CHAPTER VI - INTICHIUMA CEREMONIES

Summary

The name Intichiuma is applied to certain sacred ceremonies associated with the totems, and the object of which is to secure the increase of the animal or plant which gives its name to the totem. These ceremonies are perhaps the most important of any, and it does not seem possible to discover when and how they arose. The natives have no tradition which deals with their origin.

In connection with them we may note an interesting feature with regard to the relationship existing between an individual of the Arunta and other tribes in the centre of the continent and his totemic animal or plant. We find amongst these tribes no restriction according to which a man is forbidden to eat his totem, as is stated to be the case amongst certain other Australian tribes. On the other hand, though he may only under ordinary circumstances eat very sparingly of it, there are certain special occasions on which he is, we may say, obliged by custom to eat a small portion of it or otherwise the supply would fail. These occasions are those on which the Intichiuma ceremonies now to be described are performed. Further still, the lead in the ceremony must be taken by the Alatunja, and when we asked the Alatunja of the witchetty grub totem why he ate his totem, which is always regarded by the native as just the same as himself, the reply was that unless he did eat a little, he would not be able to perform properly the ceremony of Intichiuma.