Christened ancestor from the Maluku Islands

It looks a bit strange. The ancestor of the Maluku Babar Islands in Indonesia is sitting in the traditional crouching stance. However, he is also placed on a chair. A piece of furniture that does not belong to the traditional culture of the islands at all.

It was made around 1900 and offers a fine example of two cultures of two religions coming together: the traditional ancestrial cult and christianity that came to the islands with the Dutch East India Company.

Until the start of the twentieth century, whenever somebody died, a Maluku family would carve out a wooden statue. The figure would make sure the living could make contact with the’shadow’ or soul of the departed. They could bring sacrifices and ask for council. The figure usually shows the sex of the departed, but sometimes other traits, like their profession is depicted.

Around 1900 all this changed. Protestant teachers of religion from Ambon came to the islands and forced the locals to convert to christianity. The ancestral cult was heavily suppressed. Figures of the ancestors, thathad been preserved for centuries, were cast into the sea. Others were ostentatiously burned – often on christian holidays.

However, it turned out to be quite hard to eradicate the old faith. Even though countless figures disappeared, new once came into being: figures that showed the christian daith of the deceased. In those cases it was put onto a chair – the symbol of western christianity.