The things you have to do

Did you ever have to do something that seemed really awkward just because it was expected of you?

I have.

But one step in making things right the Nagi way is way more strange than anything I’ve ever had to do. My response would be a lot stronger than, “Gee, no, thanks, I’m fine.”

You see, there was a recent killing. The relatives of the dead man have not yet decided how the killing will be avenged. To the Nagis, there are three options: the death of the killer, a payment, or cutting the killer’s thumb and forefinger so he cannot shoot an arrow ever again.

Since the killing has not been avenged, “the Nagis believe that [the dead man’s] spirit is roaming around ready and waiting to cause people to get sick and die if they interact with, eat with, or even see the [killer] face to face,” according to Dave and Melissa Williamson, who minister to the Nagis.

Fear is keeping them from gathering their staple food from the jungle, or going to the village where the killer lives, or interacting with anyone who has interacted with the killer.

“The only way the people are to be released from this [curse] is for the murderer to do whatever is decided by the victim’s family in order to repay for the death,” the Williamsons wrote. But that’s not the end.

“At that point, in order to satisfy the spirits of the dead man and his dead relatives, a certain ceremony must take place,” the couple wrote. The killer must provide a pig that will be killed and shared with the victim’s family.”

OK, so far, so good. But here’s where it gets really weird. The pig’s fat is mixed with water, and the killer must take the mixture into his mouth and spit it out forcefully on the relatives of the dead man.

While it seems to me like that should be the other way around, “Once this is done, and only then, will their belief system allow them to live their lives as they normally would,” wrote Dave and Melissa.