Tourist Guide

The Bis Poles

As soon as I walked into the exhibit of Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas, my eyes drifted to these Asmat bis poles. There were about ten immensely tall woodcarvings lined up next to each other. It is impossible not to notice these 18 foot bis poles. Each pole is unique to each represented individual in the Asmat region (Papua Province, Indonesia). Primarily these poles were carved to commemorate the lives of important individuals (usually warriors), and served as a promise that their deaths will be avenged. In their culture, death of an individual was never accidental whether in war or by some magical powers. This created an imbalance, which was corrected by the living killing the enemy. This would usually occur during a bis feast where male elders would go on a hunting raid. Currently, the bis feast occurs to alleviate a specific crisis or for male initiation. These poles strangely enough were intended to be around for a short period of time. After the feast, The Asmat people let these poles rot on the groves of sago palms to strengthen the palms with their supernatural powers. Astonishingly, they were carved from a single piece of wood, typically the mangrove tree, as well as a lot of time and effort to be created. The roots were of the tree carved into the winglike projections at the top of the pole. They represented fertility and signified a continuation of the family/male lineage.