Kwatbil
Abelam · deity · Abelam traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Kwatbil is a bird-formed being of the Abelam ceremonial house, represented as the carved finial at the very apex of the korambo roof. He belongs among the powerful figures of Abelam cosmology that watch over ritual activity and the social life of the clan, and he carries a distinctly generative role: Maprik accounts credit him with having given women the birth canal, and so with making human birth possible. His placement above the men's house, over the enthroned ancestor Puti and the ranks of clan spirits within, sets him at the meeting point of the human and ancestral worlds.
Domains
- human fertility
- ritual order
Powers
- give women the birth canal
- crown the ceremonial house as its roof-finial
Relations
- companion: PutiOne of the beings of the ceremonial house alongside the central ancestor Puti.Field photo-essay, 'Abelam's spirit houses, gods and yams (Maprik, PNG)' (duba.ro, 2017). (secondary)
Sources
- Kwatbil is a bird-being set as the finial of the Abelam ceremonial house, associated with fertility and credited with giving women the birth canal, and reckoned among the beings that oversee ritual and clan life.: Field photo-essay, 'Abelam's spirit houses, gods and yams (Maprik, PNG)' (duba.ro, 2017). (secondary)