Wasau
Kwoma · numen · Kwoma traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Wasau (was au) is the spirit made present in the modelled pottery heads of the same name, displayed on ceremonial platforms during the Kwoma yam-harvest ceremonies. In the myth of the pottery clans the wasau is the being that the ancestor Sopermel carried in his belly. The term also denotes the yam-ceremony spirit-head more generally: among the neighbouring Nukuma and Yasyin-Mayo peoples wasau is used where the Kwoma speak of yena, and museum records pair the two names for the same class of object.
Domains
- yam fertility
- pottery and ceramics
Powers
- inhabits the modelled pottery head displayed at the harvest
Relations
- companion: SopermelThe wasau is the being the ancestor Sopermel carried in his belly.Oceanic Arts Australia, catalogue record for a Washkuk ritual pottery head (wasau) (secondary)
Sources
- Wasau is the spirit embodied in the modelled pottery heads of the same name, displayed at the Kwoma yam-harvest ceremony; in some Sepik groups the term stands where the Kwoma use yena.: Art Gallery of New South Wales, collection record for 'Wasau (head for yam ceremony)', Kwoma people (secondary); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, collection record 'Head for Yam Ceremony (Yena or Was Au)' (secondary)