Standing female figure "nogwi" ·  Papua New Guinea - Washkuk, Kwoma · ID: 3053590

Description

wood, pigments, base

“Nogwi” figures played a central role in Kwoma initiation and fertility rituals. They represented the mythical ancestral women “Hameiyau” and “Sanggriayau” and were brought into the ceremonial house during complex ritual proceedings. Musical performances on sacred flutes, conch-shell and wooden trumpets, the construction of ritual installations, as well as nocturnal ceremonies involving the water drum accompanied these rites. The figures embodied supernatural powers and were regarded as manifestations of female spirit beings, to whom symbolic actions such as the destruction of pottery vessels were attributed.

Comparing literature

Newton, Douglas, Crocodile and Cassowary, New York 1971, p. 88