Puti

Puti is the great ancestral being who gives the Abelam their staple food and the power to prosper, enshrined as the central image within the ceremonial house and identified with the culture-hero of the yam-origin story. That story, the tale of Wabiken (Wapiken), tells of a boy born of, or turned into, a long yam who took his name from a quarrel over a broken taro-yam, and through whom yam gardening and its magic first came to the land; the narrative survives in recorded oral tellings from the Glawe and Kumun clans of the Maprik district. At the great old korambo of Apangai, Puti's masks are carved at the roof-apex and painted across the facade, set at the heart of the sacred chamber and guarded by carved 'sons' and painted 'daughters'. Sources differ on how many beings his names denote: field accounts equate Puti with the nggwalndu and with the names Nggwal and Dendwin, treating the provider-god, the paramount clan spirit and the yam-hero as a single figure, while the ordering of masks on the Apangai facade distinguishes Dendwin from Puti.

Children

• Wapinyan

Domains

• yam cultivation
• prosperity

Powers

• bring the cultivated long yam to the Abelam land
• grant men the power to work and succeed

Relations

• parent: WapinyanThe wapinyan, 'children of the yams', are reckoned his sons.Field record, 'The Story of Wabiken' (duba.ro, 2017), describing the carved 'children of the yams' as the sons of Puti guarding his chamber. (secondary)
• companion: DendwinNamed together among the great ancestral facade masks; some accounts treat Dendwin as an aspect of Puti.Field photo-essay, 'Abelam's spirit houses, gods and yams (Maprik, PNG)' (duba.ro, 2017), naming Dendwin and Puti among the facade masks at Apangai. (secondary)
• companion: KwatbilDisplayed together in the korambo, Puti at the centre and the bird-being Kwatbil crowning the roof.Field photo-essay, 'Abelam's spirit houses, gods and yams (Maprik, PNG)' (duba.ro, 2017). (secondary)

Sources

• Puti, identified with the yam-child hero Wabiken, is the great ancestral being who provides the Abelam staple food and is enshrined at the centre of the ceremonial house.: The Story of Wabiken, oral narrative recorded from Wuaikua Nera (Glawe clan) et al., Maprik area (duba.ro, 2017). (primary); Field photo-essay, 'Abelam's spirit houses, gods and yams (Maprik, PNG)' (duba.ro, 2017). (secondary)
• In the Maprik account Puti is equated with the nggwalndu and further named Nggwal and Dendwin, so that the founding yam-hero and the paramount clan spirit are one being.: Field photo-essay, 'Abelam's spirit houses, gods and yams (Maprik, PNG)' (duba.ro, 2017). (secondary)