Wida
Dani · numen · Dani traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Wida is one of the two exogamous patrimoieties into which Grand Valley Dani society is divided, the other being Waija. Each moiety is associated in tradition with particular birds, and the pair orders marriage, alliance and ritual across Dani communities; a person of Wida must marry a person of Waija. Dani tradition traces the two halves to a primordial division of humankind at the establishment of the present order. Sources differ on whether a discrete named ancestor stands behind the moiety name or whether Wida is remembered chiefly as one of the paired ancestral halves itself.
Domains
- dual social order
Powers
- stand as one ancestral half of humankind
Relations
- rival: WaijaComplementary and opposed moiety halves that intermarry.Heider, Karl G. 1970. The Dugum Dani. Chicago: Aldine. (secondary)
Sources
- Wida is one of the two exogamous patrimoieties of the Grand Valley Dani, traced in tradition to a primordial division of humankind.: Heider, Karl G. 1970. The Dugum Dani: A Papuan Culture in the Highlands of West New Guinea. Chicago: Aldine. (secondary)