How are (were) art and myth interconnected in Ilahita Arapesh culture

Authors Avatar

Barynia Vleeming

October 2003

American English

1490 words

How are (were) art and myth interconnected in Ilahita Arapesh culture

Art has always played a major role in the history of man. Cave paintings are often all we have left of the cultures that lived long before us. Art remains, and it also tells us something about the people that created it. How they were living and what was important to them. Often the religion they practiced or the myths they believed in were displayed in their works of art. Art and myth are interconnected. Art and myth play major roles in many societies to this day. In New Guinea, among the Ilahita Arapesh, art and myth are present in every day culture. Art is connected with the origins of life, with the special bond between man and nature and with the most significant transitions in life. The Ilahita Arapesh use art as a manifestation of their beliefs. I will now try to explain the relationship between art and myth amongst the Ilahita Arapesh while the Tambaran cult is still alive.

What is art exactly and when is something considered art? The dictionary defines art as; “the quality, production, expression or realm of what is beautiful or of more than ordinary significance; the class of objects subject to aesthetic criteria.” In order to understand this definition we need to understand the concept of aesthetics. Aesthetics is defined by Kottak (2002:340) as; “The Appreciation of the qualities perceived in works of art; the mind and emotions in relation to a sense of beauty.” In other words, art is something that moves us, on any level. In Western society art is now acknowledged as a true profession and art has become autonomous. Art exists by itself and it is admired in that way. In Non – Western society, like in the society of the Ilahita Arapesh, art is not something that exists by itself, it exists because of myth and religious ideas. A myth may be defined as: “A myth is a statement about society and man’s place in it and the surrounding universe (Middleton 1967). Myths try to define who we are and often also where we come from. It is therefore not strange that the Ilahita Arapesh see such importance in myths. As formerly stated, almost everything amongst the Ilahita Arapesh revolves around myths. The Ilahita Arapesh can see a relationship between art and myth everywhere. A yam has a spirit for instance, and everything is considered magical and a manifestation of religious ideas. The relationship with the supernatural is expressed through art. The Tambaran therefore formed such an important structure in the culture of the Ilahita Arapesh.

Join now!

A good example showing how exactly myth and art are related is that of Olafen (reader p.168-169). The myth is about a pregnant woman. In this story, pregnant women had to have their bellies cut open in order to deliver a baby because people simply hadn’t found another way to do it yet. In this process, the mother was killed. But one day, a woman is about to give birth and a spirit in the house post tells her that she can deliver the baby in another way. This revelation is of course very useful for the rest of the tribe ...

This is a preview of the whole essay