Nyonirajé clanman Ancestor (creator of the first Cockatoo feather-spring, who was hunted by the Spirit-cannibal at Uborida), and beaks of the Papuan Hornbill (buborianö’e), 2017
Ilma has painted the first part of an important story for the Ömie who live in the Gora valley region between Huvaimo (Mount Lamington) and the Hydrographer’s Range. This is...
Ilma has painted the first part of an important story for the Ömie who live in the Gora valley region between Huvaimo (Mount Lamington) and the Hydrographer’s Range. This is the story of the Nyonirajé clanman Ancestor - inventor of the first Cockatoo feather-spring who was hunted by the Spirit-cannibal at Uborida (Jordan River). These events occurred in lands just to the south of Gora village. The Nyonirajé clan-man is depicted with his gojaje di’ehe, tail-feathers of the Sulpher-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua galertia, also known as the White Cockatoo). These feather-springs are used in men’s head-dresses during customary dance ceremonies and are an integral marker of Ömie cultural identity. They are particularly important to male initiates who perform after the completion of their Ujawé tattooing rites. Ilma explains how the Nyonirajé man made an incision in the middle of the Cockatoo feather so that it would bend. This bend allowed the feather to bounce up and down in men’s headdresses during dancing. The up-anddown motion of the feather creates a hypnotic effect to onlookers, very similar to the hypnotic effects produced by the many species of male bird-of-paradises during their courtship dances. Sometimes cassowary and hornbill feathers are also used by the Ömie to create these feathersprings.
Story of the Nyonirajé clan man and Spirit-cannibal of Uborida [2]
The Nyonirajé man put the gojaje di’ehe (Cockatoo feather-spring) in his hair and left the village just before daybreak to hunt for fish in Uborida (Jordan River). On the path to the river there was a Spirit-cannibal [3]. The Spirit-cannibal saw the Nyonirajé man coming down the path. At the swimming hole called Maruro, the Spirit-cannibal jumped down the waterfall called Juoho and hid behind it, waiting to attack and eat the Nyonirajé man. The Nyonirajé man saw the Spirit-cannibal was going to attack him so he ran from him to Da’o village. The Nyonirajé clan man left a footprint in the stone near the Juoho waterfall at Uborida. This footprint-stone can still be seen today in the land to the south of Gora village in Ömie territory.
[1] This story was told by Fate Savari (Isawdi) at Gora village in 2010, orally translated from Ömie to English by Raphael Bujava and transcribed by Brennan King. [2] Also known simply as the Nyoni clan. [3] The Misajé clan Spirit Man and the Nyonirajé clan-man were distant relatives, a familial relationship referred to as “cousin-brothers”.