Word: granman
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...village, custom requires that we hold a krutu, a sort of formal palaver, with the granman--grand man, the paramount chief--and his council, before we wander about. We gather in his hut with the village leaders. He is a compact man, with a slightly sad expression--sort of a solemn Redd Foxx--and a tuft of white beard clinging to his chin. During the krutu, one never addresses him directly, nor does he speak directly to others. All questions and responses go through the bassias, high-ranking assistants who serve as intermediaries, a custom that prolongs the meetings...
Mittermeier is introduced, and he asks if I may put a question to the granman. I ask what the forest means spiritually to the Maroons. The granman passes my question to a captain, who says that it goes to "the heart of our society." Their whole existence, he says, is a result of the integration of the physical and the spiritual. Then he offers me a parable. If you go into the woods, he says, and you look for a new plot to farm, you have to put a marker down; otherwise you won't be able to find...
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