Seram, Pipina Calls Deer, 2006
Seram, Pipina Calls Deer, 2006 - On my third venture into the rain forests of Seram, I heard about Pipina. Her brother, Hatu Upu, had died two years earlier. i traveled ten hours on foot from Manusela to meet her. On the way, I felt as if she was aware that I was coming. I asked myself, "Does that mean she had died and it is her spirit that is aware of me?" Half way to Kanikeh, in Sulamena, a young man told us she'd died. But when I got to Kanikeh, It so happened that she was in Kanikeh. She told me she had dreamt of my arrival. The next day, we met her at her 'rumah gantung', or raised house, about an hour away in the direction of Mount Binaya. She took me to her brother's grave and spoke to him and introduced me to his spirit. Hatu Upu could not speak back, she said, as he was dead. He could only respond to her in her dreams. Hatu Upu was renown for his ability to call deer and pigs. She said she could also. When I asked her to do so, she said the deer would not come because I was there. I asked her to do so anyway. About ten minutes later, I heard what must have been a deer not far off, stepping on dried bamboo. One of my guides, Edi, heard another deer off in the opposite direction. Deer droppings all over her garden evidenced that deer often frequented her house.
- Nation: Indonesia
- ISO Province: Indonesia, Maluku
- TCC Country: Moluka
- Place: Seram
- Year: 2006
- File name: Seram,PipinaCallsDeer,2006,IMG_0005.jpg
- Categories: Islands, New to Show, Tribal People
- Photo upload size: 3200×4800
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