Note 22 — Chapter V · THE INTERPRETATION OF ANDAMANESE CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS: CEREMONIAL (continued 2)

I have said that the Andamanese believe that by death a man or woman becomes a Lau, but there is a little uncertainty in the statements of the natives as to whether he becomes a spirit at once, immediately after the death, or whether he does so only after the flesh of the body has decayed. Both statements are sometimes made, but it seems common to think of the dead person during the period of mourning not as a spirit (Lau) but as a dead man (empilo). We may best express the ideas of the natives by saying that the process by which a man becomes a spirit is one that takes some months to complete, and is only ended when the bones are dug up. An interesting insight into their notions in this matter is afforded by a belief, about which unfortunately I have very scanty information, to the effect that when a man dies he is initiated into the world of the dead by a ceremony resembling the ceremonies by which a youth is initiated into manhood. In the statement of an Aka-Kede informant the ceremony was spoken of by the term kimil, which is generally used for the initiation ceremonies, and was described as a po̱ro̱to-kimil, i.e., a ceremony in which the dead man ate po̱ro̱to (Caryota sobolifera) in just the same way that a youth eats turtle (čokbi) at the čokbi-kimil. There is independent evidence that there is a special connection between the spirits of the dead and the Caryota palm22.