Weeping rituals

Among the most important rituals practised by the Andaman Islanders on the occasion of different ceremonies are the weeping rituals. As has been already pointed out as a rule, when the same ritual is observed on the occasions of very many different ceremonies, its function in all these ceremonies should be interpreted as identical.

In the words of Brown, “The weeping and exchange of presents when friends come together is a means of renewing their feelings of attachment to one another. The weeping at marriage, at initiation and on the occasion of a death is a reaction of defence or compensation when feelings of solidarity are attacked by a partial breaking of the social ties that bind persons to one another. The weeping ritual in the life of Andaman Islanders may be observed on the following occasions.

1. Meeting of friends or relatives after a long time

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In Andaman sometimes people have to go outside the island for a long time. They are away from their friends, family and relatives for a period. Now when they return to the island and meet their friends and relatives they embrace them and weep with uncontrolled joy.

2. Peace making ceremony

Sometimes two individuals or two groups come in conflict due to some powerful emotions. Now after sometime, when any one of the party realises its mistakes, they meet each other, embrace and weep on their mistakes. This weeping, undoubtedly releases tension and increases mutual friendship and attachment.

3. At the end of the mourning period

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Mourning period is a period of some duration beginning from the death of a member of kinship relation. It is supposed that during this period the soul of the dead person lives with the family. Therefore, all the other relatives live away from them. The family also does not take part in social activities. At the end of the mourning period the bereaved family meets the other members of the community and weep together. This renews their social attachment.

4. On the dead body of the family member or relative

People weep on the dead body of the family member due to emotional attachment. As he is no more with them, they express their affection by weeping over the corps. This weeping is obligatory. It is an expression of relationship with the dead person as the body represents the person.

5. Recovery of the bones of the dead person

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Bones represent the dead person. When they are recovered from the grave they are wept over. By this ritual the affection that was once felt towards the dead person is revived and is now directed to the skeletal relics of the man or woman.

6. On the occasion of marriage

On the occasion of marriage there is a lot of weeping. It makes feelings real, in those who take part in it. By it social ties are modified. When the mother of the bride or the bride groom weeps at the marriage she feels that her son or daughter is being taken away from her care. Thus she feels the sorrow of a partial separation. She consoles herself by weeping and expressing her tenderness towards her child. This ritual makes her feel that her child is still an object of her affection and still bound to her in spite of the fact that he or she is being taken away from her.

7. Initiation ceremonies

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At various stages of the initiation ceremonies the female relatives of a youth or girl weep over him or her. The above mentioned explanation of weeping in marriage also holds true at the initiation ceremonies. At every stage of this ceremony the social ties that unite the initiate to these relatives are modified or weakened. Weeping is the means by which the significance of this change is impressed upon those taking part in it. For the mother it expresses her resignation at her necessary loss. It acts as a consolation by making her feel that her son is still her’s though now being drawn from her care.

Importance of Weeping Rituals

The above mentioned different types of occasions for weeping have different value. According to Radcliffe Brown, “In the first three instances enumerated above the rite is reciprocal, i.e. two persons or two distinct groups of persons weep together and embrace each other, both parties to the rite being active.

In the other four instances it is one-side; a person or group of persons weeps over another person (or the relics of a person) who has only a passive part in the ceremony. Any explanation, to be satisfactory, must take account of the difference between these two varieties.” Mourning expresses attachment which is very important in the domestic life of Andaman Islanders. The purpose of weeping rituals is to affirm the existence of a social bond between two or more persons.

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The weeping rite is the affirmation of social bond. This is expressed in the embrace and weeping of the persons meeting each other after a long time. Weeping is an expression of tender emotion.

The embrace awakens the feeling of affection or friendship. In peace making ceremony weeping follows renewal of the friendship. It is an affirmation of social solidarity. Radcliffe Brown has summed up the explanation of weeping rituals in these words, “I regard it as being the affirmation of a bond of social solidarity between those taking part in it, and as producing in them a realisation of that bond by arousing the sentiment of attachment.

In some instances the rite therefore serves to renew social relations when they have been interrupted, and in such instances the rite is reciprocal. In others it serves to show the continued existences of the social bond when it is being weakened or modified, as by marriage, initiation or death.

In all instances we may say that the purpose of the rite is to bring about a new state of the affective dispositions that regulate the conduct of persons to one another, either by reviving sentiments that have laid dorment, or producing a recognition of a change in the condition of personal relations.