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CHAPTER VIII - INITIATION CEREMONIES (continued)—THE ENGWURA CEREMONY

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2011

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Summary

The Engwura, or, as it is called in some parts of the tribe, Urumpilla, is in reality a long series of ceremonies concerned with the totems, and terminating in what may be best described as ordeals by fire, which form the last of the initiatory ceremonies. After the native has passed through these he becomes what is called Urliara, that is, a perfectly developed member of the tribe. We cannot fully translate the meaning of either term, but each of them is formed, in part, of the word ura, which means fire. The natives themselves say that the ceremony has the effect of strengthening all who pass through it. It imparts courage and wisdom, makes the men more kindly natured and less apt to quarrel; in short, it makes them ertwa murra oknirra, words which respectively mean “man, good, great or very,” the word good being, of course, used with the meaning attached to it by the native. Evidently the main objects of it are, firstly, to bring the young men under the control of the old men, whose commands they have to obey implicitly; secondly, to teach them habits of self-restraint and hardihood; and thirdly, to show to the younger men who have arrived at mature age, the sacred secrets of the tribe which are concerned with the Churinga and the totems with which they are associated.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010
First published in: 1899

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