2.17 First light of day appears over the forest canopy. Large trees are home to many Gebusi spirits. |
2.26 A severely ill man is bed-ridden. He is believed to be suffering from sorcery. Severe illness and death can strike Gebusi at any stage of life. |
3.16 A memorial constructed atop Daguwa’s grave, including coconuts and other food for his spirit to eat and new bags that his female kin had recently made to give to him. |
4.2 Sorcery case: Halia, an initiate who died eleven days after the male initiation. The medical reason for Halia’s death is unknown, but it is possible that he died from a ruptured spleen that had become enlarged due to malaria. Gebusi believed Halia’s death was caused by parcel sorcery (bogay). |
4.3 Sorcery case: Tosipi, an elderly widow of Yibihilu and Yuway’s father’s sister. Tosipi was accused by Swiman’s spirits of killing Halia through parcel sorcery (bogay). Since Halia’s brother, Salip, had previously married and then divorced Tosipi’s daughter, the old woman was implicitly thought to have resented the failed marriage and taken revenge by killing Salip’s brother through sorcery. |
4.4 Sorcery case: Tosipi is forced to cook a divination sago. A fish placed inside the large mound of wet sago and wrapped with leaves must be fully cooked to prove Tosipi’s innocence. In the photo, Tosipi is tending the fires, but it is very difficult to ensure a positive result. The suspect can also be found guilty if the sago or the fish inside are overcooked. |
4.5 Sorcery case: Tosipi’s divination sago is cooked using an unusual low-heat method in which heat is supplied by peripheral fires and only a few cooking stones on top of the packet. The packet is cooked on Halia’s hearth – the hearth of the person that the sorcerer is accused of having killed. Villagers said that the warm hands of Halia’s deceased spirit would add heat to cook Tosipi’s packet if he wanted to “accept” the food and indicate that she was innocent of sorcery. To indicate her guilt, his spirit was believed to withdraw its warm hands – thus leaving the packet undercooked. |
4.8 Sorcery case: Tosipi extends a piece of divination sago to Halia’s surviving brother, Salip, to eat. If Salip choked on or vomited the food, it would have indicated Tosipi’s guilt. |
5.6 Male mentorship: A man carefully adjusts the waistband of an initiate |
5.7 Male Gebusi dancer in standard spirit costume. The upper body decorations are those of upper world spirits, especially birds and the possum (which lives in trees). Lower world spirits are indicated on the lower body by the crocodile-mouth drum and crayfish claw rattle at the rear of the costume. During the dance, the crayfish rattle clacks and bounces; this is said to be like the tail of a fish as it cascades over rapids in the river. In all, the dancer symbolizes the totality and harmony of the Gebusi spirit world. |
6.10 Union of human and spiritual beauty: Yuway stands humbly in his completed red bird-of-paradise initiation costume |
6.11 Ultimate splendor: The six male initiates of Yibihilu line up for public presentation in matching costumes. Collectively, their costume elements, which have been given by a wide range of persons, link the initiates with a wide range of Gebusi settlements. In their costumes, the initiates are also linked with spirits and with each other as initiation-mates. |
