Janare figures

These two figures of a man and a woman may have stood on either side of a maloca (communal house). They may represent ancestors who are said to protect their owner from evil forces – acting as a person's eyes and ears while they were asleep.

Carved figures were also used in naming ceremonies – afterwards they were destroyed.

Missionaries disapproved of such figures, and they were rarely made after the 1920s.

In this section

• The next item in this section is : Metal Ear Ornaments
• The collection of Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Lex Gielgud

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