Jungle Baptism • Sa-Er
Sa-Er / Fr. Vincent Cole MM (Maryknoll), the last Catholic American missionary in Papua, is being paraded into the jungle by the people of Sa-Er, where he carries out baptism for the villagerâs children. Approximately 90 children were baptised during the ceremony. Incorporating Asmat terms into the Catholic baptism ritual, children will enter the Em Tem, a small hut symbolising the entrance of the child to the world and later delivered by a woman, continued by naming the children with Christian names, and the baptism pool and the sago tree as symbols of prosperity. This baptism process is only seen in Sa-Er with Fr. Cole, whereas the Indonesian Catholic Church seem to follow suit to the Indonesianised standard procedure of rituals.