Young men's house on Mios Korwar (or Mios Bepondi)

Men and boys
The photo was taken by a member of the North New Guinea Expedition. Gijsbert van der Sande, a physician with the expedition, recalled their visit to Mios Bepondi. The houses on the island were not particularly special, he noted, they looked like temporary structures. This was the only house the villagers had built with any care. It was made as a dormitory for boys aged around 12 and up, and for unmarried men. Besides being a place to sleep, it also played a key role in village life: it was the men’s house. Only men could enter. They held meetings here, and kept their figures, masks, skulls, shields, costumes and musical instruments here. Most importantly, this was where the rituals took place in which boys entered manhood. Men’s houses built for this purpose were common throughout New Guinea at the time.

Decoration
The roof of the house is shaped like a tortoise shell or an upturned boat, with the front and back protruding. Figures are depicted on the right wall and on the beam below the entrance. Expedition member Van der Sande noted that these showed men fighting. Ancestor figures appear at the ends of the corner columns. They are carved in the so-called korwar style: square heads, anchor-like noses, deep-set eyes under protruding brows.

Missionaries
Protestant missionaries tried to convert the Papuans on the north coast of New Guinea to Christianity. In their ardour they insisted that the men’s houses, which they considered heathen, be torn down. They called them ‘spirit temples’. At first, their efforts went unrewarded, but in 1907 the inhabitants of Cenderawasih Bay (formerly Geelvink Bay), where Mios Bepondi lies, began adopting Protestantism en masse. By around 1920, most of the men’s houses in the area had disappeared.

13 x 18cm (5 1/8 x 7 1/16in.)

Source: collectie.tropenmuseum.nl