Nevinbimbaau (or Nevinbumbaau)
[According to the Eranos-jahrbuch, p 251, Bevinbumbaau means 'the crab woman' (''ne'' 'the' ''vin'' 'woman', ''bumba-au'' 'crab')] is a goddess in the
Melanesian mythology of Malekula Island, Vanuatu. Some descriptions call her an
ogress
An ogre (feminine: ogress) is a legendary monster depicted as a large, hideous, man-like being that eats ordinary human beings, especially infants and children. Ogres frequently feature in mythology, folklore, and fiction throughout the world ...
while others seem to speak of her as simply a female figure. Her rituals involve a complicated story about her son Mansip, his two wives and their children, Nevinbimbaau's grandchildren. The ritual begins with actors operating large staffs topped with carved heads, like
stick puppets, representing the grandchildren (the ''temes nevinbur''). In the course of the ritual, some or all of the temes are destroyed, new ones are created, and at the end wooden effigies of Mansip and his two wives are speared and burned. The ritual's purpose may have been to initiate new members, and may have something to do with
reincarnation
Reincarnation, also known as rebirth or transmigration, is the philosophical or religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being begins a new life in a different physical form or body after biological death. Resurrection is a ...
or
resurrection
Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, which ...
, since new ''temes'' are created after the old ones are destroyed (Poignant 1967).
In a myth from Malekula recorded by A.B. Deacon, the ogress Nevinbumbaau is the wife of Temes Malau; their son is Mansip. Nevinbumbaau trapped
Ambat's older brothers one after another in a ditch, where they stayed until Ambat, a culture hero, came to free them (Bonnefoy 1993:99).
External links
Photos of ''temes nevinbur''
Notes
References
*Bonnefoy, Yves, (ed). ''American, African, and Old European Mythologies'' Translated under the direction of Wendy Doniger. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1993.
* Poignant, Rosalyn. ''Oceanic Mythology''. Hamlyn Publishing Group: 1967
Vanuatu deities
{{Vanuatu-stub