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THE NALAWAN SOCIETY 393
day. The proceedings are fundamentally the same in every
Nahiwam, from Naainggol upwards.“ In the morning when the
visitors arrive the nimbumbal, the characteristic dance of the
Nalawan, is begun, and continues until early afternoon. ~At
some time toward its close each introducer presents his candidate
with a coco-nut which symbolizes the pig which he is about to
give him. This is quickly followed by the actual pig-giving.
After this the candidate is invested ritually with a pig's tusk
armlet (and in the higher grades with one of turtle-shell as well).
The evening closes with another dance, during which the
introducers, with their assistants, and later the candidates,
dance with torches. This is done during the early part of the
night, after which a very sacred rite called mbwirmbwir takes
place, the central theme of which is the blowing of the temes
naainggol. On the following day the men all don their‘Nalau/om
masks and decorations and perform the ceremony of ‘H’ stoning â€ù
or " shooting at " the N alawkm structure which has been erected
in the dancing ground. Then the candidate purchases from
his introducer a feather of the mzmbal hawk, the symbol of
membership of all N alawan grades, and ï¬Ånally two men, members
of the grade whose ritual is being performed, break a conch
against a pig’s forehead and s/rflasequently kill the animal with a
spear. The candidate then eceives his new title which declares
him a member of the grade,(s.ild the ghosts, which are believed
to have been present throughout are dismissed by the litamats
ceremony. This last act is omitted when entering the N aainggol,
but is included at entrance to all the grades above this. There
is some question as to the true position of the litamate rite.
Some informants placed it after the assumption of the mzmbal
feather and immediately before the breaking of the conch and
the pig-spearing, but in the rites of N alaze/an Vinbamp it certainly
closes the proceedings, and Tota. maintained that it was always
the last ceremony. According to him it is the setting to rest
of the temes who have been active during the whole of the N alawan
performance, and therefore can only take place when everything
is ï¬Ånished. After litamaie “ it is peace" and nothing more
can be done.
One “cannot but be struck by the close similarity of these
rites with those which have already‘ been described as
characteristic of all Nimamgki grades other than the Black