Giant Initiator
Marind · deity · primordial · Recorded classification
Initiation-giant dema; the Sosom cult was analysed at length by Wirz and Van Baal. Some myths connect him to ritualized homosexuality in male initiation. Treated as deity.
Domains
- male initiation
- thunder
Powers
- drives off the women and initiates the young men
Epithets
- Sosom The giant ogre-dema who comes each year for the boys’ initiation and returns them as menJan van Baal, Dema: Description and Analysis of Marind-anim Culture (secondary)
Sources
- Sosom is a giant dema of the Marind-anim whose mythic wanderings underlie the great male-initiation cult, his coming heralded by the bullroarer, during which boys are initiated and women must keep away.: van Baal, Jan. Dema: Description and Analysis of Marind-anim Culture (1966) (secondary); Wirz, Paul. Die Marind-anim von Holländisch-Süd-Neu-Guinea (1922–25) (secondary)