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Mirror, Mirror!
High in the steamy, mountainous jungles of Papua New Guinea, a Western Highland tribal warrior gets ready for a local sing-sing – a festival of culture and dance.
I don’t know how many of Papua New Guinea’s more than 7000 different cultural groups live in the wide, fertile valleys and surrounding mountainous jungles of the Highlands in the country’s interior, but there are a lot!
The Highlands were first populated about 50,000 years ago by nomadic foragers. By 10,000 years ago, people were planting crops and settling into villages. Those tribal groups developed their own unique languages, beliefs, and customs, as they remained separated from their neighbours by the rugged terrain and a culture of inter-tribal warfare and animosity. They had no contact with Europeans until the 1930s, when explorers came into the area looking for gold. In spite of those, and later, intrusions by European mining and logging companies, and the presence of Australian and New Zealand soldiers during World War II as they (with the help of the Papuans) stopped the advance of Japanese troops south towards Port Moresby, life here has changed little. Traditional practices and beliefs remain strong.
The easiest way for a visitor to appreciate some of this incredible cultural diversity is to attend a sing-sing: a peaceful gathering of tribes or villages that showcases their distinctive dances and traditions. I was in Papua New Guinea with a small but intrepid group of photography enthusiasts and photographer Karl Grobl from Jim Cline Photo Tours. We were attending the Paiya Village Mini Cultural Show, which takes place annually before the better-known and larger Mount Hagen Show.
We arrived at Paiya Village early, allowing us to appreciate how long the extensive preparations take! I was able to spend time with a number of tribal groups as they painted their faces and crafted their costumes for the afternoon’s performances. I have previously shared pictures of people from Jiwaka Province (see: Feathers Fur and Facepaint) and from Engan Province (see Big Hats and Small Drums) as they got ready for the show.
Now, it was time to focus on some of the dancers from the Western Highlands Province, which is where Paya Village is located, and the well-known and popular Huli Wigmen, who had travelled in from Hela Province many miles away. Originally, all these vibrantly painted faces and elaborate costumes were meant to instil fear in ones opponents during battle, but the process of getting ready also served as a group bonding exercise, and today, the ritual is a means of passing on traditions and stories.
Join me in the jungle for some environmental portraits of these men in what was traditionally war-paint, and is now reserved for sing-sings.
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Huli Wigman
Even before they apply their distinctive red-and-yellow facepaint, the Huli Wigman of the Hela Province in the Southern Highlands stand out.
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Fixing the Wig
Their extraordinary structured wig-hats are made from their own hair. The young men go to a secretive Huli Wig School to learn the magic and special diet required to grow enough hair to craft the wigs.
Helping Each Other
The men wear kina shells around their necks with a kokomo (hornbill) beak on the back. The headdresses are adorned with precious parrot and bird of paradise feathers.
Western Highlands Man
Every tribal group has their own face-paint style. It takes time and concentration to achieve the final result with small hand-held mirrors. Here, a vehicle rear-view mirror gets a second life.
Smoke Break
The Western Highland headdress starts with a stitched bilum-bag form that is padded out before being decotated with feathers, fur, vegetation, and shells.
String Ties and Kina Shells
The whole process is fascinating to watch.
Face in a Shard of Glass
All along the jungle track, the men are applying their ritual colours. That distorted cheek on the woman in the background is a wad of ever-present betel nut chew.
Another Smoke Break
Tobacco is also ubiquitous: mostly long-leaf and self-rolled. This stylish looking cigarette is actually rolled in carefully cut newspaper.
Eye in the Mirror
If ever I come back to this area, I will bring a bag full of hand-held mirrors!
Makeup in the Mirror
Arm Band
Full costumes incorporate a lot of fresh local greenery.
Applying Face Paint
A little way down the jungle track, another group of Huli Wigmen are at various stages of of readiness – each with his own small looking glass.
White Face Paint
Yellow Paint and Eye Contact
The second colour layer is the yellow face paint. Traditionally, the men used ambua, a bright yellow sacred clay. Today, store-bought acrylic paints are more often substituted.
Young Wig-Boy
Only young, virgin males from Hela Province can go to wig school. They usually enter at 14 to 15 years of age, and don’t leave until they graduate after at least 18 months. If they want a second (or third) wig, they re-enroll. This young lad’s hair has a way to go before it will be woven into a headdress.
Ceremonial Wig
The wigs are wonderful concoctions! Most men own more than one, but all the hair has to be grown before they get married. Ceremonial wigs are meant to look like the silhouette of a bird with its wings stretched out.
Getting Ready
Looking at the bird parts and feathers that go into these headdresses is rather alarming, but the Huli have a reverence for birds, and the feathers are carefully looked after from one year to the next.
Hornbill Beak and Pig Tusks
Young Western Highlander
Not everyone is performing. A local lad is as fascinated by the Wigmen as I am.
Yellow Paint on the Wigman
Paint brushes are made from twigs with one end chewed to make them pliable.
Portrait of a Wigman in the Making
The young lad didn’t have to do his own paint; one of the elders was looking after him.
Triangle Eyes
Like the wig decoration, the face paint has minor variations on a general theme.
Concentration
I’m impressed by the men’s sustained concentration, …
Tourists
… especially considering the number of phones and cameras in their faces!
Huli Wigmen Dancing
Finally it all comes together! The Wigman ‘dance’ involves a singing-chant while the men jump up and down as if they were on invisible pogo sticks.
Western Highland Men Dancing
The Western Highland men, with their headresses topped with tall feathers, approach with a yodeling march.
It is easy to imagine how terrifying either of these groups would be be, coming at you through the jungle!
I’m very glad that inter-tribal disputes – although far from ended – are greatly reduced these days. Sing-sings give the tribes a chance to maintain and show off aspects of their culture without the bloodshed.
And, they give us the chance to enjoy them as well.
Until next time,
Safe Travels!
Photos: 18August2017
Great story and images as we’ve come to expect from your wonderful blog. Reading and viewing your posts always brings back wonderful memories of the trips we’ve shared. Thanks for taking the time to put this together with such a wealth of information, insight, and imagery.
Many thanks for your visit, Karl! It’s always great to see you – whether on-line or on the road. 😀
[…] I was travelling with photographer Karl Grobl from Jim Cline Photo Tours. Our small group was attending the Paiya Village Mini Cultural Show, which takes place annually in the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea, just before the better-known and larger Mount Hagen Show. The beauty of this smaller show is the access that visitors have to the different tribal groups as they decorate their bodies and faces with paint and mud, leaves and feathers (see: Mirror, Mirror!). […]