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The Asmat of New Guinea

The Asmat live in the southwest part of the island of New Guinea, which is politically attached to Indonesia. Their name means "the true people;" They are semi-nomadic, living from gathering, hunting and fishing in the swamps, on the coasts and in the floodable forests along the rivers.

The Asmat consider themselves to be tree-people, the chest corresponding to the trunk, the head to the fruit, the arms to the branches and the feet to the roots.

Perpetuating life through death

The Asmat did not consider death to be natural; they thought it was caused by evil spells. In their cosmogony, there were three kingdoms, which were not separate but communicated with one another: the world of the living, the world of the dead and the world of the ancestors or Safan.

The wandering soul of a dead person caused misfortune, fights and divisions. Before reaching the kingdom of the ancestors, it had to cross an intermediate world which was dangerous as long as his death had not been avenged by a headhunting expedition. Only then could he enter Safan and be reincarnated, starting the eternal cycle of life over again.

Bibliograpy

• Van Renselaar, H.C. [1956]. Asmat : art from Southwest New Guinea. [Amsterdam] : Royal Tropical Institute, MEG Carl-Vogt, OC 341/1
• 1962. Bulletin Annuel Musée d'ethnographie de Genève (1962). Genève : Société des amis du Musée d'ethnographie, No 5, p. 34, MEG Carl-Vogt, PME 21