Bomai

Bomai is the innermost sacred name of the great god of Mer, the power worshipped publicly as Malo. In one tradition Bomai arrived at the island first and took the shape of an octopus; caught by a fishing woman and brought to land, he was later joined by his sister's son Malo, and the two were fused into a single divinity who taught the Meriam the drum, the dance and the ritual law. So closely guarded was the name Bomai that its utterance was restricted to fully initiated men of the cult, and in ordinary speech the god was always addressed as Malo. Because of this concealment the records of the Cambridge Expedition preserve the two names in shifting relation, sometimes as one being, sometimes as kinsmen who became indistinguishable.

Domains

• initiation and cult
• sea

Powers

• holds the secret name known only to initiates
• teaches the drum and the dance

Relations

• companion: MaloBomai is the secret name of the god worshipped publicly as Malo; the two are fused into one divinity, and sources record them variously as one being or as kinsmen who became indistinguishable.Haddon, A.C. (ed.) 1908. Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits, Vol. VI. Cambridge University Press. (primary)

Sources

• Bomai is the secret sacred name of the god of Mer, its utterance restricted to initiated men; in a variant tradition Bomai arrived first as an octopus and was joined by his nephew Malo, the two becoming one deity.: Haddon, A.C. (ed.) 1908. Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits, Vol. VI. Cambridge University Press. (primary); True Echoes / British Library, 'Mer / Murray Island, Torres Strait, 1898'. (secondary)