Iki-haveve
Iki-haveve OceaniaLiterally, ‘belly don't know’. The Papuan description of the ecstatic cult that arose in Vailala about 1919. People were seen ‘taking a few quick steps in front of them and would then stand, jabber and gesticulate, at the same time swaying the head from side to side; also bending the body from side to side from the hips, the legs appearing to be held firm’. Such ecstatic possession, an indirect consequence of colonial penetration, found its cult leader in an old man named Evara. He prophesied the coming of a steamer, carrying the spirits of the ancestors on board, who would bring with them the ‘cargo’. Anti-European sentiments were evident in his revelations, since the expected gifts included rifles. However, the idea of a return of the dead was somewhat complicated by the belief that ancestors were white. Later Evara prophesied that an aeroplane would bring the sacred cargo of plenty.
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