Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 2 - Oceania - T pot

... panels on occasions of public dancing. Jew's harps are played occasionally as private entertainment, other- wise only hour-glass drums supplement the human voice. Several genres of oral literature provide evening household entertainment and instruction during ceremonies. Medicine. Their natural environment supplies the Tairora with an extensive range of medicines, which most indivi...

Ngày tải lên: 02/07/2014, 17:20

... Belau 25 yearly wind shift from westerly monsoons in the summer to easterly trades in the winter is interrupted only by typhoons, which periodically destroy homes, harbors, and farms. Demography. The population in 1988 was approximately 14,000, about half of whom live on the island of Koror. Esti- mates of precontact population range from 20 ,000 to 40,000. From the late eighteenth c...

Ngày tải lên: 02/07/2014, 17:20

... to houses and canoes. The bamboo flute and Jew's harp were used in court- ship, and dancing to hand drums accompanied feasting. Many of the dance songs translated by Fortune are remark- able for their pathos and poetic beauty. Medicine. Illness is almost invariably attributed to sorcery, witchcraft, or the breach of taboo; curing involves the settle- ment of grievances. Ginger is t...

Ngày tải lên: 02/07/2014, 17:20

... 54 Easter Island. sweet potatoes being the most important. Taro, yams, sugar- cane, bananas, gourds, turmeric, and arrowroot were also grown while berries and seabird eggs were gathered. Fish pro- vided some protein, although fishing was never a major sub- sistence activity. Easter Islanders continue to farm small plots today, although maize is now the major crop and Chilean cui- sine has rep...

Ngày tải lên: 02/07/2014, 17:20

... is mutually understandable with Wallisian but distinct from West Futunan, and it has some close cognates with Samoan. French is now spoken by some of the younger Futunans, particularly those living in New Caledonia. History and Cultural Relations Occupation of Futuna has been documented for about 3,000 years, divided into three periods: Kele Uli, Kele Mea, and Kele Ula. Lapita-associated...

Ngày tải lên: 02/07/2014, 17:20

... a pig. It is not unusual, however, for a childless man to adopt one of his sister's sons. Kinship Terminology. Mailu employ a system of classifi- catory terms for all relatives of previous generations (i.e., grandparents, parents, uncles, and aunts) in order to get around the taboo of using personal names when speaking of or directly addressing these relatives. These terms mark...

Ngày tải lên: 02/07/2014, 17:20

... the Eastern Highlands." In Gods, Ghosts, and Men in Melanesia, edited by Peter Lawrence and Mervyn J. Meggitt, 5 0-7 7. New York: Oxford University Press. Sio ETHNONYMS: Sigaba, Sigawa Orientation Identification. "Sio" is the name of a Papua New Guinea people, of their group of four villages, and of their language (also spoken in Nambariwa, a small coastal village to...

Ngày tải lên: 02/07/2014, 17:20

... the region. Most of these people lived in small hamlets on small islands or atolls, with sociopolitical organization based on the control of land, which was usually vested in matrilineal descent groups. Systems of hereditary ranking and stratification were universal, and some island groups were linked in extensive empires. Overseas trading, using single-outrigger canoes, was also a feat...

Ngày tải lên: 02/07/2014, 17:20

... with thick secondary vegetation; virgin forest has almost completely disappeared due to shifting cul- tivation and to the high population density that was also re- sponsible in former days for many fights and wars over land. Demography. The Abelam number over 40,000. Parts of the Abelam territory range, with 70 persons per square kilo- meter, are among the most densely populated areas in Pa...

Ngày tải lên: 02/07/2014, 17:20

... a ma- jority of elected members plus the ariki (highest-level chiefs) ex officio. These island councils derive almost all their funds from the central government and have limited powers and functions. There is a 'House of Ariki" to which all ariki be- long, but it usually meets only once a year and sometimes not for several years. Its functions are advisory and ceremonial, and i...

Ngày tải lên: 02/07/2014, 17:20