North Nias

The tribes living in the north of the Nias area have produced most sculptures and images. An early missionary, Krämer, stated that most houses seemed smaller and darker due to the many adu’s (human-like wooden sculptures) hanging on the walls. Although, likely an exaggeration, he notes that in some cases houses even became precarious and collapsed due to the many wooden sculptures burdening the wooden structures.. For almost each deceased an adu was made and additional carvings were made for protection from sickness and evil spirits.

A Particular characteristic of North Nias adus is their hand positioning and inclusion of a cup which they hold. All North Nias sculptures with hands have a ‘W’ configuration. A good example of this North Nias style is the large and highly polished siraha salawa (silawa nomo) that sold for 66,750 EUR on  March 24^th 2010 at Sotheby´s, Paris (n° 14).

The siraha salawa can be viewed as a ‘house-god´ and an object of respect. It was always hung above the floor in the largest room of the house and functions as a protector of the house of wealthy chiefs. Siraha salawas are often larger than the other more common adu zatua and represent a long deceased ancestor or founding father. The function is to protect the house of the nobility. Siraha means chief in North Nias and another common name fur such statues is siraha nomo, meaning house chief.