ANTA02H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Coconut Oil
Document Summary
Chapter 2: death and the work of mourning. Uwelasi was an old but powerful chief who was ill for several weeks. Before his death, they washed his body and dressed him in the tradition white pandanus penis covering. They rubbed his skin with coconut oil and aromatic grasses were tucked into his armbands. They painted his face and the traditional silver of polished shell (mark of death) was inserted through the tiny holes in his nose made when he was a child. White cowrie-shell decorations (mark of chiefly rank) was tied around his legs, waist, forehead, and the red shell necklace (young people wear) was around his neck. Internally he was dying, outwardly symbolically young and chiefly past seductiveness and fame. Most deaths are considered to be a result of sorcery into the victim"s betel nuts, natural death is only when one is old and dies while asleep.
