Figure | temes nevimbur

The figure, modelled from clay on top of a stick, comes from Malekula, an island in the state of Vanuatu, the former New Hebrides. Its use was closely linked to the men-only Nevimbur secret society. The admission of a new member was the occasion for a ceremony, in which the beings of primeval times were made as life-size figures. They were called temes, an expression for the souls of the ancestors. The ceremony took place in three successive ritual cycles. It was a theatrical staging of the mythical primeval event with the temes figures as the main protagonists. Held up and played by men, they protruded over a fence, giving the audience the impression that they were dancing themselves. At the end of the first performance, the figures were beaten to death with a club and then recreated in large numbers. Finally, the acting figures were impaled on fence posts and then burned together with the fence. This act of destruction symbolises human decay, and the creation of new temes figures is interpreted as a symbol of the renewal of life. Death and rebirth play an essential role in all initiation rites that accompany the entry into a new phase of life. Admission to the secret society was a special privilege and had to be purchased. Payment was made with pigs as currency, whereby boars with large tusks in particular were considered the epitome of wealth. For this, one came into possession of a number of temes figures. Author: Heike Gerlach, Translation: Timothy Connell