IDNO

P.933.ACH1

Description

On Catalogue Card: “Restoration of Bomai ceremony ? Mer.”

"This is a reconstruction of the scene at Gazir, the three zogo le advance from the sacred house between an avenue of keparem le, the first wears the Bomai mask and last the Malu mask. At the end of the cleared sacred area are men beating the two sacred drums, beside them are the novices and behind them the older initiates." [Exhibition Casebook, 1920s]

Photograph of a drawing shows a semi-circle of men seated and watching three figures coming towards them. The figures are dressed in leafy skirts and wear masks, they are flanked on either side by a line of men standing. At the far left and right are tall bamboo. [Jude Philp 25/5/1999, updated JD 9/9/2013, description from N.23192.ACH1, JD 14/09/2021]

Photograph of a watercolour painting by Haddon, depicting the climax of the Malu ceremony. [ME 26/5/2004]

Place

Oceania Australasia; Australia; Torres Strait; Mer

Cultural Affliation

Torres Strait Islander

Named Person

Photographer

None

Collector / Expedition

Haddon, Alfred Cort [Cambridge University Anthropological Expedition to the Torres Straits, 1898 - 1899]

Date

1898

Collection Name

Mounted Haddon CollectionTorres Strait Island Expedition

Source

Haddon, Alfred Cort (Dr)

Format

Print Black & White Mounted

Primary Documentation

Other Information

MAA Exhibition: Same image included in 1920s Exhibition Case Binders "Cases 5-10. Torres Strait." (OA2/16/4) with the following information: "There were cults of certain Brethren in various islands, of these the Bomai-Malu cult of Mer was of especial importance, to which nearly all of the male Murray Islanders belonged.
There were three zogo le, or head-men of the zogo; the tami le or keparem le were the assistants and certain men were the musicians, another group provided food for the others. There were three sacred grounds: at Dam the novices were instructed in the migrations of the Brethren and were shown the Bomai mask. The next year the novices were shown the two sacred masks at Gazir; this was followed by a public ceremony which took place on the sand beach at Las. The last ceremony took place the following year at Kiam, where only the Bomai mask was shown. At all three places the novices were terrorised by men dressed up as spiritual personages known as Magur, and in each place was a sacred round house in which the cult objects were kept.
38. This is a reconstruction of the scene at Gazir, the three zogo le advance from the sacred house between an avenue of keparem le, the first wears the Bomai mask and last the Malu mask. At the end of the cleared sacred area are men beating the two sacred drums, beside them are the novices and behind them the older initiates." [JD 14/09/2021]

Publication: Drawing by ? of the moment when the Bomai-Malo masks are revealed to the kesi (initiates). This image appears in Reports VI: XXX with the caption “Restoration of the initiation ceremony of the Malo-Bomai cult (p. 306).”

Publication: This image is reproduced in Herle, A. (1998). ‘The life-histories of objects: collections of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to the Torres Strait’. in Herle, A. & S. Rouse (eds). Cambridge and the Torres Strait : centenary essays on the 1898 Anthropological Expedition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. p. 93, figure 4.10. Captioned: “Watercolour by Haddon of his impression of the climax of the Malu ceremony which used models of masks he had commissioned. The mask in the foreground is the model commissioned by Haddon and shown in Fig. 4.8.” [ME 26/5/2004]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program One. [Mark Elliott 26/5/2004]