Mamul
Kaluli · numen · Kaluli traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
The mamul are a class of aloof spirit-hunters in the Kaluli unseen world, distant from human affairs and indifferent to the living. Their great ceremonies and dances, staged in the reflected country on the slopes of Mount Bosavi, are heard on the visible side of the world as the thunder and downpours that mark the turning of the seasons. Unlike the amiable dead or the territorial place-spirits, the mamul are not petitioned or bargained with; they figure in Kaluli thought chiefly as the unseen authors of weather. The name is also transcribed mamult in the ethnographic record.
Domains
- storms and thunder
- spirit hunting
Powers
- brings on seasonal storms through ceremony
Sources
- The mamul are aloof spirit-hunters of the unseen world whose thunderous ceremonies are held to cause the seasonal storms of the Bosavi region.: Edward L. Schieffelin, The Sorrow of the Lonely and the Burning of the Dancers (1976). (secondary); 'Kaluli (Bosavi): History, Religion, Life Society', Facts and Details (ioa.factsanddetails.com). (secondary)