Small hollow brass Mamuli ornament from Indonesia 2.5x1.5 inches
Only one available
Indonesian Mamuli symbolize women’s sexuality and reproductive power, as the “giver of life”
These distinctive ornaments, originally made of gold, play an essential role in the elaborate ceremonial gift exchanges practiced on important occasions by the people of Sumba Island in eastern Indonesia.
In earlier times, when the Sumbanese practiced artificial elongation of the earlobes, mamuli were worn as ear ornaments, but today they hang around the neck as pendants.
In Sumbanese culture, precious metals are believed to be of celestial origin. The sun is made of gold and the moon and stars of silver. Gold and silver are deposited on earth when the sun and moon set or shooting stars falls from the sky.
Golden objects signify wealth and divine favor. Kept among the sacred relics housed in the treasuries of Sumbanese clans, mamuli serve, in part, to maintain contact with powerful ancestors and spirits.
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