 |
VIII. Gods portrayed In pre-Christian times on almost all the islands of Maluku Tenggara the cosmos was portrayed as a system of two entities, which were usually called 'above' or 'heaven', and 'below' or 'earth'. In many places the creator was an omnipotent male creature who lived somewhere far away - in or above the firmament. The name of the highest deity often reflected his universal totality. An example is the old Tanimbar name Langit Ombak, which means 'Heaven Earth'. Nowadays in many places in the region the creator has become embedded in the Christian belief and is referred to as Tuhan Allah. Although the cosmic divide was interpreted differently on different islands, 'heaven' and 'earth' were generally thought of as persons. 'Heaven' was a man, in the person of a heavenly deity; 'earth' was a woman, in the person of an earth goddess. Both parties were linked in a cosmic marriage in which the heavenly god fertilized the earth goddess with his seed - the rain - which, among other things, allowed the crops to grow. Although no clear information about eastern Maluku Tenggara is available, it seems that everywhere in the region people communicated with the heavenly deity by means of symbols. Most villages had a ritual centre where the male deity was represented by a wooden stake or post statue; on the western islands the earth goddess, in the form of a stone or shell, had her own point of contact. | |
