Page 173 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol III

992 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

The Caco Chatiar Ceremony

A significant component of many initiation ceremonies Sohrae. If an animal is killed for sacrifice, she can
is the passing on of cultural lore and wisdom to the help to cook all the meat except the head. She can
next generation. The following ethnographic text de- also eat such meat unless the bongas concerned are
scribes such an activity as practiced by the Santal peo- the abge ones. Moreover when she marries she can
ple of Bihar State in India. now have vermilion smeared upon her forehead and
thus exchange her own bongas for those of her hus-
With the approach of adolescence, the responsibili-
band. Prior to confirmation she is little more than a
ties of adult life loom gradually larger. The naming
baby. After confirmation she is virtually a woman.
ceremony admits a boy or girl to the outer fringes of
But besides involving a new relationship with the
the tribe. It is kind of baptism which serves as a nec-
bongas, adolescence makes even more necessary a
essary prelude to fuller recognition. But before a boy
sense of tribal discipline. We have seen that in their
can assume the role of parent or be granted all the
early youth children grow accustomed to village man-
privileges of a separate house, he must undergo a cer-
ners and to certain prohibitions. They must now be
emony of confirmation. At the naming ritual he was,
instructed in the tribal tradition and made to realise
as it were, placed under the protective surveillance of
what it means to be a Santal.
certain bongas (ancestor spirits). He must now be
The ceremony that combines these various func-
accorded adult status so that he may himself ap-
tions is known as Caco Chatiar and is usually per-
proach them with the customary offering and share
formed when a child is eight to ten years old.When
in the sacrificial feasts.
several children in the family are ready, the father or
Similarly a girl must now be brought into closer
sponsor visits the headman and tells him he has
union with the bongas. Until her confirmation she is
brewed some rice-beer. The headman asks what fer-
eligible for bonga care but is debarred from assisting
ment he has used, and the man replies, “The ferment
in the ceremonies.When she has been formally con-
is this. I have heard some little parrots crying in the
firmed, she can clean the bhitar or family shrine and
hole of a tree. Their feathers are sprouting. We are
[make] a place for the offerings. She can help in mak-
bringing them down. Fix a date for me.” The head-
ing the cakes that are offered in the cowshed at
of eating and drinking, themselves a kind of incorpora- and the psychological functioning of the transitioning
tion of sustenance into the body. The similarity in the individual. For example, birth, marriage, and death can
overall structure of rites of passage across cultures dram- disturb the normal relationships among individuals in a
atizes the striking historical uniformity in the way in family, community, and society. Rites of passage, then,
which human societies negotiate life transitions. are proposed to serve as the strategy devised by human
societies to mediate whatever social upheaval and per-
Universal Function sonal turmoil are associated with life transitions.
of Rites of Passage
The fact that human beings across historical time and Variations in Presence
place mark life transitions in a similar way points to the of Rites of Passage
likelihood that rites of passage may serve a similar pur- Differences are also apparent with respect to how life
pose for the people who participate in them.The key to transitions are handled across cultures. Societies vary re-
the historical and geographical uniformity characteristic garding which transitions are marked with rites of pas-
of rites of passage may be found in the pan-universal sage. Differences also occur from one time and place to
nature of life transitions. In particular, transitions from the next with regard to the details of the rites and the
one state or status to another have the potential to dis- degree to which they are elaborated. Rites may be more
rupt the smooth functioning of the community at large or less important, intense, or prolonged in one society as