Wogosia: an annual renewal rite in the eastern Solomon Islands

Article Abstract:

Wogosia, or 'the worship', is the biggest religious festival of the people of the island of Santa Catalina in the eastern Solomon Islands. Wogosia is a renewal rite celebrating the start of the new year and includes the last of a series of first-fruit ceremonies. Wogosia formerly used to be a progressive festival, moving from one island to another. The festival involves a petition to numerous supernatural deities and a ritual cleansing and purification of the island and its people. A detailed description of the festival is provided.

Reports, Festivals, Rites, ceremonies and celebrations, Religious aspects, Solomon Islands, Santa Catalina Island

---

Behind the scenes: betel chewing paraphernalia from Asia and the Pacific

Article Abstract:

Betel chewing and the paraphernalia for such activity are discussed. A common exercise among the people of South and Southeast Asia, betel chewing is the practice of sucking and chewing on sliced areca nut, betel leaf and lime and then spitting it out after 15 to 30 minutes. Betel chewing enhances the person's 'sense of well-being', inhibits tooth decay and freshens breath. Though it is still a custom in some rural area, the practice is gradually dying out in the cities.

Materials, Betel

---

Decorated canoe prow-boards from the Trobriand Islands

Article Abstract:

The article describes the artwork typical of prow-boards for canoes made by the Massim, a tribal society from the Trobriand Islands off the coast of Papua New Guinea. These boards were lobed, asymmetrical, elaborately carved, and painted red, white and black in intricate patterns.

Papua New Guinea, Antiquities, Canoes and canoeing, Canoeing, Canoes, Decoration and finishing, Woodwork, Woodworking, Trobriand Islands

Similar abstracts:

• Abstracts: Ethiopian Folk Art: The Leavitt Collection. Response. The Assam dragon: folklore and folkloristics in India's long-closed Northeast Frontier
• Abstracts: Collectors are the real looters. Ricardo Elia responds. The war within the war: in southern Iraq specialized troops pursue armed looters
• Abstracts: Lost Hacienda: Scholars reconstruct the lives of laborers on a Yucatan plantation
• Abstracts: The Thomsian heritage in the Folklore Society (London). Genres of Comoran folklore
• Abstracts: Temples along the Indus. Discovery of a new temple on the Indus. The lost architecture of Ancient Rome: insights from the Severan Plan and the Regionary Catalogues

This website is not affiliated with document authors or copyright owners. This page is provided for informational purposes only. Unintentional errors are possible.