Trobriand dance shield
| Trobriand dance shield | |
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| Information | |
| Weapon type: | Protective weapon, ceremonial weapon (dance paddle) |
| Designations: | Trobriand-Tanzschild, Kaydebu, Kaydiba, Kaideba, English also: Trobriand carved dancing shield |
| Region of origin / author: |
Trobriand Islands , ethnic groups from the islands |
| Distribution: | Papua New Guinea |
| Handle: | Wood |
| Lists on the subject | |
The Trobriand dance shield , actually Kaydebu , also Kaydiba or Kaideba , named after the dance of the same name, is a protective and ceremonial weapon of the Trobriand Islands , Papua New Guinea .
description
The Trobriand dance shield is made of wood, a round stick serves as a handle that runs the entire length of the shield. It is widened in the middle and serves as a spacer between the two shield parts. The shield is worked like a paddle and decorated on the front with openwork carvings . These carvings are a two-dimensional bas-relief . After completion, they are coated with lime and painted.
The red, hook-shaped paintings depict including a highly stylized beak of the hornbill (Bucerotidae). The bulges at the bottom of the "paddles" are similar to a snake's head , who with open mouth is depicted and his tongue sticking out, in the Trobriand mythology one Symbol of the penis .
The men use the shield while dancing to attract the women's attention and to portray themselves as beautiful and strong. The women use this opportunity to look for a possible partner during the dances.
Kaydebu
The anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski first presented the use of this carved dance shield in round dances in his work Argonauts of the Western Pacific in 1922.
literature
- Bronislaw Malinowski: Argonauts of the western Pacific. A report on the activities and adventures of the natives in the island worlds of Melanesian New Guinea. Syndicate, Frankfurt am Main 1979, ISBN 3-8108-0087-2 . (Translator: Heinrich Ludwig Herdt). P. 84 and Figures 13-14.
- Harry Beran , Barry Craig (Eds.): Shields of Melanesia. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, Hawaii 2005, ISBN 978-0-8248-2732-8 (On the iconography of the Trobriand shields: pp. 201-207).
- Michael O'Hanlon, Robert Louis Welsch (eds.): Hunting the gatherers: ethnographic collectors, agents and agencies in Melanesia, 1870s – 1930s. Berghahn Books, 2001, illustration on p. 189, ISBN 1-57181-506-6 . (Limited preview on Google Book Search )
Web links
- Illustration of the Trobriand dance shield at Janes Oceania
- Illustration: Dancers with Trobriand dance shields at Janes Oceania , original historical photo
Individual evidence
- ↑ The spelling of the Kilivila word is unsteady .
- ^ Trobriand dance shield in the Pitt Rivers Museum , inventory no. 1900.55.453 , accessed January 7, 2012
- ^ Bronislaw Malinowski: Argonauts of the Western Pacific . Dutton, New York 1922. English edition: p. 57 , plate 13 , plate 14 .