Slit gong "garamut" ·  Papua New Guinea, Yuat River, Biwat · ID: 3043290

Description

heavy wood,
Slit gongs are used in a variety of ritual festivals/occasions and are used in everyday life as a means of distant communication, such as to convene meetings or announce a death.

There are also sacred slit gongs, which were reserved for the powerful “waken” ancestors. They stood in the men’s houses and were beaten in pairs when they summoned the ancestors to a feast. Like most ritual objects they have names and represent male and female ancestors. For festive occasions, they were decorated with palm leaves and rubbed with red colour.

According to oral tradition it is said that they were smeared with people’s blood. Their far-ranging sound is considered to be the voice of the ancestral spirits, their rhythm is said to reflect the ancestral steps.

The object Slit gong “garamut” with the object ID 3043290 was last part of the auction 88th Tribal Art Auction at March 10, 2018 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house and had the lot number 31.

Here you will find more objects and interesting facts about Oceanian art.

Comparing literature

Peltier, Philippe et.al., Tanz der Ahnen, Zürich 2015, p. 200 ff.