Sanggriayau
Kwoma · numen · Kwoma traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Sanggriayau is one of the two named women in whom the female spirit of the Nokwi ceremony is embodied, the counterpart of Hameiyau. In the rite the two figures were carried into the ceremonial house as the men shouted that Sanggriayau and Hameiyau were escaping and must be caught, and the pots broken by the masked nogwidgi were said to have been smashed by the two female spirits. The pair are associated with their respective clans.
Domains
- female fertility
Powers
- flees through the village and is ritually pursued
Relations
- companion: HameiyauPaired with Hameiyau 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
- Sanggriayau is one of two named, near life-size women represented by the Nokwi carvings, pursued in the rite alongside Hameiyau.: Douglas Newton, Crocodile and Cassowary: Religious Art of the Upper Sepik River, New Guinea (Museum of Primitive Art, 1971) (primary)