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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.
Bisj poles were erected in front of the ceremonial house (yeu) to remind the living of their sacred duty of vengeance. The people would cut mangroves and remove all the roots except one for the cemen (literally penis), and then take them to the village, where the best sculptors finished the work. The subsequent fests were the prelude for headhunting expeditions. The warriors threw themselves against the posts to break them up then left them in the forest where they soon rotted.
These days, the bisj poles are still carved to celebrate and commemorate the dead, but they are no longer associated with headhunting, which was outlawed in 1956.
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