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IV. Kamoro masks: then and now Masks occupy a unique place in Kamoro culture, because they are partly conserved after use: following their appearance in a feast, only the palm-leaf 'garments' are discarded. The rest of the mask is kept, because its manufacture demands a great deal of time and energy. This contrasts with the fate of woodcarvings, which are abandoned in the sago marshes after they have been used in a ceremony. There, they exert a benevolent influence on the growth of the sago. [42] Masks are preserved and passed on to a prominent family member of the next generation. [43] The same mask that played its part in the Kaware feast held (on request) in 1997, is claimed to have been in use since the 1950s. As far as anyone can remember, its last appearance had been in the 1970s. [44] Masks are continually re-used, a fact that partly explains why it is so difficult to collect masks. Dutch museum collections only hold nine mamakoro masks, seven of them being held in the RMV Leiden, and only one helmet-shaped mask has been acquired. [45] A small number in contrast to other Kamoro objects, which were collected early and in large numbers. Reports of expeditions to the former Netherlands New Guinea mention the participants' amazement at the readiness of the Kamoro to exchange almost anything for western goods. Masks, however, rarely arrived in the hands of expedition members, a fact confirming the importance the Kamoro attach to these objects. Only A.J. Gooszen succeeded in collecting two masks, which he donated to the RMV, one in 1914 and the other in 1919. | |
