Contemporary Traditional Asmat Culture, part 2

by Daniel Tejashun 2/8/2012Period 4 Culture and Geograpghy

According to the Asmat tradition Fumeripits was the first being to exist on earth, and he also created the first

men's ceremonial house called jeu. 

Fumeripits would spend his days dancing along the beach, but after awhile grew tired of being alone 

so he chopped down a number of trees, carved them into human figures, and placed them inside the jeu

however, since the sculptures were inanimate, fumeripitswas still unhappy. He then decided to create a drum,

and chopped down another tree, hollowed out the center, and stretched a piece of lizard skin over the top

As he began to play the drum, the human figures miraculously came to life, their elbows came unstuck

from their knees and they began to dance.

This is how fumeripits made people from trees. And the first people were Asmat