and then wrapped up unceremoniously in a pua kumbu is really a myth. A very gory myth that works well with the romanticism of the era.
In actual fact, when warriors return with trophy heads from a raid or battle, they do not bring their trophy heads directly into the longhouse. They would clear an area within earshot of their longhouse, and make camp there for seven nights. The trophy heads would be cleaned and then smoked over a gentle fire to dry it out. At the same time, the women back at the longhouse would start preparing the feast and most importantly, repairing or re-starching their prized pua kumbu for the
enchaboh arong ceremony (the ritual of receiving a trophy head). Everybody would know that the warriors have returned safely but everybody would keep up the pretense that they are still away on the raid.
On the eighth morning, the warriors would dress up in their finery (presumably smuggled out of the longhouse to them by a precocious younger brother or cousin) and begin their procession from the clearing to the main stairs of the longhouse. Music would be played on gongs (also presumably smuggled in the dead of night the night before from the longhouse) as the men make their victorious approach, not unlike jubilant Caesar entering Rome to much fanfare. The women would also have woken up early and prepared themselves and all the ritual objects for the ceremony. Food and wine would be waiting in the longhouse communal gallery. Maidens would dress up and wait to be courted by the brave warriors.
Upon reaching the stairs, the lead warrior would present his trophy head (or heads) to either his wife (if he is married) or his mother (if he is unmarried) with much shouting and yelling of war cries. The woman receiving the head would be waiting with a large plate in her arms over which a pua kumbu would be meticulously draped. The angle and the manner is very important as the most potent motif on the pattern must touch the base of the trophy head when it is placed on the pua. The trophy head, by now fully dried out and hair perfectly combed, would be placed carefully on the pua kumbu in the plate. The man would hold the head above the cloth while the woman would adjust the angles of her arms to find the best 'repository' position for the head. The pua kumbu is not wrapped around the head. It merely serves as a base cloth for the head. The woman would then welcome the head as she would welcome a new born babe, singing the trophy head lullaby to it as she gently cradles and rocks it (known as the
naku pala). It is at this point that the powerful spirit of the pua is then believed to envelope and negate/neutralise all negative forces of the enemy's head. Then the next warrior in rank would do the same, until all the warriors have presented their heads. No wild dramatics. All very civilised.
Then the heads are taken out to the
tanju (open air verandah) where the
enchaboh arong ceremony proper begins. After chants and prayers and blessings culminating in the climactic ritual bite (the women bite the heads as a sign of victory over the enemy - this bit, I agree, is somewhat gruesome and horrific), the heads would then be placed in rattan baskets and then hung in the longhouse over the entrance of their respective owners' bilik.
That is why you will never have blood stains on any pua kumbu for the simple reason that all trophy heads are smoked and dried for seven days and nights before they are ceremonially presented to the longhouse. Any stain a dealer tells you is a blood stain is an outright lie to inflate his profits. Or if there really is a stain, it would most probably have come from food or drink spilt on the pua during festivities. The only time I have seen real blood stains on a pua was when a slaughtered sacrificial cockerel in its death throes flicked a few droplets of its blood onto the nearby displayed blanket during a
miring (blessing ceremony), which annoyed its owner immensely. Nasty business as animal blood has a horrid stench. We like our cloths clean and unblemished, more so if they are masterpieces of high status.
If you hear fanciful stories of human blood stains on a pua kumbu, just smile and enjoy the tale.
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