Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Asmat Folklore, 1


W O M A N
(The Beginner)

Long time ago, Asmat is very quite. Then the mother earth give birth of her two daughters, the are ucukamaraot –the spirit of banyan tree and paskomaraot—spirit of the besi tree. Those two spirits than appear to be ucu –banyan tree and pas –besi tree, after the existence of ucu and pas then appear other spirits than turn to be plants and animals.
Mother earth is the mother of ucumakaraot and paskomaraot, so that Asmat’s woman are tret as cesar which meaning is sacred. Asmat people also regard the woman as eram that is white magis that represent fertility and strength, so thosenwoman become bu ambop, the life for man and children. Asmat men who relly comprehend Asmat culture will give their respect to woman.
Asmat woman are cem aman juri, dog that will keep the master and face their master’s enemies. On the other words, woman are shields for the men to face the enemies. Dog is animal that bring fire for the people. It is called kokoputs, or the symbol of their ancestor that give comfort, affection and life for their family.
Asmat woman are kuskus that is holding their chid. Cuscus is a sacred animal that represented in a fine art pattern as Cuscus tail or fach ep wow. So that a woman is treated as a super power human being, because their origin is from sacred creature, in the other word, they woman us a manifestation of ancestor’s spirit, which is called cesar or  teser
In Asmat people’s perception, a woman is a beyor or ir beyor. Beyor is parrot or urip,  ir is white cockatoo. Those birds symbolize their ancestors’ existence. This is drawn in Asmat’s satue as a bill picture. Those birds are used on the head when they join cultural party. Then asmat also place te woman as taar, or red wild lily, beautifull and symbolize their ancestors, also be called as Taaraot or Teweraut. This is a symbol that Asmat woman are not only beautiful in face but also beautiful in mind, similr with the taar.
            So, what happed with the Teweruts? The beautiful lady who are always written in every story about Asmat people?


Dewi Linggasari

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