Northern New Ireland Province, PNG.

These woven discs, known as vavara, are completely different to other malagan ceremonial objects, with much greater taboo and secrecy. They were first recorded by Ludwig Kramer in the 1909 German expedition who described them as ‘sun discs’. However, they are based on a spider web and considered powerful and dangerous. The vavara long ago came to be made when a woman saw it in a dream, as a way to honour a female deceased. The vavara malagan ceremony commemorates only the female dead and males who die prior to initiation. They are powerful objects. It was believed that sorcerers could use the power of the vavara to kill, hence owners would burn it the same night after use (unless sold to a foreigner and immediately removed). It was important to burn them in calm conditions, as even the smoke was potent, and it
would go straight up.

Collected by David Baker on a small Tabar Island in the early 1990s, immediately after a malagan ceremony. It was in his collection until after his death in 2009.