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THE IATMUL’S ELABORATE CEREMONIAL LIFE

The Iatmul’s ceremonial life is marked by complexity and theatricality. It encompasses dances, music, feasting, and exchanges that reinforce both mythic ancestry and contemporary social ties. Ceremonies often involve elaborate processes through which participants feel connected to their ancestors or become part of the mythical world. During major ceremonies, guests are welcomed with dances and gifts, such as pigs and kava plants. Reciprocal exchanges then take place at follow-up events. The choreography, arrangement of dance groups, and ritual actions express collective identity, cultural knowledge, and the transformation from chaos to social order, as seen at Sepik ceremonial sites.

Men’s ceremonial houses (haus tambaran) as ritual hubs

Across the Middle Sepik, these houses anchor ritual life, initiations, and the guardianship of secret knowledge. Ethnographic and art-historical studies document the architectural significance of Iatmul men’s houses and their role in storing and displaying sacred objects. Historically, they were also associated with warfare and the exhibition of human skulls on façades and gables.

The naven rite: accomplishment, inversion, and social integration

The naven is a transvestite ceremony first documented by Bateson. It involves:

• Gender Inversion: Male initiates dress as women, and women may don male attire, to dramatize social roles and ancestral transformations.
• Satirical Performance: The ritual includes mockery and inversion of everyday hierarchies to serve as a social commentary on power, gender, and kinship.
• Reinforcement of Kinship Ties: Through exaggerated acts, the Naven ritual emphasizes the complementary roles of affinal and consanguineal kin, especially the mother’s brother and the father’s sister.

The naven is not merely a spectacle; it is a mechanism of social control that publicly sanctions or rewards behavior and maintains the moral order. Bateson’s classic analysis of naven, or celebrations of first-time achievements, shows gendered and kin-based inversions (e.g., flamboyant performances by mothers’ brothers) that temporarily upend everyday roles to renew social ties. Later scholarship has expanded on this concept, viewing naven as a space where masculinity, motherhood, and joking/mockery express power and affection. In this context, maternal and paternal kinship idioms are ritually connected.

A mother dancing naven for her child. ©Florence Weiss, 1974. Source: Christian Kaufmann, The mother and her ancestral face. A commentary on Iatmul iconography, in “Journal de la Société des Océanistes”, 2010.

Headhunting and Warfare Rituals

Historically, headhunting raids were an integral part of Iatmul ceremonialism.

• Initiation Requirement: Young men had to secure a head to complete their initiation, which symbolized prowess and earned them the favor of their ancestors.
• Inter-Village Warfare: Raids were often directed against eastern Iatmul villages, creating cycles of retaliation and alliance-building.
• Ceremonial Celebration: Successful raids were celebrated with dances, feasts, and displays of trophies, integrating warfare into the ritual calendar and reinforcing martial values.

Headhunting was deeply linked to the Iatmul haus tambaran, the ceremonial and spiritual hub of the community. Skulls from headhunting raids were ritually displayed, stored, and venerated in the haus tambaran, serving as trophies and spiritual entities within the male ritual sphere. The skulls of slain enemies were buried beneath the major supporting posts of the haus tambaran. They were also adorned on the cornices and windows or kept on special racks and shelves inside the house. These skulls were material evidence of martial prowess, ancestral favor, and clan prestige.

Acquiring a head was a crucial requirement for male initiation—young men only became full adults and clan members after completing this rite. The spirit house was a venue for meetings, planning raids, and performing rituals associated with warfare, spiritual communication, and communal feasting.

Skulls were incorporated into religious and narrative traditions. Ancestral and enemy heads formed the spiritual “foundations” of the haus tambaran, connecting the living to the dead and uniting current generations with legendary founders and warriors.

The suppression of headhunting began during the Australian colonial administration of the 1920s and 1930s. Efforts to establish law and order included public executions of convicted headhunters and led to the practice’s formal end by the mid-1930s. Christianization further shifted the ritual significance of the Haus Tambaran. The ceremonial use of actual skulls faded, and overmodeled or symbolic skulls and masks increasingly replaced real heads in rituals, art, and displays.

Although warfare and headhunting are no longer practiced, their spiritual and artistic legacy persists. The haus tambaran remains the locus of male ritual, initiation, and communal memory. Its history has been reframed for present uses, including heritage tourism and community identity, and the artistic motifs of skulls and ancestor spirits remain prevalent. The focus has shifted from real violence to symbolic actions. The men’s house is now a permanent marker of tradition, identity, and clan solidarity in the modern world.

In short, headhunting ceremonies were integral to the ritual life of the Haus Tambaran. However, colonial and missionary interventions in the early 20th century catalyzed a transformation toward nonviolent, symbolic, and commemorative rites centered around the same communal space.

Skulls on a shelf inside the haus tambaran of the village of Imas, along the banks of the Sepik. Photo by Jake Warga for NPR.

The people of Imas speak the Karam language and identify as the Karam or Imas people. While some Sepik villages are strongly associated with larger groups, such as the Iatmul, Chambri, or Abelam, Imas is specifically recognized for maintaining its own distinct language and culture. It is classified separately from these neighboring tribes. Imas is also known for its dual structure: “Imas No. 2,” the contemporary settlement, and “Imas No. 1,” the traditional village preserved for cultural performances and tourist interaction. This arrangement enables the Imas people to sustain their linguistic heritage and ritual practices, particularly through dance, thereby maintaining their cultural identity within the broader Sepik River region.

Skull hook, in form of carved female figure with 6 legs splayed to make radiating branches, back of figure supported on carved crocodile, painted with red, black and white pigment, from Sepik River region, 1851-1925. Science Museum Group, © The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum, UK.

Sepik skull hooks were used in ceremonies to publicly display and venerate ancestral or enemy skulls. The skulls were physically suspended on the hooks and often decorated for ritual efficacy. These carved hooks were usually attached to posts or hung from rafters inside the haus tambaran.  The human skull (sometimes overmodeled with clay to recreate facial features or adorned with shells, feathers, and other decorations) was hung directly on the hook, often through the foramen magnum or via cords threaded through drilled holes in the cranium. This elevated arrangement placed the skull in a position of reverence and visibility amidst other sacred items. Depending on the ritual context, the hooks enabled the skull to be exposed or concealed, ensuring that only initiated men could view or interact with them.

The Cult of the Ancestors

The Iatmul’s practice of overmodeling and painting human skulls is central to their ancestor cult. This practice is also found among other Sepik River societies, though in varying forms.

Several years after burial, the skulls of venerated ancestors (especially clan founders or important “big men”) are exhumed, cleansed, and modeled over with river clay and pigments to recreate the deceased’s features. Shells, human hair, and other decorations were added to enhance the likeness and symbolic potency.

Color and pattern denoted clan, gender, and social status. White designs typically indicated male ancestors, while black designs indicated female ancestors.

The artistry involved is remarkable. The Iatmul are renowned for their skill in creating recognizable representations by transforming skeletal remains into spiritual portraits.

These overmodeled skulls were stored and displayed in men’s houses. They acted as tangible conduits to the ancestral realm and repositories of clan history. They were also sources of group vitality and protection.  They played active roles in rituals commemorating the dead, invoking ancestral guidance and favor and marking events such as warfare, success or major ceremonies. The display of ancestor skulls affirmed the continuity of clan identity, maintained spiritual potency, and demonstrated social prestige during public rites.

Similar overmodeling practices, often linked to ancestor veneration and ritual performance, are found along the Sepik and in several other areas of Melanesia and Oceania. These practices were developed especially among the Iatmul and were documented in the Neolithic era.

However, with the spread of Christianity and colonial rule, the ritual significance of overmodeled skulls diminished, though the art form persisted and was sometimes oriented toward the tourist market or museum collections. Today, older specimens are museum treasures or objects of cultural pride. However, their ceremonial role remains a powerful symbol of ancestral connection in Sepik culture.

LEFT: Iatmul overmodeled skull, late 19th / early 20th century. Made with human skull and hair, clay, wax, and shell. De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA, USA. Creative Commons, public domain.

CENTER: Iatmul overmodeled skull, late 19th / early 20th century, height 20.0 cm, 7.9 in. Artkhade Data Base.

RIGHT: Detail of a Iatmul overmodeled skull reliquary from the late 19th / early 20th century. Made of human skull and hair, pearl-shell, shell disks, embedded in the earth mud on the side of the cheek, cane, sago palm pith, earth and pigments, wood an rattan armature. Jacaranda Art Gallery, New York, USA.

Totemism, naming, and the cosmological register of ritual

In Iatmul society and other Sepik tribes, totemism is closely tied to ceremonial life, influencing social identity, ritual practices, and artistic expression throughout the region.

Each Sepik clan is associated with a specific totem, most often a powerful animal such as a crocodile, eagle, snake, or hornbill, which serves as the group’s spiritual emblem and ancestor.

The Iatmul people’s foundational myth is that they descended from a primordial crocodile. This belief is enacted and renewed during ceremonies by invoking crocodile spirits, carving crocodile effigies, and using crocodile imagery in ritual art and architecture.

Ceremonies such as initiation rites, yam cult rituals, and funerary events often take place in the Haus Tambaran, which is adorned with totemic carvings and spirit paintings.

Ritual paraphernalia, such as masks, drums, and lime containers, frequently feature animal and ancestral motifs. These motifs are believed to attract ancestral power, mediate with spirits, and reaffirm supernatural protection for the community.

Clan totems are fundamental to social organization, determining membership, marriage alliances, and authority within the village. Elders who are familiar with totemic emblems and myths hold high ritual and political status.

This belief system imbues everyday objects, art, and ceremonial acts with spiritual significance, transforming them into vehicles for ancestral communication, healing, and the legitimization of communal leadership.

Major life events—from birth to death—are marked by ceremonies that activate totemic bonds and express the community’s connection to its mythic past and ongoing connection to the spirits and the natural world.

Thus, totemism permeates every aspect of ceremonial life in Iatmul and Sepik societies, serving as a living bridge between origins, identity, ritual, and artistic achievement.

The most famous example is the male initiation scarification ritual, in which boys’ bodies are cut to resemble crocodile skin. This ritual physically and spiritually aligns the boys with their clan’s totem, marking their transformation into full members and connecting them to their ancestral lineage.

LEFT AND CENTER: Totem poles, Middle Sepik Region, East Sepik Province.

RIGHT: Totem pole at the haus tambaran of the Iatmul village of Kanganaman, Middle Sepik Region. Photo by Rita Willaert – Flickr.

Initiation, Identity, and the Crocodile Cosmogony

A comprehensive tudy of male initiation through crocodile scarification among the Iatmul people and neighboring groups of the Middle Sepik River, including the Chambri and Kaningara, reveals a deeply symbolic, painful, and spiritually significant rite of passage. This ritual is a physical transformation and a cultural, spiritual, and social rebirth. It serves as a rite of passage and as a ritual embodiment of ancestral power, especially that of the crocodile, which is revered in Sepik mythology as a creator and a primordial ancestor.

While the Iatmul are the most well-known practitioners of this tradition, similar practices exist among other Sepik-speaking groups. These traditions vary in symbolism, execution, and contemporary relevance.

The Iatmul Crocodile Scarification Ritual: Purpose and Symbolism

The crocodile is central to Iatmul cosmology. They believe they are descended from a primordial crocodile, and they believe that the world itself rests on the back of this ancestral being. The scarification ritual symbolizes an initiate’s transformation from boyhood to manhood, embodying the strength and spirit of the crocodile.

The cuts, made on the back, chest, and sometimes arms, are designed to resemble crocodile scales. This ritual is a symbolic rebirth where the initiate is “swallowed” by the crocodile and emerges as a man. It also represents the severing of maternal ties, as the shed blood is believed to expel the mother’s postpartum influence, thereby reinforcing an adult worldview. Scarification serves as visual and social proof of manhood, ancestral connection, discipline, and endurance. It signifies a person’s lifelong membership in the community, granting them access to male privilege and the opportunity to participate in the transmission of ritual and artistic culture through the spirit house.

Ritual Process and Ceremonial Structure

• Preparation and Seclusion: The initiation process begins with weeks or months of seclusion in the Haus Tambaran, where adolescent boys are tutored by elders in history, cosmology, clan lore, ritual secrets, and masculine responsibilities. Ritual knowledge, sacred objects, and totemic names are passed down through the generations, which strengthens clan identities and intergroup alliances. The young men secluded during their initiation work together as a team, creating a lasting bond.
• Scarification Ritual: The core event involves creating raised scars on the chest, back, buttocks, and sometimes the arms and legs using bamboo knives, sharpened bones, or, more recently, razor blades. The hundreds of incisions are arranged in patterns that mimic crocodile skin. The ritual takes hours and is agonizingly painful. The initiate must endure the pain without crying; otherwise, the ritual is invalidated. After cutting, a mixture of clay, tree oil, and smoke is applied to ensure raised scarring, which is considered a mark of honor and spiritual power.
• Symbolic Meaning: The blood shed during scarification is seen as expelling the blood of the mother, marking the initiate’s separation from childhood and maternal ties. The scars are interpreted as the “bite marks” of the ancestral crocodile, symbolizing that the boy has been swallowed, transformed, and returned as a crocodile man.

The ceremony is performed by the opposite moiety, ensuring that each group is indebted to the other and creating a reciprocal cycle of obligation that underpins social stability.

Differences Among Groups

• Iatmul: The Iatmul of the Middle Sepik are known for their elaborate, communal ceremonies held in spirit houses. These ceremonies have patterns and meanings closely tied to totemic clan affiliations. The entire village participates, and the scars are worn with pride as proof of adulthood, discipline, and ancestral favor.
• Kaningara: The Kaningara tribe inhabits a single village on the Blackwater River, a major tributary of the Sepik River. Their ritual is noted for its seclusion and the long period of preparation before scarification. Kaningara men often display extraordinarily detailed scars, and the ceremony can last two months.
• Chambri: The Chambri practice crocodile scarification with a slightly different mythological framework. They believe that humans evolved from crocodiles, and the ritual signifies a return to their ancestral form. The cutting patterns and post-ritual ceremonies differ, with more emphasis placed on ornamental dress and dance after scarification. The Chambri ceremony emphasizes the significance of the maternal uncle as the ritual “cutter,” which reinforces clan structure and kinship ties.
• Variations: Patterns, duration, ritual participants, and the degree of village involvement may differ, but the symbolic structure—ancestral transformation, crocodile lineage, and separation from the maternal world—remains consistent across regions.

Evolution: Past and Present

Traditionally, these rituals were secret and rare, held every seven to ten years, with only initiated men and select community leaders present. Failure to participate could bar a young man from assuming major roles in village society or forming marriage alliances. Under colonial rule and Christianization by missionaries, however, the ritual was often suppressed or discouraged due to health risks and religious opposition. Although the frequency and secrecy of the practice decreased, it persisted as a vital marker of Sepik identity.

Today, crocodile scarification continues, though it is sometimes adapted as a cultural demonstration for tourists. Some aspects, such as pain management and hygiene, have evolved in response to external concerns. The ritual is still deeply respected, though not all boys undergo the ceremony today, reflecting changing social dynamics and outside influences.

Academic Perspectives

Anthropologists such as Gregory Bateson, Eric Silverman, and Milan Stanek have extensively studied the Iatmul. Bateson’s work on the Naven ceremony and Silverman’s psychoanalytic and symbolic interpretations highlight the gendered cosmology and ritual mockery embedded in Iatmul culture. More recent studies focus on postcolonial changes, tourism, and cultural resilience in the face of modernization.

BELOW

Scarification Ceremony in the Sepik River Region, 2012. Photo by Marc Dozier / Hemis /Alamy.

Sepik “Crocodile Men”

The Sepik Crocodile Festival

The crocodile, or pukpuk in Tok Pisin, is a paramount figure in Sepik cosmology, particularly among the Iatmul. It features centrally in myths of origin; Iatmul creation stories often recount that humans descended from or emerged from waterways governed by crocodile spirits. Held each August in Ambunti, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea, the Sepik Crocodile Festival is a major annual cultural event celebrating the spiritual, ancestral, and ecological significance of the crocodile among the Middle Sepik peoples, especially the Iatmul, Chambri, and neighboring clans.

Established in 2007, the festival is a community-driven initiative that links cultural revitalization, heritage tourism, and wildlife conservation. It is supported by organizations such as WWF and the Sepik Wetlands Management Initiative. The festival’s location in Ambunti, on the Middle Sepik, reflects the crocodile’s significance as a totem, ancestral spirit, and clan symbol. It connects mythic creation stories to modern identity and environmental stewardship.

The three-day event (August 5–7) includes parades, competitions, canoe races, feasting, dances, music, performances, and exhibitions of the largest yams and crocodile specimens. Participating communities span the river: Middle and Upper Sepik villages, including major crocodile cult areas, send groups to perform singsings and participate in the market. Dozens of Sepik tribes gather to perform spectacular singsings—group dances, songs, and theatrical stories—while wearing crocodile masks, feathered headdresses, and intricately painted bodies. Artisans display and sell ceremonial carvings, bark paintings, masks, and crocodile-themed objects. This continues the tradition of Sepik art and provides local communities with vital income and tourist exposure.

The festival serves as a source of pride and a unifying force, affirming clan and tribal alliances while enabling villages to share their distinctive styles and stories with one another and the outside world. The festival has also become an important conservation event. Public awareness programs about sustainable crocodile egg harvesting and habitat conservation are held alongside the festivities. These programs aim to preserve river ecosystems and enhance cultural heritage. Lastly, the festival attracts tourists and travelers. By attracting domestic and international visitors, the festival has reinforced the value of the crocodile as a living symbol of Sepik resilience, masculinity, and creativity. It has also provided a platform for youth engagement, intercultural dialogue, and adaptive local economies. In response to tourism, conservation, and the wider audience now engaged in Sepik culture, the festival context has encouraged communities to selectively revive or reinterpret old songs, dances, and carving motifs.

The following photos were all taken during the Sepik Crocodile Festival, albeit in different years.

Singing and playing drums at the Festival, 2010. Photo by Picturejourneys – Flickr.

Groups of performers at the Sepik Crocodile Festival.

LEFT: At the Sepik River Festival, men with crocodile scarification, wearing crab-claw flower necklaces and feathered headdresses, prepare their dances on the green, 2017. Photo by Ursula Wall.

RIGHT: Preparing the sing-sing, 2023. Photo by Ivan Cheng – No Leg Room, Canada. (Thanks Ivan for you kindness!)

ABOVE AND BELOW: photos by Ivan Cheng – No Leg Room, Canada, 2023.

The Sepik Crocodile Festival is a vibrant fusion of living tradition, ecological awareness, and tourism, providing a comprehensive lens into the complex relationship between Sepik peoples, their environment, artistic heritage, and modern challenges—anchored in the enduring power and symbolism of the crocodile.

Sepik Crocodile Festival Perfomers. Photos by Ivan Cheng – No Leg Room, Canada, 2023.

Ambunti – Sepik Crocodile Festival

Didascalia/fonte dell’immagine

Alyx Becerra