BONITO MAIDENS

Among the Sa’a people of the Solomon Islands, there is the tradition of the Bonito Maidens. These beings live in pools with the bonito fish and are responsible for the going forth of the shoals. These beautiful maidens have necklaces of porpoise teeth, shell money and other ornaments. They warn the shaman when the shoals are about to appear by leaving some areca nuts nearby while he is sleeping. The first bonito to be caught must be washed ceremonially and placed on an altar to be eaten only by the shaman. Young fishermen who have lost their father’s special ivory bonito fishing hooks through careless fishing make their supplications to the Bonito Maidens to help retrieve them.

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