The Dani men and women sleep separately in different huts (called honai), the men in one, women and children in another. Due to old traditions, sex is taboo for the women after giving birth, for 2 to 5 years. As a result, the Dani raise fewer but healthier kids since the women’s focus is on babysitting during the first years of the child’s life. This is one reason for the existing polygamy, even though many Dani’s are Christians today. Dani marriage patterns reflect a pervasive moiety structure and a system of polygyny based on bride wealth payments.
All Dani are divided into two exogamous patrilineal divisions, or moieties, named Wida and Waija. Accordingly, a Wida man or woman is forbidden to marry or have sexual relations with Wida member of the opposite sex and must marry into the opposite moiety. Waija people must follow the corresponding rules for their group. Dani men are allowed to marry more than one wife but women are restricted to a single husband. Most multiple marriages involve two or three wives, but one man was recorded as married to nine women. Polygyny among the Dani is based on an unequal age of marriage between the sexes. Dani men are allowed to have as many wives as they can afford. A man should give 4-5 pigs to the girl’s parent he wants to marry. For Dani men, his social status are initiated by the number of wives and pigs he has.
Almost all women are married shortly after puberty and may even perform a wedding ceremony before then, as sexual relations are allowed only several years after the initial rites. Men, however, wait many years after maturity before marriage. The actual exchange of bride payments takes on a complex character spread over a number of transactions between the husband's and wife's family during the course of the marriage. Occasions for exchange include the wedding, at which a girl is dressed in an adult woman's skirt to mark her maturity and sent to her husband's household and the consummation of the marriage, at which the husband is given permission to begin sexual relations with his wife.
When a family member dies, all related females voluntarily cut off part of a finger as a way of showing their grief. This is done using a special cutting tool, after which the severed portion of the finger was burned to ashes, which were then stored in a special place.
The children learn their roles in the tribe by imitating those older than them. For example, the young boys play war, copying the men. The young girls make play farms, and plant seeds after the women. Their duties to the community are clear.
Schwimmer, Brian
1997 Dani Marriage Patterns. Electronic Document,
http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/anthropology/tutor/case_studies/dani/marriage.html,
accessed November 10.
N.d. Dani - Marriage and Family. Electronic Document,
http://www.everyculture.com/Oceania/Dani-Marriage-and-Family.html, accessed November 11.
N.d. The Dani Tribe Papua, Electronic Document,
http://www.papuatravels.com/The_Dani_Tribe_Papua.html, aceesed November 11.
Schwimmer, Brian
1997 Dani Marriage Patterns. Electronic Document,
http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/anthropology/tutor/case_studies/dani/marriage.html,
accessed November 10.
N.d. Dani - Marriage and Family. Electronic Document,
http://www.everyculture.com/Oceania/Dani-Marriage-and-Family.html, accessed November 11.
N.d. The Dani Tribe Papua, Electronic Document,
http://www.papuatravels.com/The_Dani_Tribe_Papua.html, aceesed November 11.
The dynamics of kinship, marriage and family within the Dani tribe are much more complex than I originally expected. I collected research from travel guides, websites focusing on indigenous cultures/ and the blogs of other interested parties. I learned that the Dani tribe is rich with customs and relations that one must look at without ethnocentrism. I was surprised to learn of the tribe's polygamous practices considering that they practice elements of the Christian faith. Learning that sex is taboo for women after giving birth was particularly fascinating and I found that I could understand the logic behind this tradition. I found it remarkable that the Dani exhibited practices similar to cultures that they probably have had no exposure to whatsoever, an example being the tradition of a young girl having a dowry, or five pigs in the case of the Dani tribe. Conducting this research has giving me an opportunity to look at a completely different culture without judgement and ethnocentrism.
ReplyDelete