Strict Moral Code
Some reports suggested that the movement led to widespread sexual license, but this cannot be verified. Indeed, the movement officially taught a strict moral code, which included the prohibition of adultery and other moral offenses. Such offenses would be rectified by fines levied by the leaders of the movement. To discover who had committed any sin, these leaders organized divining ceremonies which involved a very large log, held by several men, which was said to have the capacity to seek out anyone who had guilt.
This resulted in the movement being classified as a form of extortion by the colonial administration. This offense was added to that of 'spreading false rumors,' punishable under the legal code of the Australian Papua territory. Several of the leaders were in fact jailed, for an unknown period of time.
Read more about this topic: Vailala Madness
Famous quotes containing the words strict, moral and/or code:
“In a universe that is all gradations of matter, from gross to fine to finer, so that we end up with everything we are composed of in a lattice, a grid, a mesh, a mist, where particles or movements so small we cannot observe them are held in a strict and accurate web, that is nevertheless nonexistent to the eyes we use for ordinary living—in this system of fine and finer, where then is the substance of a thought?”
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“The moral earth, too, is round! The moral earth, too, has its antipodes! The antipodes, too, have their right to exist! There is still another world to be discovered—and more than one! Set sail, you philosophers!”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“...I had grown up in a world that was dominated by immature age. Not by vigorous immaturity, but by immaturity that was old and tired and prudent, that loved ritual and rubric, and was utterly wanting in curiosity about the new and the strange. Its era has passed away, and the world it made has crumbled around us. Its finest creation, a code of manners, has been ridiculed and discarded.”
—Ellen Glasgow (1873–1945)