User:Muaur'tsci

Muaur'tsci
The Muaur'tsci people are found in Papua New Guinea, amongst the deep bowels of the forest. They tend to live in small villages of one hundred - two hundred and fifty people, scattered within close proximity of each other. They speak a foreign tongue called Muaurisck that contains over two hundred words and phrases for certain actions or objects.

The primitive tribe was first discovered in 2003, by anthropologists David G. Mapplethorpe and Susan Jardine that happened to stumble on the area almost completely by accident. They were amazed to find that the Muaur'tsci had never seen a white person before, let alone many of the simple equipment the two anthropologists had with them, such as laptop computers and digital cameras. After spending almost nine months amongst the Muaur'tsci, Mapplethorpe and Jardine returned with their findings triumphantly.

The Muaur'tsci are simple people. Most of their everyday life tends to be filled with gardening, hunting, chewing tobacco, or gossipping. Both gardening and hunting are important aspects of their lives as it involves the catching or cultivating of foodstuffs. The tribe's diet revolves mainly around sweet potato and whatever game can be caught from the surrounding jungle - it is a rare feat when a large or sacred animal is caught, usually celebrated by a feast, called a lumya. This feast involves the roasting of the animal, followed by singing and dancing to praise the captured animal. The catching of a sacred animal is also seen as good luck, particularly for any crops that may be growing.

There are quite a few major ceremonies or rituals that the Muaur'tsci people comply to. The most obvious ones are Icchiteng't'uh and Icchiteng't'eh, meaning literally dry festival and wet festival. There is approximately a six - eight month space between the festivals, and the date of the festivals is ultimately determined by the shaman of the village, although other factors such as moon placing and rhujsers (spirits) have some, if not significant, influence. Both festivals go for roughly nine days, although Icchiteng't'eh tends to run for longer, sometimes even up to twelve days. However, both festivals are run virtually the same way - select males are chosen to inhale a secret powder called neb which is, in fact, a hallucinogenic. This powder often influences a trance, enabling the person in question to stay 'high' for many hours at a time. This is important, as the males chosen to inhale the neb are expected to dance in the village square for days without any other consumptive substances, save for the drug. Meanwhile, the rest of the village compile elaborate offerings, which they then burn in a bonfire on the last night of the festival as an offering to their god, Bog. Every other night is filled with trancelike dancing from dusk to dawn, accompanied by a slow and steady drum beat to keep time. There is no other sound save for the drum beat - singing is done in the day, usually between the hours of twelve and four. The reason that the nighttime dancing does not allow singing is because the Muaur'tsci believe that any singing will anger Bog, who is trying to sleep. The drum beat and the dancing is thought to make him drift off to sleep. However, during each festival, a different song is sung every afternoon. This is so that Bog will not lose interest in his subjects, and therefore at the end of the festival (when the offerings are given) he will be so enthralled and interested that he will give the tribe his blessings and luck. There is also an idea that if the festival is not carried out, he will get angry and direct his anger at the tribe in question, causing their crops to die and their wives to become infertile.

Other ceremonies or rituals that are carried also include the rites of passage for a young male turning thirteen, otherwise known as ttha'theh. The boy is given a small dose of neb, and then his nose is pierced through the cartilege by a sharpened spear or knife. His leg and foot hair is also shaved, save for a circle around his ankle that can be likened to a anklet, except made out of hair urwaka. If the boy does not have hairy ankles, he is assumed to be impotent and spends much of his adult life as a bachelor. Interestingly, many Muaur'tsci shamans have a lack of urwaka.

The Muaur'tsci people tend to dress simply. The male will wear a skirt made out of leaves and bands at the wrists, usually made out of organic materials. The hair will be styled in such a way that the bulk of the hair is gathered in a ponytail at the top of the head (a pinadd) with bangs covering the forehead. The male will also have a ring looped between the nostrils, and also urwaka. Both of these accessories are seen as a sign of masculinity, and the bigger the ring or the hairier the ankles, the more respect is shown. Females tend to dress similiarly, also with a leaf skirt and a pinadd. However, once a female gets married, her ear is pierced and she is given a hoop. A similiar concept works here, in that the more respect a female is given, a bigger hoop earring is worn.

In Muaur'tsci culture, males are seen as much more important than females. A young girl is usually given away to marriage by the age of thirteen, as it is thought of that by the time she reaches puberty, she is fertile and ready to have children. Children are important to Muaur'tsci men, as it is seen as the more children a man has had by his wife, the more productive he will seem, and therefore he will be very respected, as compared to a man that cannot get his wife pregnant. However, Muaur'tsci men are allowed to take as many wives as they like, provided he has the permission of the village's chief.

Magic also plays an important role in everyday life. Almost everything that is blamed on magic, within reason. Say a Muaur'tsci village man stubs his toe, or breaks his arm by tripping on a tree root. His reasoning will be that this was caused by magic of some kind - perhaps by a curse, or bad shovovsh (a source of karma) reflecting back upon him. The Muaur'tsci people seem to almost take glee in blaming unfortunate incidents on shovovsh, using this excuse as many times as they can. However, magic also has its bad side. Magic is often used on one's enemies, usually in the form of a ffranung, or poppet. The ffranung is planted in the garden or general proximity of the victim. It is generally made from leaf or material (sometimes even an article of the victim's clothing) and something personal of the victim, like a strand of hair. The aim of the poppet is to weaken the victim with bad magic until eventually he or she dies. However, the effect of the ffranung can usually be counteracted by the village shaman, who can combat the bad magic with his rhujser. But this only works some of the time, and only if the victim realises that he or she is cursed at an early stage.