6 - Moka chains

Summary

‘The ropes of moka hang on men's skin and are entangled there. When they are all straightened out, then the big dance can be held.’

Ru, of Kawelka Kurupmbo group

In preceding chapters I have described group structure in Hagen, sketched the processes of trade which brought valuables into the Hagen area and given an account of the valuables themselves. In this and following chapters I shall take up the analysis of moka activities themselves, setting groups and their big-men into action in co-operation and conflict with each other.

EVENTS LEADING UP TO A MOKA

Many months before a moka prestation can take place, initial arrangements between individual partners must be made. Many partners exchange with each other over a long period, and at each prestation the state of play between them is known and agreed upon. But men contract new partnerships also, and sometimes drop old ones, especially if there has been defaulting on one side or the other. Before a prestation, then, each prospective donor reviews his partnerships and renews his specific arrangements with each partner. The recipients-to-be make initiatory gifts of shells, pigs, and legs of pork (kin polpek, kng pek, kng timb) to the donors.

Initiatory gifts are made either individually and in private at different times (within a certain period of time), or in concert at a single time. Where moka gifts are to pass through a chain sequence it is more likely that initiatory gifts will be concerted.