Dema Deity

The Dema deities were ancestral beings described in the origin mythology of the Marind-anim people of southern New Guinea. The myths explain how humans became mortal. A group known as the Dema lived on Earth before humans. The Dema took the forms of humans, animals, and plants. The Dema deities lived among them. According to the myths, humans emerged after a Dema slayed a Dema deity. This event ended the immortal world where spiritual and earthly beings coexisted. The Dema became mortal and were able to reproduce, and the deities then lived in the realm of the dead. The killing of the Dema deity created the cycle of birth and death. During this transition, the deities made crops for the humans to eat. Since the Dema deity was also associated with animal and plant forms, eating foods became a sacred act. The mythology surrounding the Dema deity's death, which has its basis in broader Indonesian mythology, pervades Marind-anim culture and influences all aspects of their society.

Early Studies in Marind-anim Mythology

Dr. Paul Wirz provided the first thorough description of the Marind-anim people in his 1922 study Die Marind-anim von Holländisch-Süd-Neu-Guinea (The Marind-anim of Dutch South New Guinea). Dr. Jan Van Baal expanded on Wirz's studies for his doctoral thesis in 1934. Van Baal attempted to better understand the Marind-anim people's mythology and rituals. He went on to work for the government of New Guinea in the years that followed. His positions allowed him to conduct fieldwork within the Marind-anim territory. In 1966, he published the book Dema: Description and Analysis of Marind-anim Culture, a detailed ethnography of the southern New Guinea tribe. Van Baal's work focuses on the mythological influence in the Marind-anim people's way of life. It also goes into detail about the group's ritual of religious sacrifice.

Danish anthropologist Adolf E. Jensen expanded on the myth of the Dema deity in his 1969 book Myth and Cult among Primitive Peoples, transcribing detailed examples of how the Dema deity death myth permeated various parts of Indonesian culture. Jensen's record of the myth comes from a Ceramese story about a Dema named Amenta. In the tale, Amenta finds a coconut stuck to a boar's tusk. He is instructed in a dream to plant the coconut. A palm tree sprouts from the coconut six days later. Amenta cuts his finger on the tree, dripping blood onto a blossom. The blossom grows into a girl. Amenta cuts the girl down and names her Hainuwele ("coconut girl"). Hainuwele has the strange ability to produce valuable items—such as Chinese porcelain, golden earrings, copper boxes, and brass gongs— from her body. This makes Amenta very rich. Amenta and Hainuwele attend a large religious ceremony where Hainuwele displays her abilities to everyone. The people become confused and jealous, and they eventually decide to kill Hainuwele. They bury her and dance on top of her grave. Amenta later digs up Hainuwele's body, dissects it, and buries the pieces. A new species of plant sprouts from the ground where her body parts were buried. This plant is usually identified as a tuber, from which potatoes and other foods began to grow.

Jensen's account constructs the basis of an origin myth, which explains the ways of humans and nature. The myth covers everything from sexuality, time, farming, dancing, and death. Jensen also proposes an altered meaning of the word Dema, believing it refers to pre-human existence as opposed to human ancestors. For Jensen, believers in the Dema deity see time as divided into Dema time and human time. Jensen's studies were important in the general comprehension of southern New Guinea culture and in understanding the role mythology played in tribal life. The Marind-anim people continue to follow Dema mythology. Ritual killing in reverence of the Dema deities is an important part of their culture.

Importance of Dema Deity Mythology

The Marind-anim people make ritual sacrifices to honor the slain deity of their mythology. The ritual is a reenactment of the deity's death and can involve animal sacrifice. The ceremony often calls for the slayer to eat the flesh of his or her sacrifice in tribute to the deity, which is considered the source of all sustenance. All events in Marind-anim culture relate back to this seminal violent event, which brought mortality to the human world. The Marind-anim believe attributes of the human condition are a result of the unprovoked killing of the Dema deity. The deity's death led to humans experiencing puberty, which resulted in the possibility of procreation. Certain rites also remind the people of their mortality. Funerals are commemorative celebrations that represent the journey of the Dema deity to the land of the dead. Themes of death and dismemberment pervaded all aspects of the people's day-to-day lives, especially the act of eating. These themes are also visible in the process of sowing and reaping crops.

Bibliography

Carter, Jeffrey. Understanding Religious Sacrifice: A Reader. London: A&C Black, 2003. 175–185. Print.

Doniger, Wendy. Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1999. 285–286. Print.

Mack, Burton L. Myth and the Christian Nation: A Social Theory of Religion. London: Routledge, 2014. 132–135. Print.

Tuan, Yi-fu. Morality and Imagination: Paradoxes of Progress. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1989. 22–23. Print.

Van Baal, Dr. Jan. Dema: Description and Analysis of Marind-anim Culture (South New Guinea). The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1966. 3–10. Print.