Dance ritual mouthpiece of a hornbill

One of the most important religious rituals in New Ireland is the Malagan Ritual. It combinds social gatherings with initiation rites and politics, for example to settle arguments or gain a higher social reputation. In general, Malagan festivities are held as burial rites to mourn the dead. Near the end of the Malagan ceremony a holy dance was performed in which the dancers used wood carvings such as figures of a Hornbill (tropical and subtropical Birds). Those carvings were held on the dancers mouth while dancing. The meaning of those rites is still unknown. The displayed carving was shown in the exhibition “Eigen und fremd in Glaubenswelten” (27th of September 2014 to 12th of April 2015).