‘Malagan’
in New Ireland
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‘Malagan’ are ceremonies which mark important events such as birth and inheritance in northern New Ireland. The most important malagan ceremonies are memorials for the dead.
‘Malagan’ ceremonies involve sculptures and masks, which are also called malagan.
The sculptures are made in secret and put on public display for a short time. Then they must be destroyed - usually by leaving them to rot or by selling them to foreigners. The sculptures represent part of the life-force of the clan and the living relatives reclaim this power by destroying these images.
The owners of a ‘malagan’ sculpture keep the copyright of the design, even after it has been destroyed. They can exchange these remembered images or pass them on to other members of their clan.
This system of remembered images, which can be exchanged or inherited, is part of a larger system of land ownership and use.
“...tell those people who would look at the malanggans that they were not just carved, painted pieces of wood, but… all the work and wealth that had gone into the making of them - the large taro crops, the many pigs, all the tsera [money], the cooking of the feast, and other essentials of the rites. These, said the old men of Lesu, are the important things to remember about malanggans.”
from ‘Life in Lesu’, Hortense Powdermaker, 1933.
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