Aibom
Aibom is a village in the East Sepik province of Papua New Guinea .
The village of Aibom is located on the southern edge of the Central Sepik area, between Lake Sepik and Lake Chambri , at the foot of one of the hills in the Sepik Basin. The southern part of the village lies directly on the Kumalio River, which connects Lake Chambri with the Sepik.
The land south of the Sepik is characterized by numerous narrow watercourses, marshy areas, as well as smaller and larger open water areas of mostly shallow depth. The amount of precipitation that falls annually in the rainy season causes the Sepik to overflow its banks for months between December and May, transforming the land into a large expanse of water from which only a few hills, like that of Aibom, protrude.
Because of its clay deposits, the Iatmul-speaking village of Aibom is considered the most important place for pottery production and pottery trade in the Sepik area. The products are not only used in the villages on the middle course, but also north and south of the river, and in some cases also on the lower course. The trading system is based mainly on market days, which are held in Aibom itself and in the area near the settlements on the Middle Sepik.
The manufacture of pottery is generally part of the women's field of activity, while decorating and painting are also partly the job of men. Fireplaces, saucepans and other vessels are made in ceramic by the women and burned in open fireplaces.
The female deity Yuman Wusmangge is of particular importance to Aibom as the creator of pottery.
literature
- Meinhard Schuster: The potter deity of Aibom. In: Paideuma, Mitteilungen zur Kulturkunde, magazine of the Frobenius Institute at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main , Frankfurt am Main, vol. 15, pp. 140–159.