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Eravo, house for
the spirits
Dr. JACOB SIMET
Long houses were a main
feature of the Gulf of Papua coastline, before outsiders arrived
in that part of the country. They were the sacred houses which
were home to sacred objects such as the hohao boards in the West,
hevehe masks in the Orokolo areas and eharo masks in the Eastern
seaboard. West of the Vailala River these long house were known as
eravo, while to the east of Vailala they were was known as elavo.
Early ethnography of theses long houses was provided by the
Colonial Government anthropologist, F E Williams who documented
the culture of Western Elema of the Orokolo area in the early
1900s. William's account of these long houses were that they were
the largest structures in the village, measuring at least one 120
feet in length and the front reaching up to heights of at least 50
feet. They took between five and ten years to build, and required
hundreds of men to build and as a result, some of them were never
completed. The building of these great structures were done in
stages which were marked by ritual and performance activities,
which related to the ancestors and spirits which were embodied in
the masks and other sacred objects.
The eravo were associated with the hevehe ceremony; a ceremonial
cycle which took between twenty and twenty-five years to complete.
They provided the sanctuary for the hevehe, bull-roarers, kundu-drums
(hevehe-akore) and the eharo which came in from other villages as
guests. The eravo was the domain of the men, initiated boys only;
while women were barred from entering the building. It was this
sacred structure which was the focal point of the cultural life in
a village.
Each eravo was owned by a clan and each clan may have more than
one I the village. The inside of the eravo was divided into two
sides by a corridor. Each side was partitioned into cubicles, each
sub-clan having a cubicle, which was marked by a hearth
(fire-place). The male members of each sub-clan congregated in
their respective cubicles, to sleep and eat. The central and front
parts of the building are the common areas. This was where the men
congregated to have their meetings. Outside, at the front of the
building is the papaita, a ramp on which the senior men stood to
make harangues or speeches during the ceremonies.
In the 1930s that cultural disaster, now known as the "Vailala
Madness", swept along the entire Gulf of Papua coastline. This was
the movement in which Missionaries denounced all indigenous
cultural practices as being heathen, a dogma which led to the
destruction and burning of all cultural items; including sacred
boards, masks and of course eravo. On the whole, the movement
decimated culture along the Gulf coastline; from the Baimuru area
in the west to Moveave in the east. After this, sacred objects,
including masks and eravo which housed them existed only in
photographs, which were kept in libraries and archives in many
parts of the world.
However, despite that cultural disaster, it seems that some parts
of the culture were maintained the minds of people and were passed
onto their descendents. The stories and some of the traditions
which went with these cultural forms were also maintained. In most
villages along the Gulf coastline today, a common feature is the
eravo or elavo. Each clan in the village has its own and it is
situated in the clan area of the village, in very much the same
way they were situated before outsiders arrived in the Gulf. But
there are some significant differences though from eravo from the
past. One significant difference is that they are much smaller in
size; at least ten times smaller. While in the past, it was not
possible to see the inside of traditional eravo, today however,
there is nothing to hide the bare platform. Most importantly,
these eravo do not house any sacred objects. They are now just
clan meeting houses which are open to both men and women. In this
way, they are still places where talking about clan matters, but
without the associated sacredness.
In recent times some new developments relating to eravo have
emerged in some villages along the Gulf coastline. Eravo are being
built for the sole purpose of providing pa'paita for modern day
politicians to deliver speeches from. At Moveave, in two
communities there are a number of eravo which belong to a number
individual politicians, aspiring politicians and political
parties. In Lalafiru there are two eravo; one belonging to the
Governor, Hon. Chris Haiveta and the other belongs to a candidate
in the coming elections. At Eavara, there are at least six elavos;
two belonging to Hon. Chris Haiveta and the other two belonging to
two political parties. These structures are empty, they do not
house any sacred objects and they are in no way sacred. But they
have verandahs, much like the papaita of the pre-contact eravo;
which are used by modern-day politicians and other leaders to make
speeches.
It is almost a century since the last proper eravo stood in their
glory along the Gulf coastline. Their function and meaning may
have suffered somewhat during this period. But some attachment to
its value and meaning seems to have been maintained. The masks of
the Gulf people are coming back, mainly through the Toare Village
Mini-Mask Festival, an initiative of the National Cultural
Commission. Associated with this was the building of an elavo in
2006, which was funded by the Governor, Hon. Chris Haiveta. The
Governor himself opened this building during the recent 3rd
Mini-Mask Festival. This building now does have eharo masks stored
in its interior.
Masks might be the products of artistic genius, but at the same
time they are extensions of our beings. Among the Gulf peoples,
many of the masks depict culture-heroes who made journeys through
the landscape. These culture-heroes have now entered the realm of
the supernatural world but are still very much in the environment
and continue to be important to the lives of the people. In this
sense masks are extension of our being. As such they tell us about
the past and the journeys we made and at the same time they are
representations of our future and the journeys which they yet have
to make. They manifest our rich experiences of the past but also
provide us with the infinite number of life options for the
future. Masks provide for us that sense in human experience which
scientific rationalism cannot provide.
The structures in Lalafiru, Eavara and Toare show that the
knowledge and skill of constructing eravo are still held and
maintained by the people. At the same time it shows that the
associated culture-heroes are still important to the lives of the
people. We hope that one day an eravo of the original traditional
size will be built at Toare Village to host the increasing numbers
of eharo masks which participate at the festival every year, so
these relatives of the nether-world can have a home, just like
everyone else.
Weekender information, inquiries and contributions, email
mdaure@thenational.com.pg
 
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