Seated figure "hampatong"

---

Description

wood, base

“Hampatong” can be seen as effigies of ancestors known by name. At mortuary feasts a “hampatong” is set up for each dead person.

On the other hand, they function as guardian figures, which are erected wherever malevolent spirits are likely to appear: in front of longhouse entrances, or in village squares in “pataho” sanctuaries etc.

---

Comparing literature

Feldman, Jerome, The eloquent dead, Los Angeles 1985, p. 118 f.

---