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1. Symbols of heaven and earth Of the eastern islands particularly the ritual centre of Tanimbar villages is described. In a number of high-lying 'eyries' this was in the form of a boat in which two tall stones, decorated with beautiful carvings, sometimes represented the stem and stern posts.
The leaders of the village met in these centres where they presented themselves as a symbolic ship's crew and made offerings to the divine powers. Wooden post Near the symbolic stem post there was a large, flat offerings stone and a post with a roughly carved human face, which was called Ubila'a or Duadila'a. On the basis of a comparison with the more westerly islands, we can assume that this carved post represented the heavenly deity.[13] On the islands of Dawera and Dawelor, lying to the west of Tanimbar and part of the Babar archipelago, a simple, undecorated wooden post, about a metre tall, could be found in the village ritual centres. According to the islanders, the post represented Leyo Wulol, a name which means 'Sun Moon', and it was the personification of 'above'. In songs the deity was described as a helmsman, a characterization that was also expressed in the design of the heavenly symbol in the village of Watuwei on Dawelor.
God as helmsman On East Babar, Luang and Leti, the heavenly deity had a completely different appearance. There he was portrayed as a male figure, often sitting in a boat or a boat-shaped construction, which usually had a beautifully worked prow. The whole was mounted on a post about one-and-a-half metres in height and, like the 'bare' post on Dawera and Dawelor, often stood on a stone base.
It is highly probable that the presentation of the heavenly deity in a boat on the islands mentioned was linked to the nautical symbolism described earlier. It was thought that earthly life was dependent on the cosmic marriage between the heavenly deity and the earth goddess, a dependence relationship that was expressed in the depiction of the male deity as a helmsman. Great hunter Decorations and attributes on the 'heavenly' objects in the various island cultures fully support this notion. They reflect the male contribution to the process of creation: the killing of life. Just as in the founding of a family and society, described earlier, the symbolic helmsman - in this case the heavenly deity - is portrayed as a great hunter. On Dawera and Dawelor, for example, this was expressed in weapons (fishing spear, bow and arrow) which were tied to the wooden post. More towards the west it was visualized by hanging symbolic hunting trophies - for example, in the form of wooden fish - on the 'ship's prow' (RMV 1476-1). The idea of a great hunter was also expressed in the decorative motifs that were used, in which the figure of a cock - as a symbol of the sun which, because of its heat, was regarded as an invincible hunter - played a prominent role. The image of the deity, furthermore, was again emphasized by names which referred to the sun (and/or the full moon) and the local terms for types of 'heavenly' statues. For example, on Luang and Sermata one spoke of aitiehra and on Kisar of aukerhe, terms which literally mean 'hard wood' and, as such, they were a symbol of power and invincibility. Earth goddess Considerably less can be said about the depiction of the earth goddess in the ritual centres of the villages. In western Maluku Tenggara they were usually worshipped in the form of a round, flat stone or a shell. As far as is known this shell was always the Tridacna gigas. The design of the symbol of the earth goddess in this part of the region undoubtedly indicated her sex, something which was also the case in the depiction of the heavenly deity, of course. In fact, the wooden posts and post statues were phallic symbols; sometimes this also appeared explicit from the decorations applied (RMV 1476-4). | |
