The Konta live on the coast, and have a complex ritual for catching sharks. The ritual needs to be performed correctly, or their god Moroa does not help, and you run the risk of getting eaten. The ritual is a metaphor for good (the hunter) triumphing over evil (the shark).
The day and night before heading out the hunter must sleep alone, eat no pork, and take care not to tread in pig or flying fox dung. He then heads out (usually alone) in an outrigger canoe.
First stop is the reef where he catches a bait fish. Next he must attract a shark. First he spears the reef and/or drops magic stones, to waken shark spirits. A magic song must be chanted whilst doing this. He then paddles out beyond the reef, and calls the wakened sharks by splashing the water with his paddle, and rattling a special rattle made of coconut shells. If the ritual has been properly performed, then the shark comes willingly, prepared to be caught. If not, then the shark will attack the canoe, and the hunter may be killed.
When the shark(s) arrive, the hunter uses the bait fish to lure the shark into swimming through a noose made of vine. The noose is attached to a large propeller shaped wooded float. When noosed the hunter can, if the shark is small enough (6 foot!), pull it partly out of the water and club it to death (bloody impressive). Otherwise, with the float firmly attached, the shark can't do much more than swim in circles while our hunter furiously clubs it over the head (still pretty impressive).
Having caught the shark, there are strict rules about who gets which bit. The hunter gets the liver and heart, the men's house gets the fin etc. And the uneaten bits must be properly disposed of.
Interestingly, there was a story/myth about why they use the propeller shaped float. An early hero tried catching a shark with just a noose. He had to tie the noose to his hands, but this resulted in his being dragged over the side by the shark. He only escaped when he found a sharp shell on the sea floor, which he used to cut the noose.
Also of interest, it was believed that one man in the village was the proper source of the magic used to call and catch sharks. He had recently died without a son, and that magic had been lost. They still catch sharks, but this is very much under threat from Christian evangelists, who can't cope with the explicit homage to Moroa involved. I took this belief - that their magic (or part of it) had died with this chap - as a rationalisation for why their traditional way of life was falling apart.
Final observation, on the role of beer. Despite being manifestly introduced, beer was seen by the men as helping them get in touch with their tradition, and thus a good thing. Of course, the impression given was more one of escaping from their current uncertain situation into drunken oblivion.
Obligatory Gloranthan note. Similar to the beer, I think hazia would play a much more important role in Prax than it does at present. Many men would come to Pavis and trade hides for hazia, while their wives scream at them for not getting new knives, needles, medicines etc. However, the men know that hazia takes them closer to the spirit plane, enabling easy communication with their gods, which must be a good thing...
Cheers
Owen Jones
Centre for Maths and its Applications, School of Math. Sciences
Australian National University, ACT 0200
Ph +61 6 249 2897 (office) 249 4552 (direct) Fax +61 6 249 4675
Web page http://wwwmaths.anu.edu.au/~oj/
End of Glorantha Digest V4 #504
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