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Carved figure of spirit (malanggatsak), made for malagan festival to commemorate the dead

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in New Ireland, Melanesia

Postcard of Carved figure of spirit (malanggatsak), made for malagan festival to commemorate the dead.
000-180-000-750-C
© National Museums Scotland

Carved figure of spirit (malanggatsak), made for malagan festival to commemorate the dead

This carving shows a stylised human-like figure, holding a crayfish and standing on a bird. It represents the spirit of a dead person, or the ancestors in general or another kind of spirit, and was made for display during a funerary malagan ceremony.

This carving, designed to stand upright on its projecting base, shows a human-like figure with staring eyes, bent legs and a tall, V-shaped headdress. Its arms grasp the claws of a crayfish, whose body is merged with a bird's. The bird feeds another.

Malagan ceremonies took several days, cost a lot to organise, and often took place several years after an important person died. They commemorated that person and any others who had died, and sent off their spirits.


Record details

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Online ID: 000-180-000-750-C
Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
Project: 0504: National Museums Scotland Part 2
Project description | View all records in project
Ref: National Museums Scotland  A.1906.607
Date: 1906
Material:
Dimensions: 41.00" H
What: Figure
Subject: Miscellaneous
Who:
Where: Melanesia, New Ireland
Event:
Description: Image, in carved and painted wood, of an anthropomorph with a head dress and opercula eyes holding a crayfish, and also with a bird head and a crustacean: Melanesian, New Ireland
References:
  • Lincoln, L (ed). Assemblage of Spirits. New York: George Braziller, 1987. 
  • Sheridan, J A (ed). Heaven and Hell and Other Worlds of the Dead. Edinburgh: National Museum of Scotland, 2000. 
Translations:
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