Technicians of The Sacred

2005-09-28T07:35:00.000-07:00

TECHNITIANS OF SACRED
deviation from imperialist or colonialist attitude to the native literature [preface p.1]
Inadequacy of translation and redefining primitivism[p.3- 4]
The primitive or native poetry is the unification and metamorphrsis of diverse human experiences and emotions but modern analytical mind shatters it. We grasp totality of the experience; experience of body and soul combine together.

On page XXII-XXIV of the preface to TECHNITIAN OF THE SACRED Rothenberg talks about the modern analytical mind shattering the unified sensibility of Ethnic poetry which has unified the body and soul - impulse, emotion, feeling with intellect and sensuous experiences and body language i.e. movement of eyes , nodding or jerking of the head, fluttering or waving of the hand. The poems in this collection are transcription and translation of songs and chants of different tribes and clans of Asia, Africa, and America. These songs are sung or chanted accompanied by music and dance and other body movements: so when they are transcribed and translated and are brought to print form they lose their intrinsic beauty. Despite this flaw or weakness we can still see unity and cohesion in them.
I would like to draw your attention to one of the poems in the section ”Death and Defeat”

Hare heard of Death, he started for his lodge & arrived crying, shrieking, My uncles & my aunts must not die! then the thought assailed him: To all things death will come! He cast his thoughts upon the precipices & they began & crumble. Upon the rocks he cast his thoughts & they shattered. Under the earth he cast his thoughts & all the
things living there stopped moving & their limbs stiffened in death. Up above, towards the skies, he cast his thoughts & flying there suddenly fell to the earth & were dead.

he entered his lodge he took his blanket &, wrapping around him, lay down crying. Not the whole earth will suffice for all those who will die. Oh there will not be enough for them in many places! There he lay in his corner up in his blanket, silent.

(Winnebago Indian)

In this short song or poem one finds three elements - fear of death, rationalizing or philosophizing death, and acceptance of death as something inevitable. If we look at deaths poems in the world literature we find these three elements. Here I am reminded of one Buddha’s parable. Once a grieve ridden mother came to Buddha and told him that her grown up son had died and he [Buddha] should bring him back to life. Buddha asked her to bring a handful of mustard seed from the house where no one had ever died. The woman went from door to door and asked the people of the houses to give her a handful of mustard seeds if no one in their families had ever died: everywhere she had to draw blank and returned to Buddha and woefully said that she could not find any house where death had not visited. Buddha said if every one in this world had to die, the death of her son is according to the law of nature; so she should accept the inevitable.
Apart from the universality of the theme one can also notice the intensity and sincerity of feeling--” Hare heard of Death, he started for his lodge & arrived crying, shrieking, My uncles & my aunts must not die”: one can discern the apprehension and grief of Hare in these lines. ”Crying” and shrieking” give us the idea of the concern of Hare. In the next few lines we find tension is being released and tone of the song becomes calm and poise. Finally the poem ends with the image of Hare lying down on his bed , apparently, calmed down by the realization that every object and living being on this earth is mortal and he has accepted death as something unavoidable. My contention is to demonstrate the point that Rothenberg has raised in the preface that there is the unity of sensibility in the primitive poetry. There is no fissure between intellect and emotion, rather there is cohesion between head and heart. “He cast his though upon the precipices & they began & crumble. Upon the rocks he cast his thoughts & they shattered. Under the earth he cast his thoughts & all the things living there stopped moving & their limbs stiffened in death. Up above, towards the skies, he cast his thoughts & and the birds flying there suddenly fell to the earth & were dead.”
All these images signify one reality that is the reality of death and destruction. “Precipice”, “rock”, “under the earth” and “falling from the sky” are the symbols of death and destruction not only in primitive literature but also in the literature of the most of the countries.

Maria Sabiana

2005-09-21T14:25:00.000-07:00

After listening the scanned pages of Maria Sabina’s song or chants, I feel that The song or the chant or the prayer has certain characteristics which are typical of almost every song that is associated with religious rites. The first thing that attracts my attention is rhythms and music of the chants. The fine blending of soft and long vowel sounds accompanied by short and curt consonant sounds create a typical rhythm which gives the listeners a kind of soothing and entrancing effect. Second the subtle blending of Christianity and the native American religion renders profundity and rich imagery to the song; in fact, I am reminded of the English Romantic poets who blended Christianity, Pantheism and Greek mythology in their poetry and made the Romantic age the golden period in the history of English literature. Third, one question is constantly disturbing me i.e. the use of ”13” “thirteen lord eagles ” ”thirteen sacred eagles” “thirteen lord whirlwind of colors”… Is number “13” related to the native Indian faith or does it have some other significance? Fourth, the first chant begins with the first person singular “I” but after a few lines the chant changes into first person plural “our”: this gives me the impression that she was joined by the others who were present there. Fifth, her repeated address to Cayetano makes me feel that she was not completely in trance or in frenzy or in ecstasy; because in my part of the world spiritual healers chant some mantras and they seem to be possessed by certain frenzy or ecstasy which makes them oblivious of their surrounding. He or she would never ask his or her audience whether they were asleep or awake: rather he or she would continue his or her chants without any disturbance or interruption from any quarter. If the audience was to participate in the chant they would follow the spiritual healer or spiritual leader and repeat the chant after him or her.
The song or the chant also gives us the glimpses of the social, cultural and economic conditions of the native Americans.

Kamal's Ethnopoetics

Technicians of The Sacred

Maria Sabiana