Mask festival with the Asmat people

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Distribution map of ritual anthrophagy

The Asmat mask festival , also Bi Pokomban and pir , Yipai; is an ethnically religious , cyclically celebrated ritual of the Asmat , a people who live in the south of the Indonesian province of Papua on the island of New Guinea . The aim of the ritual is to prove to the spirits of the deceased that there is harmony in the village and that the ancestors (safan) may take this benevolent knowledge so that their favor can be preserved.

It is believed that the mask festival has its origins on the Unir and Pomatsj rivers and that the difference in mask costumes only emerged later. Rites - like the mask festival - are based on the belief that any kind of life, be it that of plants, animals or finally humans, must be animated by the spirit of the dead ancestors in order to experience the vital forces for self-sustaining. Therefore, there is a duty to actively seek positive relationships with them. The mask festival is celebrated by the vast majority of the many different Asmat groups and is basically subject to similar manifestations.

The mask festival in modern Asmat history

With the annexation of Western New Guinea to Indonesia in 1962, all ritual festivals of the Asmat experienced a temporary turning point , as the Indonesian administrative authorities assumed that these were rites that promoted bounty and cannibalism . The former protectorate of the United Nations allowed the Asmat to have their ancestral cult. The change of responsibilities caused the Indonesian authorities to destroy the Asmat ceremonial buildings and to impose absolute bans on all kinds of ritual festivals.

At the beginning of the 1980s, the region experienced a tourist boom, so that a rethink began. Initially hesitant, exemptions were granted and the restrictions relaxed. Over the years, unauthorized events were also tolerated. Bureaucratic awkwardness on the part of the Indonesian administration continually led to the destruction and rebuilding and re-destruction of the places of worship, which led to insecurity and disturbance among the locals. The self-image of the ritual acts was neither recognized nor seriously culturally protected. The basis of the relations with the authorities is based on a very unstable reciprocity .

To this day, the festival is often misunderstood as an expulsion of ghosts.

Purpose of the mask festival

The main goal of the bi pokomban is, in addition to the demonstration of the harmonious structures in the village, the concern to redeem the spirits who lived blamelessly during their lifetime and to lead them into the realm of the ancestors. The ritual actions are supposed to free the "life flaws" from an intermediate world into which they were banished so that they can reach their ancestors. This intermediate world, called ainamipits (mostly translated as “suffering people”), is understood as a “pre-hellish prison”, from which one has to be ritually led out. In the in-between world, for example, banish lifelong contentiousness, criminal activities such as rape, the unforgivable departure from the family or the refusal to repair and / or maintain ceremonial houses. The (only) lack of opportunity to call out the names of the victims on the occasion of the firauwi festival after headhunting is understood as a misconduct in this sense.

The spirits have different degrees of reputation. Power and influence during lifetime continue in the image of respect for the deceased. Powerful people have powerful spirits, less important spirits are also set free. Family members have to live up to the expectations of the powerful spirits if they do not want to expose themselves to the danger of death because they do not receive the life-giving energy. The better the relationships with the spirits are cultivated, the sooner the harmony in the village will be perceived and the more reliable the cosmological balance will be.

The mask festival consists of several sections. In all phases of the festival, optimal harmony must be sought in the village so that the spirits can be convinced of the peaceful relationships between the villagers when they arrive. The presence of the ghosts reduces fears and conveys security. Disputes and fights between the villagers - as they are usually the order of the day - stop at the beginning of the festival, which can last for months. This disciplinary effect leads to camaraderie and resumption of often broken contacts.

Event items of the mask festival

The mask festival takes place according to the following schedule:

  • Preparation of the feast
  • Opening of the festival
  • Restoring the maintenance of relationships between the sexes, individuals and families
  • festive interludes
  • Arrival of the manimar mask
  • Arrival of the spirits and ultimately the
  • kon ceremony.

preparation

Asmat on the Lorentz

The chiefs of each village meet in the ancestral home of a chosen village and determine which deceased should be specially remembered. Marching one behind the other with stone axes shouldered on the left, they arrive and signal the imminence of a special event. The family groups are discussed in terms of their ancestry and the deme (ancestors of the hosts) are determined. This definition is important, as an Asmatic village is divided into sections and the overall relationships must be clarified in each case. Family members who can be traced back to common ancestors in another section live within a section. The biological connection to other sections is usually brought about by marriage and assessed by the deme . The chief of the host section in the village will be the festival leader. Its ceremonial house ( ever ) is the festival location . The makeup artists are then selected and commissioned to braid the mask costumes. Descendants of deme are awarded the contract for this task . The main mask ( Manimar mask), which embodies a mythological figure, is created by an additionally selected man.

opening

The feast is joined by the wailing of the women. This is a sign of mourning because the spirits of the deceased are missing. One observed ceremony began with the chiefs and male villagers paddling along the banks of the village with male villagers in dugouts, shouting loudly. Women dressed like warriors shot blunt arrows at the men who pretended to be injured, which happened with expressions of joy from those involved. Some women presented sago. This was burned and brought to the festival house (the temporary domicile of the mask weavers). There he was handed over to the mask weavers. To the recurring beats of the drums, sad sages were intoned and women sporadically shouted complaints. The injured men were treated the next day. The mood became lively and cheerful. In the interplay with the increasingly lively drum beat, the women again had opportunities to symbolically attack the men. Bad treatment and lack of attention from brothers, husbands and lovers could thus be "avenged". This spectacle was given a playful lightness that created a good mood for everyone involved. It became clear that the injuries were welcomed by the men who were not allowed to strike back, because they were in fact an expression of interested affection on the part of the women. The aim of the attacks often changes into marriage intentions, which often only allowed the party, because the families are mostly at odds with one another. This behavior was favored by the fact that for the duration of this very long festival there is an obligation of peace between the families of the village, which must never be broken.

Festive interludes

The time between the opening of the festival and the festive climax is mainly used to make the masks. In joyful anticipation of the progressive mask production, the village takes part in this process, because the mask weavers need particularly courteous treatment and are provided with plenty of food ( sago peppered with sago larvae and other, mostly hunted, delicacies). The work of the mask weavers creates sleeveless plaited vests with attached headgear, including openings for the nose, eyes and mouth. White and ocher eye simulations are painted over the actual eye sockets. A stick adorned with feathers in some sections protrudes from the top of the mask. Tied sago fringes as sleeves and skirt complete the mask costume. The cords of the knitted mask costumes consist of two strips of bark from the fum bush twisted together on the thigh .

Compared to the usual festival masks, the manimar mask is even more impressive . This looks like an inverted basket with a sago fiber hanging and a wooden cap at the end. Cords are not used here. Intertwined rattan pulp strips take on the function of stabilizing the costume.

During the production process, the festive atmosphere among the sections remains.

Arrival of the manimar mask

The appearance of the manimar is based on a mythological basis. The myth tells that an orphan boy who was regularly cast out and was rarely heard when he begged for food, came up with the trick of creating a mask with which he would frighten the sago-harvesting women of the village in order to steal the harvest from them. He often succeeded in doing this. Deliberately caught and confronted, the boy complained of his suffering and was adopted and looked after out of pity.

Since then, Manimar has been part of the ritual myth of the mask festival. He is revered as the forerunner and messenger of the news of the arrival of the spirits. His arrival excites the gathered people. Staggering dancing he joins the crowd. In the ritual act he frightens people (especially children) whom he hunts. The children fight back and tell him to leave the village, as he is an intruder and an orphan. They throw seed pods at him and scold him. Again and again the manimar persecutes individual people in return. that he has chosen for persecution. In the course of the afternoon it disappears again.

Arrival of the spirits

On the day after the arrival of the manimar, the ghosts also arrive. They are greeted and asked about their well-being. The always closed questions demand the answer: “Yes.” The spirits do not speak, which is why they can only nod their heads.

A joint evening dance festival to the rhythm of the drums and songs follows. It pays homage to the fertility of the village. Before sunrise, the spirits wander over spears laid out - symbol of the border to the ancestral world on the other side - and are said goodbye loudly and meaningfully.

The kon ceremony

The concluding kon ceremony is the highlight of the festival . The focus of this rite are artfully made rattan bracelets (kon) , which have to be placed from the wrist to the upper arm by their recipients in a ritual act. The recipients of the bracelets are newly adopted. An adoption in the traditional legal sense would fail to assess this rite. This favor is shown to the adoptive parents because they are similar to a newly deceased person in physique or facial features or also because of personal characteristics or abilities. During this process, the power of the deceased is transferred to the adoptive. Together with his own power, he increases his power and power relations. Family and political prestige clearly benefit from this. Painted red, white and black on the head and torso (burnt clay powder, burnt shell limestone and charcoal), the beneficiaries, who are taken outside from the festival house, receive their bracelets slipped over their wrists. In a solemn act it is important to position them correctly with arms stretched out and a unanimous whuuuh .

Some time later, the adopters are obliged to bring fish or wild boar to their families in order to adequately reciprocate their behavior.

Songs of the Mask Festival

  • Song excerpt at the time of the festive interludes:

“What's so white on the other bank of the river? This is beripir with a white shell. He brings it here, a white shell, to cut the mask cords. "

“You spirits from the world facing the sea remain there forever with your relatives. Go go go go You know the way to them "

  • Song excerpt for the manimar:

“Manimar is waiting on the other side of the river. He doesn't have a dugout canoe. Manimar is deserted and sleeps there in the dark. Manimar, get into the ghost dugout canoe, come on, come on, row across the Pomats river "

See also

literature

  • Alphonse A. Sowada: Mask Festival (Bi Pokomban) . In: Gunter and Ursula Konrad (eds.): Asmat: Myths and Rituals - Inspiration of Art . Venice 1995, ISBN 88-7077-035-4 (main source for the article)
  • Klaus Helfrich (Hrsg.): Asmat: Myth and art in life with the ancestors . Exhibition catalog. Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin 1995, ISBN 978-3-88609-381-6

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b Volume 2, contribution by Gunter Konrad and Yufentius Biakai: To the culture of Asmat: Myth and Reality, p. 465–509
    Mark Münzel : New Guinea use and interpretation of the environment . Ed .: Department for Culture and Leisure. tape 1 + 2 . Museum für Völkerkunde, Frankfurt 1987, ISBN 3-88270-360-1 , p. 725 .
  2. ^ Robert L. Welch: The Future of Indigenous Museums: Perspectives from the Southwest Pacific. by Nick Stanley
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g Alphonse A. Sowada: BI POKOMBAN ( Mask Festival ), pp. 217–224.
  4. ↑ Tobias Schneebaum , Asmat images from the collection of the Asmat Museum of Culture and Progress (text, photographs, and drawings - 1985) p. 108
  5. ↑ Volker Beer: Drums of the Asmat. A round worldview? ( Memento from June 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) journal-ethnologie.de