Seeing them smeared with pig grease and soot from head to toe, imagine yourself in the midst of hundreds of Stone Age tribesmen as they howl their war chants at your direction or brandish the weapons they have on from arrows to axes to spears. Something that is not up your alley isn’t it? Not at all because it’s the annual Highlands Show of Papua New Guinea, and you are being entertained.
Considering the location of Papua New Guinea, it is in between and the equator, the country consists of small islands belonging to the Bismarck Archipelago as well as the eastern part of the large island that it shares with Indonesia. Achieving independence and nationhood in 1975 was this country but long before this occurred, managed the territories of Papua and New Guinea under various United Nations trust arrangements. In most parts of the country, the people are still unfamiliar with the western way of life.
There were white men traveling on foot who first explored these rugged Highlands in the 1930s. Continuing to attract attention today is the white man and in the Highlands Show a tourist with a camera attracts as much attention as the painted warrior. About 60,000 people attend this two day show held alternately in the towns of Goroka and Mount Hagen and most of the time the attendees are Papua New Guineans. Usually, people will walk for days or weeks to join in the festivities and they come from far distances including Telefomin, Wapenamanda, and Ukarumpa.
Here, what are shown include local skills like house building and fire making plus staged agricultural and crafts exhibits. In this show, light entertainment is scattered. The competitors have their weapons with them and are barefoot as they engage in bicycle races, chasing after a greased pig, and racing up a greased pole where there are cigarettes and beer dangling above. For the climax of the weekend, this is the sing sing competition when tribes display their treasured ceremonial attire for the tourists and locals to see.
Regardless of the scorching heat, people dance and chant to the deep hollow beat of the kundu drum as the pace changes to simulate a battle or stage a legend form tribal history. When it comes to the Highlands sing, the kaleidoscope of color and costume is a treat. The decorations used by the dancers are amazing. Covering their bodies in the darkest soot, their faces also come luminescent in red and blue ochre and they use beads, feathers, leaves, and store bought crepe paper as trimmings. Instead of the usual pig’s tusk or other bone, their pierced septums are decorated with ball point pens or a piece of an automobile engine and for their earrings they have safety pins.
What are unwrapped and displayed here are the village heirlooms. Normally, children will wear their headpieces made from the fur of the spotted cuscus, a small marsupial, with pride. For the people, seashells are still valuable as these were once a form of currency. Seeing the tall swaying plumes of the peacock like Raggiana Bird of Paradise, the national symbol, or that of the cassowary is a possibility for some.
You can even see the eerie Asaro mudmen. These fellows are coated in white mud and wear grotesque heads constructed of sun baked clay and straw. They do a swaying dance where they slap leaves off their thighs. One legend is that one tribe retreated into the Asaro River when their enemies pursued them.
When they emerged covered with the white clay, the attackers took them to be pallid ghouls, and fled. In commemoration of this victory, the Asaro mudmen continue covering themselves in the same river mud. There is an awarding of cash and cattle prizes to the people who delivered the best presentations and who were best in costume after all the sing sings. Then, as the sun sinks into the Highlands, the crowd spectators and performers alike begin the long trek homeward till another year.
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