Paantu
Encyclopedia
Paantu, a devil or god or ghost, an evil spirit on Miyako-jima
, a small island in the East China Sea
and part of the Okinawa chain of islands in Japan.
According to Onishi Norimitsu, some Miyako still practice matriarchal religious rites with associations of guardian priestesses and a chief priestess. "...Ceremonies and masks vary according to each village, they share a common animist basis: female elders are entrusted with the responsibility of guarding a village’s sacred forests, wells, springs and oracles. The faith, emphasizing nature’s divinity and ancestor worship, shares common threads with the world’s surviving animist religions in Africa and Asia."
Coinciding with the harvest season, are "...ceremonies featuring Paantu-like gods [that] are closed to outsiders. The handful of published photos show two figures covered in grass and wearing bearded masks with long noses and bulging eyes — masks that, experts say, originally came from Papua New Guinea."
Paantu masks are "...wood-carved...of a fearsome elongated face, with a large forehead, small eyes and a thin rectangular mouth."
Miyako-jima
Miyakojima is the largest and the most populous island among the Miyako Islands of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. It lies approximately 400 kilometres east of Taipei, Taiwan...
, a small island in the East China Sea
East China Sea
The East China Sea is a marginal sea east of China. It is a part of the Pacific Ocean and covers an area of 1,249,000 km² or 750,000 square miles.-Geography:...
and part of the Okinawa chain of islands in Japan.
According to Onishi Norimitsu, some Miyako still practice matriarchal religious rites with associations of guardian priestesses and a chief priestess. "...Ceremonies and masks vary according to each village, they share a common animist basis: female elders are entrusted with the responsibility of guarding a village’s sacred forests, wells, springs and oracles. The faith, emphasizing nature’s divinity and ancestor worship, shares common threads with the world’s surviving animist religions in Africa and Asia."
Coinciding with the harvest season, are "...ceremonies featuring Paantu-like gods [that] are closed to outsiders. The handful of published photos show two figures covered in grass and wearing bearded masks with long noses and bulging eyes — masks that, experts say, originally came from Papua New Guinea."
Paantu masks are "...wood-carved...of a fearsome elongated face, with a large forehead, small eyes and a thin rectangular mouth."