Native Wisdom and Social Dominance
During a lull in the excitement at fylls, the native D'aan took me aside to import some of his vast wisdom upon me. After sitting down in our section of the temple, 'blessings' in hand, D'aan related the following (translated) insight:
"You see, there are two kinds of people here. First, you have the sitters. They're the ones you see sitting at the tables drinking and talking. Then, you have the dancers. They're the ones up there, dancing. They're tired, you see, but they keep dancing anyways. You know why? Because the people want them too. The sitters want them to. That is why they dance."
I would have attempted to glean more Waterlooian wisdom from the venerable D'aan, but his 'blessing' had become depleted and he was obligated to replace it lest he be hounded by the others for being "empty-handed". This concept of being "empty-handed", or unblessed as I interpret it, appears to be a serious offense in pilgrimages such as these. Interestingly, there seems to be a taboo against being blessed outside the temple. Another myth tells of a group of demons known to the Waterlooians by several names: Kawps, thu'fuzz and Po'leese. They roam the countryside punishing those who dare to carry blessings beyond the walls of the LCBO licensed temples. If caught, a native could expect to be stripped of his or her blessings and might be forced to spend a night in the dungeon known as the dah'runctangk. More than one unwary Waterlooian is said to have fallen prey to these beasts who apparently have nothing better to do on a Friday night. I sure am glad that sort of thing doesn't happen in reality...
Not long after my conversation with D'aan I witnessed an important event which illustrated the social dominance hierarchy of the Waterlooians perfectly. Until this point it had been assumed that the Waterlooians were a mostly egalitarian people with patriarchal tendencies. However, all this changed when, in the corner of our space in the temple, I witnessed Tiki Tonic assert her power over xzeck Daav by firmly grabbing on to his crotch and applying an apparently uncomfortable amount of pressure. A few seconds later, Tiki Gin began grooming and caressing Tiki Tonic in a frantic manner. This interaction deserves a certain amount of attention, as it demonstrates quite vividly some of the intricacies and subtleties of the Waterlooian power structure. As for the 'grabbing', I believe it to be a benign affirmation of social dominance, a reminder if you will. Daav seemed particularly attentive (who wouldn't?) after the grab, though did not seem to be in any amount of distress. As a side note, I half expected to see a shoulder tap and mount, but then realized these were humans, not macaques, that I was studying. Tiki Gin's affectionate approach, playface and all, is most likely an attempt by the lower ranked female to gain favour with the higher ranked female and thereby increase her own influence within the society. Maybe humans and macaques are not that different after all. In any case, it was all quite a spectacle and I was pleased to have had the opportunity to witness this manifestation of matriarchal dominance among the Waterlooian people.
Just being present, however, is not sufficient to assure that one will see everything. Somehow I had managed to miss the naming ceremony for Tiki Gin and Tiki Tonic earlier in the evening. Originally they were known as Cheech and Chong, but the xzecks seem to have taken pity on them and given them more traditional names. I do not know how I managed to miss the ceremony, which must have been very subtle in nature. The change caused me little distress though, since I was not aware of their original names during my study. In a related story, Saar'ah has recently been renamed Sanchez.
The Waterlooians were having such a good time at the temple that they decided to forego one of the other temples on the pilgrimage for an extra hour on the trance-floor. Pah'teeflartees was the temple that would be bypassed, which was shame from this ethnographer's point of view. I did not dare object for fear of the boiling pot mentioned in the last entry. Our time at fyllz did eventually come to an end and we soon found ourselves standing outside the temple with bar chair, toaster oven and Rickard's Red sign in hand. By this time the Waterlooians were 'flying high' as one native put it. Some trance-dancing continued outside the temple (see Plate XII). This ethnographer has to admit that the voyage to the next temple, Eythullz, is pretty much a blur. Luckily, that's what notes are for. From what I can extract from my mess that passes for ethnographic notes, the natives and I left fyllz around 11:00 pm and stumbled/ran/rolled down the Path of Kings to the next temple along the pilgrimage route. No totem exchanges would be made this time.
Eythullz has a reputation for being one of the less desirable temples of worship. Its tacky appearance and odd patrons keep the crowds away for the most part. Regardless, it would take more than reputation to keep the Waterlooians away from their divine blessings. I was surprised to discover that Eythullz was not nearly as seedy as I was led to believe. In fact, this ethnographer found the temple quite charming in its own way. Upon entering the temple, the natives immediately made their way to the back of the main room. No seats were to be found at this hour, so the Waterlooians were forced to stand around large wooden tables covered in green fabric. Not long after arriving on the scene I discovered the purpose of these tables to be gaming platforms. Ta'boothaw and Dea'vhon were playing an interesting game on this table which involved hitting a white ball with the end of a wooden stick. From what I could gather, the idea of the game was to avoid contact with any other balls on the table, and after doing so, swear profusely at no one in particular. Both natives were exceptionally good at this game and, consequently, I did not attempt to play a round lest I make a fool of myself. Sometimes, participant observation is just not a good idea. I managed to get a picture of Ta'boothaw using an ingenious tactic called 'The Invisible Cueball' (See Plate VI), which eventually won her the game.
I would like to apologize to those readers whom I have given the impression that the native Waterlooians have a stable, unconfrontational social environment. In fact, the opposite is true. Often individuals quarrel amongst each other akin to something you might expect from second graders. The 'disagreement' at weev'rzahrmz is just one example of the type of hostility common to these people. There is also an identifiable hostility between the sexes, but its source differs with who you ask. I had the opportunity to speak with a few of the native women regarding this issue whilst putting back the odd beverage. Most of what they said I am not permitted to publish at their request. One would think that such unwillingness to get the subject into the open merely ensures the continuity of hostility, but who am I to interfere in such feminine matters? What I am allowed to write is that men are considered to be confusing, irrational, mysterious and, often, inconsiderate. I asked a male native what his thoughts were on the matter and he did not understand how women could think that men were confusing. The following is the quote he gave me shortly before being beaten to death with a Rickard's Red sign by three unidentified female assailants:
"What is there to know about us? All we want is food, drink, sports, sex and sleep; preferably in that order. Hell, we'll take only the last two. Everything else is just details. Aaaaarrrrrgh!!!!"
The vicious cycle continues....
End Part IV