Ritual warfare

Did You Know?

• The frequency of warfare in most hunter-gatherer cultures is a matter of dispute.
• Native Americans often engaged in ritual fighting.
• Warfare serves the function of easing intra-group tensions and has aspects of a game, or 'overenthusiastic football'.

Examples

While nearly all tribal societies engage in warfare, some place an especially strong emphasis on warrior traditions. Groups like the Nuer, Maasai, Zulu, Sea Dayaks, Naga, Māori, Dugum Dani, Araucanians, and Yanomami are well-known examples. Inter-tribal conflict has a long history in New Guinea. Communal groups can and do escalate conflicts into full-scale wars of annihilation. In the Amazon, the Jívaro tribes maintained a state of constant hostility. A key distinction exists: wars between different tribes are generally understood as wars of extermination. Large raiding parties from the Bororo, Kayapo, Munduruku, Guaraní, and Tupi peoples traveled long distances across Brazil’s interior. Most Bororo groups were in a near-constant state of war with their neighbors. The Yanomami followed a specific ladder of escalation: chest-pounding duels, side-slapping duels, club fights, spear-throwing fights, then raiding parties aimed at killing at least one enemy, and finally Nomohoni—treacherous, all-out massacres. Similar staged violence appeared among the Dugum Dani and Chimbu of New Guinea, the Nuer of Sudan, and the Plains Indians of North America. For the Chimbu and Dugum Dani, stealing pigs sparked conflict more often than abducting women did. Among the Yanomamö, accusations of sorcery were the most common trigger. Warfare can also serve to ease tensions within a group, sometimes taking on a game-like quality, akin to an overly enthusiastic football match. Dugum Dani battles in particular show a playful side; one recorded fight was interrupted when both sides stopped to throw stones at a passing cuckoo dove.