Other Rites

Several unusual ceremonies punctuated the lives of a few individuals in the Buguias community. If a couple could not reproduce they would perform fertility rites; if these failed, divorce was the usual recourse. (In the disjoining ritual the couple's hog-feeding trough would be split in two while a single animal was sacrificed.) Individuals sometimes tried to hide from bad luck by changing their names, and this too called for specific rituals and sacrifices.

Overall, ritual practices were not rigidly fixed; requirements were flexible, with specific actions negotiated by celebrants, elders, and ritual experts. Moreover, innovation and borrowings from neighboring peoples brought ever greater complexity. While some rituals remained specific to a single family, change occurred readily in the community at large, for all significant actions took place within a context of shared meanings that was itself open to discussion and debate. But remaining central to the whole was the display of status during all major ritual occasions.