Ancestor Pole (Mbitoro)

The Kamoro people live in southwest New Guinea, just west of the Asmat people, with whom they share a number of cultural and artistic affinities. In the past, Kamoro ritual life centered around a complex cycle of feasts involving the creation of a variety of types of wood sculpture. Kamoro ancestor poles (mbitoro), like Asmat bis poles, were carved for funerary feasts and depicted members of the community who had recently died. According to Kamoro beliefs, a living person consists of three components: the spirit (ipu), the inner body (nata), and the physical body (kao). At death, the spirit and the inner body depart, leaving the physical body, which is represented by the figure on the ancestor pole. During the funeral feast, the mbitoro were raised, and the deceased were praised for their achievements in providing food for the community. Men were eulogized as hunters and fishermen, and women for making sago, a starchy staple food obtained from the trunk of the sago-palm tree. The mourners emphasized that these tasks now could be performed equally well by the living and asked the spirits of the deceased to depart. Mbitoro were also erected during male initiation rituals to symbolize the presence of the dead.