THE YAM CULT
(Part 1)
For the Abelam the cultivation of yams is of enormous importance. It is the central theme of their political life, moral values rules of behaviour, ritual and myth.
The yam cult is organized around the growth, display and exchange of the long yam, a species the tuber of which can grow longer than 12 feet. It is only adult
initiated men who grow the long yams. Women may not even enter the gardens in which the yams are growing. The yam grower must also obay a series of
food and sex avoidance taboos if his yams are to grow large and heavy. Men alos call upon the spirits which inhabit their environment to help with the growth
of the long yams.