PAPAARIAR, an old woman

Citation

Eric Vandendriessche and Agnès Henri , “PAPAARIAR, an old woman,” String figures, accessed February 25, 2026, https://stringfigures.huma-num.fr/items/show/106.
  • Overall presentation

  • Name : PAPAARIAR, an old woman

  • Creator : Eric Vandendriessche and Agnès Henri

  • Contributor(s) : Mata, village of Fona, Ambrym, Vanuatu

  • Date : 2016-2017


  • Information on the string figure

    • Construction method (ISFA)

    1. Opening M
    2. Distally, insert 1 into proximal 2 loops. Pick up proximal 2f and return.
    3. Distally, insert 1 into distal 2 loops. Pick up distal 2f and return.
    4. Pass 5 distal to distal 2n. 5 hook down distal 2n.
    5. Proximally, insert 5 into proximal 2 loops. Pick up proximal 2n and return.
    6. 2 hook up distal 2n.
    7. Release 1 and turn the palms away.

    Construction method (symbolic writing)

    $\underline{O}.M:\overline{i}1(l2\infty):p1(l2f):\overline{i}1(u2\infty):p1(u2f):\overline{h}5(u2n):p5(l2n): \overline{h}2(u2n):r1:vr^{+}(RH)/vr^{-}(LH)\mid$
  • Item references

  • Key words : String figures, Ambrym Island (Vanuatu)

  • Publisher : Laboratory SPHERE (UMR 7219, University of Paris & CNRS)

  • Rights : Creative Commons / Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA

  • Format : jpeg, eaf, mp4

  • Language : English, North Ambrymese language

  • Location : Village of Fona, North Ambrym, Vanuatu, South Pacific

  • Description : Ambrymese string figure, method of construction, linguistic data, cultural aspects

Output Formats