The book ends with a remarkable story from the island of Nus Tarian, which, at the time he visited, received very few travellers. The story describes his meeting with Tia, a young girl who had special powers, as many young girls have been known to have before their menarche. She was a loner, as many feared and misunderstood her. She saved a man from certain death, and when an elder of the village died in a fishing expedition, she brought him back to life. She was a remarkable dancer, lithe and subtle. She had clashed on several occasions with the Imam who was a friend of her father, but even her father could not control her gifts. The Imam wanted to send the girl from the village but her powerful father was too insistent she stay, however, after one particular confrontation, she fled and as she did so, the mosque caught fire. As harvest time arrived, there was a traditional celebration of the rice where nine aspects of a harvest rite were to take place.
Everyone was involved in the preparations of food, drink and costumes. The last part is where the Goddess of the Rice appears in a mask of palm fronds. Of course, the day went ahead, despite the high wind and forecast for a storm. Who appeared in the circle in the role of the Goddess but a tiny masked girl - it was Tia. The women uttered their high pitched ululations, a 'cry that could put fire into the blood of a dead man'.
There were stipulated, 24 movements of the head, four attitudes of the neck, six shapes of the eye brows, twenty four expressions of the eyes, fifty seven positions of the hands. Tia remarkably conducted each with trance like accuracy and creative ability. She danced the suffering of hate, cruelty and intolerance, and lastly indifference! And then she broke all the laws of the traditional ritual dance by transcending the formal technique. There was a lull in the proceedings for her to give gifts to the dancers. When it came to her receiving her gift, the Imam threw her gift to the floor. He ripped off her mask and raised his hand as if to hit her. But he stopped... and instead of hitting Tia, he took his finger tips to his face, and proceeded to rip out one of his eyes which he placed in her hands. She raised it in the air and placed it carefully in the centre of the sacred space. Tia had not completed the rite that would guarantee a good harvest for the following year, and she attempted to return to her dance but was broken into tears and finally collapsed! Her energy and magic had gone from her. This was extremely serious for all the village as the ritual must be completed. Everyone turned to each other, not knowing who was at fault to have caused this curse on their lives. Then into the circle came a female form, who was this amazing young dancer? Everyone was surprised that she knew the complexity of the ritual dance which she carried out to perfection. It was Ibu Suri, an old woman who remembered the dance from when she was a girl as young as Tia. She completed the harvest ritual dance so the village would have safety for the coming year. It ended just as the thunder clapped and the rains came down.
The storm raged for three days. Lyall Watson did not stay in the village following that harvest rite. He searched the entire island for Tia and no-one would say what had become of her. He was worried and concerned as the people were saying she was a witch. As he was leaving, he went down to the water's edge where he saw Ganti, the charcoal burner's young daughter, hardly four years old. She was playing in the sea foam, and further out in the water he could see the lumba-lumba - dolphins known as 'spinning and dancing' dolphins that he realised where the inspiration originated for the ritual dance.
Written by Wendy Stokes
No comments:
Post a Comment