Hameiyau
Kwoma · numen · Kwoma traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Hameiyau is one of the two named women in whom the female spirit of the Nokwi ceremony is made manifest, the other being Sanggriayau. During the rite the two figures were carried into the ceremonial house while the men cried out that Hameiyau and Sanggriayau were escaping and must be caught; the women of the village fled from them in fear. The masked performers, the nogwidgi, then ranged through the settlement smashing clay pots, destruction afterwards attributed to the two female spirits themselves. The two are said to belong to their respective clans rather than being described as sisters.
Domains
- female fertility
Powers
- flees through the village and is ritually pursued
- shatters the clay pots of the villagers
Relations
- companion: SanggriayauPaired with Sanggriayau as the two women of the Nokwi ceremony.Douglas Newton, Crocodile and Cassowary: Religious Art of the Upper Sepik River, New Guinea (Museum of Primitive Art, 1971) (primary)
- companion: NokwiOne of the two women in whom the nokwi spirit is embodied.Douglas Newton, Crocodile and Cassowary: Religious Art of the Upper Sepik River, New Guinea (Museum of Primitive Art, 1971) (primary)
Sources
- Hameiyau is one of two named, near life-size women represented by the Nokwi carvings; in the rite the two are said to escape and are pursued, and the smashing of villagers' pots is attributed to them.: Douglas Newton, Crocodile and Cassowary: Religious Art of the Upper Sepik River, New Guinea (Museum of Primitive Art, 1971) (primary)