FEATURE
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the façade of the ceremonial house, the men and
women danced around it and sang, “It is the
great power of our totemic bird, it is the eagle
on the gable of the ceremonial house that has
killed the enemy.” Haberland (1968: IX and fi g.
37) states that when the Ewa of the Korewori
River, a confl uent of the Sepik, went on headhunting
raids, a wickerwork representation of
an eagle with its wings spread was placed on the
prow of a victorious war canoe upon its return
to the village.15 There is a possibility that the
trophy head was placed in an orifi ce at the base
of this emblem, and it is moreover probable that
the so-called “canoe prow shields,” which also
had two wings, had a function that complemented
that of the birds on the gables.
What one gleans from all of this information
is that these sculptures are an
expression of the warrior force and of
the bravery and courage of the men who built
the ceremonial house. The fusion of man and
bird was commented on by Heinz Kelm (1966:
28) and by Otto Reche (1913, 140f, 361, 395),
who perceives the man-bird duality as reminiscent
of Austronesian myths. Frieda Rosenthal
(1969: 26) sees the eagle as the alter ego of the
warrior. August Eichhorn (1929: 71–78) offers
a very Christian interpretation of this design:
“Here is a bird with its wings spread wide, one
higher than the other to show it is launching
itself upwards. The head and the neck are vertical,
as if showing that it wants to fl y up into
the ether, carrying with it a human form whose
head it grips with its claws. This bird represents
the soul that escapes the body of the deceased
whose face is contorted by anguish” (fi g. 17).
Our informants told us that they considered
this sculpture to be a living being and a
FIG. 28 (below): Gable
sculpture from the Iatmul
village of de Malingeï,
Papua New Guinea.
Collected by Fr. J. Heinemans.
Courtesy of Galerie Alain Bovis, Paris.
Photo: Vincent Luc – Agence Phar.
Bateson does not say if
the murder committed by
a man wearing an eagle
mask took place when a
gable sculpture was being installed. Field informants
have never provided information about a
ritual of this kind.
In the past, during periods of war each Iatmul
ceremonial house was the responsibility of two
men who were symbolized by the two birds.
The fi rst, the kaulagwa,13 dressed as a great
warrior, while the second, the selalagwa,14 was
a transvestite who appeared as a woman. Before
a battle, the latter made the rounds of the
village performing a dance that summoned the
population to the ceremonial place. The kaulagwa
climbed atop a platform, from which he
harangued and exhorted the men to prepare for
battle and then imitated the cry of the harpy eagle
(Coiffi er, 2007: 247–248). An account given
to Aufenanger (1975: 54–55) in a Chambri village
stated that when a severed head had been
placed on the fl at stone in the waak in front of