Mendangumeli
Mendangumeli is the great ancestral crocodile-spirit of the Iatmul deluge myth, recorded by Eric Silverman at Tambunum. When the grieving man Wobowi brought shell valuables and animals to the spirit's swamp home and begged him to punish a village that would not share his mourning, Mendangumeli rose from the bottom of his water-hole and demanded to hear the tale. Persuaded, he instructed Wobowi to build a platform atop a tall palm; after five days of rain, two water lilies sprouted before the men's ceremonial house, and when villagers plucked them, torrents of water burst up through the holes and drowned the settlement. The crocodile then carried Wobowi and his household to dry land. In a second telling the spirit turns on Wobowi's own daughter, marking the myth's darker undercurrent of male power over female fertility.
Domains
- flood
- water
Powers
- send the deluge
- carry the supplicant to safety
Epithets
- the great spirit of the water-holeSilverman, Eric K. 2016. Journal of American Folklore 129(512): 171-202. (secondary)
Relations
- ally: WobowiAnswers Wobowi's plea, sends the flood that destroys his village, and carries him to safety.Silverman, Eric K. 2016. Journal of American Folklore 129(512): 171-202. (secondary)
Sources
- Mendangumeli is the ancestral spirit-crocodile of the eastern Iatmul flood myth, who rises from his swamp water-hole to unleash and steer the deluge.: Silverman, Eric K. 2016. 'The Waters of Mendangumeli.' Journal of American Folklore 129(512): 171-202. (secondary)