The Korowai people otherwise known as the tree house people also participate in ritual/mortuary cannibalism. These people living in the jungles of indonesia are not aware of the diseases that run rapid through the jungles and mysterious deaths are often seen to be caused by a khakhua or a evil spirit from the netherworld. When reading this portion of the book the author mentions this evil spirit only inhabits and kills men never women. It rose the question as to why? Why do they believe that this evil spirit can only inhabit and kill men? Another question I had was answered rathe quickly in the book. I proposed the question why are the children not allowed to participate in the feast? the answer was rather simple and spiritual, the answer was that the spirit called the khakhua was to dangerous to enter the body of the child as they were vulnerable. The kororwai do not believe that the khakhua are people thus it is okey to eat the body.

The book among the cannibals By Paul Raffaele talks about several different tribes that still feast on human flesh. The first tribe he talks about is the korowai of new guinea. The tribe are known as the tree house people because they live high in the trees to protect themselves from the evil spirits of the tribe. The author met with several tribe members who revealed the entire tribe are cannibals. they kill and eat those they believe have killed a member of their family. known as khakhua or evil spirt. the korowai believe that when someone dies they have been killed by the khakhua and must be destroyed instantly by being eaten. the khakhua can be anyone in the village or neighboring village. Anyone can become a khakuhua who is said to eat the insides of the person and fill them with ash until they are dead. when asked why they eat human flesh one of the chief elders stated. “Its a way of life, we are meant to eat humans its part of our religion”

The “holy men” of India known as Aghori are said to feast on human flesh from funeral pyres along the gangies river. These holy people believe that in order to reach and seek guidance from shiva and other indian gods they must consume the flesh of those who have died among other things they do which include sexual relations with corpses, spells, etc etc. the Aghori rely heavily on the god shiva to guide them in their ways attempting to break the cycle or reincarnation and achieve transcendence.

Among the cannibals contains the stories of five different cannibals all over the world. this particular chapters happened to deal with the aghoris of indian. these “holy men” live near the ganges river the most holy river in India. These holy men participate in the eating of the flesh of those who are on the funeral pyres. A aghoris the author met by the name of Anil ram baba was asked if they consider themselves cannibals and his response was “We are not cannibals, when they die they are lumps of flesh” he claims its spiritual right to eat the flesh of the dead remarking it tastes like pig and that he had a willing choice to eat human flesh motioning several times to his kapalik “half human skull used to drink whisky” when asked how the aghoris view the meat of the dead Anil stated that it was the divine food of the gods “mama prasad”

Kuru is a form or ritual and mortuary cannibalism practiced in papua new guinea. The family of the deceased will partake in the dismembering and eating of their loved one. they believe that it is so they always have a part of their family with them. Some tribes are aware of the effects of kuru while others seem to not be. Which brings the question if you know the effects of eating the human brain why still do it? Though there is a “ban” of the practice people still participate in the ritual.

This week I will talk about a book called the trembling mountain, It is a first hand account of an anthropologist in Papua New Guinea studying the affects of Kuru on the fore people. Kuru is a neurological disease caused by the eating of human flesh. It causes uncontrollable trembling/shaking affecting the nervous system slowly shutting it down. Causing a loss of movement, speech, motor functions, etc etc. within the community of the Fore they have very strict policies if you will about who is to see someone who is infected with the disease. In the book the Author had to speak with the chief of the tribe in the area he was in and then with the family and the chief again of course in the native language of pidgin then they were given permission to view the “patient” several of the people he examined died shortly afterwards after displaying only the trembling. This raises the question how fast does Kuru kill? does it lie dormant?