Ongkas Big Moka
Ongka's Case: His moka as the culmination of feasts ending a particularly bitter war
Lessons from the Film:
*Illustrates the Big Man as hero but also as persuader, not commander
*Complexity of competitive feasting, rival Big Men on all sides
*The guests are not transformed, they remain enemies or rivals
*The huge quantities of goods given away – does it seem strange to you?
*Both redistribution and balanced leading to negative reciprocity here.
General Notes:
*Headmen can only persuade, not order people around. If he pushes too hard, people will not go along with him.
*Ongka lives in the men's house which is communal. He has 4 wives and 9 children. Each wife has her own residence in which she lives with her children.
*Cassowary – birds captured in the forest – given in Moka much like the Chinese give pandas to foreign dignitaries
*Sweet potatoes are the food of humans and pigs. Food/shelter/clothes/tools come from the gardens and the forest, but to get ahead in life, one must have pigs.
*Only 8-10 full grown pigs can be taken care of at a time. so, one must invest in other people's pigs to gather together enough for a Moka.
*Ongka's great skill is his speech-making abilities. He also has $1800 Australian dollars in a Mt. Hagen Savings Bank from the sale of coffee that comes from the mountains and the Kawelka.
*Dressing up for Ongka meant to put on traditional garments, Bird of Paradise feathers, Cassowary feathers, etc.
*What do they need money for? False teeth; transportation services; some clothes
*Before the Moka, Ongka found an extra wife just because of her capacity for work to help Rumbicore with the pigs for the final Moka.
*Riema upset the date for the Moka by saying that he and his group had done sorcery on a neighboring headman that caused him to die suddenly. Some of his pigs were killed and he had to go into hiding.
The Moka finally happened and included: Ongka says it is the biggest Moka ever given. Perua said
600
Lessons from the Film:
*Illustrates the Big Man as hero but also as persuader, not commander
*Complexity of competitive feasting, rival Big Men on all sides
*The guests are not transformed, they remain enemies or rivals
*The huge quantities of goods given away – does it seem strange to you?
*Both redistribution and balanced leading to negative reciprocity here.
General Notes:
*Headmen can only persuade, not order people around. If he pushes too hard, people will not go along with him.
*Ongka lives in the men's house which is communal. He has 4 wives and 9 children. Each wife has her own residence in which she lives with her children.
*Cassowary – birds captured in the forest – given in Moka much like the Chinese give pandas to foreign dignitaries
*Sweet potatoes are the food of humans and pigs. Food/shelter/clothes/tools come from the gardens and the forest, but to get ahead in life, one must have pigs.
*Only 8-10 full grown pigs can be taken care of at a time. so, one must invest in other people's pigs to gather together enough for a Moka.
*Ongka's great skill is his speech-making abilities. He also has $1800 Australian dollars in a Mt. Hagen Savings Bank from the sale of coffee that comes from the mountains and the Kawelka.
*Dressing up for Ongka meant to put on traditional garments, Bird of Paradise feathers, Cassowary feathers, etc.
*What do they need money for? False teeth; transportation services; some clothes
*Before the Moka, Ongka found an extra wife just because of her capacity for work to help Rumbicore with the pigs for the final Moka.
*Riema upset the date for the Moka by saying that he and his group had done sorcery on a neighboring headman that caused him to die suddenly. Some of his pigs were killed and he had to go into hiding.
The Moka finally happened and included: Ongka says it is the biggest Moka ever given. Perua said
600