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Dema deity
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What is a dema deity in New Guinean mythology?
In the mythology of the Marind-anim people of southern New Guinea, dema deities are mythical ancestral beings central to the dema deity complex. A key event in these myths involves the ancestral tribe slaying a dema deity, which marks the transition from the ancestral world to the human world. This transition introduces human attributes like sexuality, food cultivation, and death, contrasting with the previous asexual, spontaneously-fed, and immortal existence.
The dema deity complex, exemplified by the Ceramese myth of Hainuwele, reflects the idea that death and dismemberment are necessary for the propagation of life, especially in cultures that cultivate tubers.
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Where are dema deities most commonly found in New Guinea's myths?
Dema deities are most commonly found in the myths of the Marind-anim people of southern New Guinea. The mythology surrounding dema deities is referred to as the dema deity complex. A key event in these myths involves the ancestral tribe slaying a dema deity, which marks the transition from the ancestral world to the human world and introduces human attributes like sexuality, food cultivation, and death.
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What roles do dema deities play in these traditional stories?
The Marind-anim of southern New Guinea have myths featuring dema deities, who are mythical ancestral beings central to their beliefs. Dema deities are viewed as both ancestors of clans and creators of the world and everything in it.
The defining act in dema myths involves the slaying of a dema deity by the ancestral tribe, which marks the transition from the ancestral world to the human world and introduces human attributes like sexuality, food cultivation, and death. During initiations, which can last for extended periods, the dema were represented by costumed men and effigies, with costumes alluding to the dema and their creations.
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How do dema deities relate to the origins of plants, animals, or people in these myths?
Dema deities in New Guinean mythology are mythical ancestral beings. The act of slaying a dema deity by the ancestral tribe brings about the transition from the ancestral world to the human one.
In one myth, a dema man plants a coconut, from which a girl, Hainuwele, grows. During a festival, Hainuwele excretes valuable objects. The dema men kill her, and from her dismembered body, new plant species, especially tubers, appear, becoming the Ceramese's chief food.
The death and dismemberment motif reflects how tubers must be cut and buried to propagate. An ancestral (dema) goddess, sometimes in plant form, produces food asexually from her body. When the people kill her, crops grow from her body parts.
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What is a common story about the sacrifice of a dema deity?
The most common story regarding the sacrifice of a dema deity comes from the Marind-anim people of southern New Guinea. The central event involves the slaying of a dema deity by the ancestral tribe, which marks the transition from the ancestral world to the human world. This act brings about human attributes such as sexuality, the cultivation of food, and death.
A widely known example is the Ceramese myth of Hainuwele. In this myth, Hainuwele was killed and dismembered, and her body parts were planted, giving rise to new plant species that became the people's main food source. This reflects the idea that a tuber must be cut and buried to propagate.
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How have the beliefs about dema deities influenced New Guinean culture or rituals today?
The mythology of the Marind-anim people of southern New Guinea revolves around mythical ancestral beings known as dema deities. Dema deities are central figures, considered both ancestors and creators of the world and everything in it.
Dema deities are represented in initiations through costumed men and effigies. The costumes are allusive, recalling the dema and their creations through objects accumulated on a fibre base. The most elaborate performances of the three main cults were held by groups living along the coast. The belief in dema deities reflects the broader Melanesian orientation to ancestors and the past, where ancestral spirits participate in daily life. Human success is believed to be linked to support from these invisible forces, elicited through magic, prayer, and sacrifice.
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Dema deity, any of several mythical ancestral beings of the Marind-anim of southern New Guinea, the centre of a body of mythology called the dema deity complex. The decisive act in dema myths is the slaying of a dema (ancestral) deity by the ancestral tribe. This act brings about the transition from the ancestral world to the human one. In many ancient myths, the creation of humankind occurs after the creation of the cosmos. Humans and those attributes that are most decisively human—sexuality, the cultivation of food, and death—are viewed as a decisive break with the previous mode of existence, which was characterized by asexual reproduction, the spontaneous production of food, and immortality.
The rupture between the divine world and the ensuing human world may be brought about by theft of a divine property (e.g., the stealing of fire or grain by a culture hero), which, if viewed as an evil act, regards the human condition as punishment (the Fall complex). In other traditions, man is defined as a clever thief, and the human condition and culture is perceived as the seizing of an opportunity (the Prometheus or trickster complex). Another view is that the rupture between the divine-ancestral and the human worlds is associated with the slaying of an ancestor or an ancestral deity by the ancestors. The term for this structure is the dema deity complex.
The most widely quoted example of the dema deity complex is a version of the Ceramese myth of Hainuwele recorded by the German anthropologist Adolf E. Jensen. According to this myth, a dema man named Amenta found a coconut speared on a boar’s tusk and in a dream was instructed to plant it. In six days a palm had sprung from the nut and flowered. Amenta cut his finger, and his blood dripped on the blossom. Nine days later a girl grew asexually from the blossom, and in three more days she became sexually mature. Amenta named her Hainuwele, which means “coconut branch.” During a major religious festival, Hainuwele stood in the midst of the dance grounds and excreted valuable objects. After nine days of this activity, the dema men dug a hole in the middle of the dance ground, threw Hainuwele in, and danced the ground firm on top of her. Amenta dug up her corpse, dismembered it, and planted the pieces. These pieces gave birth to plant species previously unknown, especially tubers, which have since been the Ceramese’s chief food. Another dema goddess forced the dema men to go through a labyrinth. Some became ordinary mortals; others changed into animals and spirits.
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Since its initial discovery in New Guinea, the dema complex has been found to be characteristic of the culture of many other tuber cultivators. The basic motif of death and dismemberment appears to reflect the fact that a tuber must be cut up and the pieces buried in order to propagate the species.