#34 - Puripuri. Black Magic in the Islands

#34- Puripuri

Today's post is the subtext of a conversation I have been having with some colleagues, and Islanders over the last few days.  It is a topic that I do not fully grasp, nor can I discount the claims that are made.  I will state two things:
The first is that the following post is sensitive, and of a cultural and spiritual nature,
second, that the comments I make are heresay, and personal stories from many colleagues in the Torres, and whilst, with my Christian faith, I struggle to understand these stories, I neither refute them, or accept them as fact.

Puripuri, Mai , or Black magic (sorcery) is practiced across the Torres and PNG in many many communities.  The central focus is a Puripuri man who is a local villager, is believed by many to have powers to place curses on people and objects, eg rocks, places, plants and trees.   For a person to go to or touch those items, may cause a curse to be attached to that person.  If a family member is wronged by someone, Puripuri curses can be placed on that person, and the result can be sickness or the death of the cursed individual.  It is believed that breaking cultural taboos may cause curses or spells cast by puripuri men that have long since deceased, to affect that person, members of their families or their future descendants.

The practice of this is quiet, yet widely practiced in the islands.  To walk along a street on the island, you might notice yard decorations, or statures, a\that at first resemble garden ornaments, but are actually blessed items that protect the house or it's occupants from bad puripuri.  Occasionally a vehicle or a home could be seen with water bottles dotted around it, as a method to protect the driver or home owner from bad puripuri.  It is believed that a Shaman or puripuri man can mind speak to others and place thoughts, and guide actions on others. 

It is understood that puripuri can be good or bad.  Good puripuri curses are placed to attract successful fishing, hunting or harvest.  Good puripuri men can be sought to offer the lifting of a curse causing sickness.  These good puripuri men or medicine men, may also prepare poultices, concoctions or prescribe local naturally found plants, animals as medicine or potions.

One of the most startling things is that on these islands, there is a strong Christian following, which stems from the arrival in the 1800s of the London Missionary Society, bringing the Gospel to what was then a warrior based society on the islands.  Yet intermingled with their christian practices, and faith that has islanders believing in God and Jesus and the message of the Gospel, these black magic beliefs are also entrenched in the culture.  On nearby Murray Island there was recently an SBS special that records the local Bishop discussing Mai (puripuri) which to me is strange.  To hear a Christian leader discussing how he might use black magic to cause the death of another person is something I struggle to comprehend.
 http://tradmed.atsiphj.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=70:black-magic-in-torres-strait&catid=42:resources&Itemid=60

In our health centre, the occasional presentation of an islander with a condition resistant to treatment, night go away to see the island medicine man, have their curse lifted, and return to the clinic to get "conventional" medicine to "finish off the healing".  The remarkable thing is that the patient miraculously does get better.  Staff that I am and have worked with discuss this phenomenon quite openly, and I find it intriguing to say the least.

I was out in the car with a health worker yesterday, and enquired as to why the patch of land on the other side of the airstrip was uninhabited.  It has magnificent views of the coral reefs and further islands, and would be an idyllic spot for a village.  The health worker told me that that was a bad place where bad things happened and bad spirits live, and to go there would bring sickness.  This is a working example of bad Puripuri, and just how effective it is.  She wouldn't elaborate any further, but I could see that even talking about it was making her feel very uncomfortable.  One young bloke I asked about black magic, mentioned that it (curses) are contagious like diseases.  If you talk to the wrong people or drink with the wrong people, then you can be affected.

Certain clothes, artifacts, weapons, masks and objects are used in black magic ceremonies, including puripuri which can be used as part of island feasting, initiation ceremonies and other traditional gatherings.  The practice is covert.  It is just under the surface of what looks like a happy culture, and community, yet mention puripuri, and any islander will be able to share a personal story of the practice of black magic, either good or bad.  One bloke commented ..."it is all around us, and it is real, like a tree, you can touch it!"

Today was another of those Wow moment days, where I learn yet another lesson about this amazing rich culture.  I love this education, and I am ever thankful to the locals who take time to teach me their language and ways.  I am not ready to put on a grass skirt and learn to dance just yet, but who knows.  Perhaps a puripuri man might just get in my head and influence me in that regard!!

Tomorrow I am on call again, and will hang around the unit and clinic.  I have a few patients to review, and a sick little 6 year old girl to fly out.  The wont come and get her tonight, so we do IV antibiotics on her till the morning, and fly her to down Thursday Island at Midday.  So Im hoping for a quiet day...You will no doubt, be informed either way as I continue my blogs
.....from .....over the top.