article
Lyric verse and ritual in the Santa Cruz Islands
Expedition • 18 (1) • Published In 1975 • Pages: 39-47
By: Davenport, William H..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This article describes the lyric verse of Santa Cruz Island which is embedded in an extensive ritual petition to the deities. 'The ritual events are at the same time the most enjoyed social celebration for humans. Taken together, all parts of the ritual portray a total picture of Santa Cruz Society. The participants are divided into three groups: the costumed imitators of the deities who lead and exert supernatural power over humans; the mature men who control secular power over the human sector; the women and children who support the men and the deities. The three are merged into a single body that performs the endless imitative round of social life. Some lyrics acknowledge the separate ways and powers ot the deities, but the bulk of the lyric repertoire extolls the values of everday human existence: the quest for wealth and prestige, defense of life and property, occupations and hazards, loves and frustrations, mysteries and banalities' (p. 47).
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Music
- Dance
- Organized ceremonial
- Texts translated into english
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Santa Cruz Islanders
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2003
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Oceania
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Melanesia
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- John Beierle ; 2001
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1959-1960, 1974
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- not specified
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Santa Cruz Islands, Solomon Islands
- NotesAdditional notes
- William Davenport
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 47)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 66096352
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Santa Cruz Islands (Solomon Islands)