IDNO

P.947.ACH1

Description

On Catalogue Card: “Malu ceremony at Gazir.”

Performance of the Malu-Bomai dances at Gazir showing the position of the participants when the sacred masks of Bomai and Malu are shown to the initiates. The first man standing is in the position of Bomai, behind him is the man who holds the mask in position, and at the rear a man standing in the position of the Malu mask wearer. They are flanked by the crouching keparem or tami le (assistants to the zogo le), consisting of two lines of older men. The group in front are the Beizam boai (shark group) and zagareb le. On the ground near the front is the drum, Wasikor.
The men are dressed in calico (wrap around cloth) or trousers with either leaf or feather ornaments in their hair. The dance is being held beside a banana garden [Jude Philp 26/5/1999], updated JD 8/5/2011, description from record N.23206.ACH2, JD 13/03/2020]

Place

Oceania Australasia; Australia; Torres Strait; Mer; Gazir

Cultural Affliation

Torres Strait Islander

Named Person

Photographer

Wilkin, Anthony

Collector / Expedition

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

Date

29 July 1898

Collection Name

Mounted Haddon CollectionTorres Strait Island Expedition

Source

Haddon, Alfred Cort (Dr)

Format

Print Black & White Mounted

Primary Documentation

Other Information

Bibliographical Reference: Haddon and Myers remark on the occasion of this photograph, the performance of Malu-Bomai dances, in their journals (Haddon 1898: 194; Myers 1898: 108). This photograph was taken to show the position of the participants when the sacred masks of Bomai and Malu are shown to the initiates. The first man standing is in the position of Bomai, behind him is the man who holds the mask in position, and at the rear a man standing in the position of the Malu mask wearer. They are flanked by the crouching keparem or tami le (assistants to the zogo le). The group in front are the Beizam boai (shark group) and zagareb le (VI: 306-7). Wasikor is soicated with Malo (see P.949.ACH1). [Jude Philp 26/5/1999]

Publication: Image published in 'Recording Kastom: Alfred Haddon’s Journals from his Expeditions to the Torres Strait and New Guinea, 1888–89, 1898–99', Edited by Anita Herle and Jude Philp (Sydney University Press), Fig 7.5, and captioned: "Re-enactment of the Malu-Bomai dances at Gazir showing the position of the participants when the sacred masks of Bomai and Malu are shown to the initiates. The first man standing is in the position of Bomai, behind him is the man who holds the back of the mask and at the rear a man is standing in the position of the Malu mask wearer. The men crouching in the front are the Beizam boai (shark men) and Zagareb le (drum men). Gazir, Mer, 29 July 1898. MAA N.23206." [JD 13/03/2020]