Participating In The Stone Age

Consider the possibility of being guarded by hundreds of Stone Age tribesmen all smeared up in pig grease and soot brandishing their arrows, spears, and axes in your direction while they howl their war chants.

This is something you may not find appealing. Consider this being entertained when it comes to the annual Highlands Show of Papua New Guinea.

When it comes to the location of Papua New Guinea, you will find it in between and the equator, it shares a large island with Indonesia and it owns the eastern half and part of it consists of the small islands in the Bismarck Archipelago.

what happened in 1975 was that it gained independence and nationhood but before that managed Papua and New Guinea separately under various United Nations trust arrangements. In many parts of this country the western way of life is still unknown.

There were white men traveling on foot who first explored these rugged Highlands in the 1930s. The white man is still a novelty, and at the Highlands Show the center of attention is often the camera toting tourist as much as the armed and painted warrior.

For this two day show almost 60,000 people, mostly Papua New Guineans, come to see them as they are held alternately in the towns of Goroka and Mount Hagen. Even if it involves weeks of walking, some people do so from places like Telefomin, Wapenamanda, and Ukarumpa to be able to participate in the festivities.

Apart from having demonstrations for skills like fire making or house building, agricultural and crafts exhibits are also staged here. In this show, light entertainment is scattered.

It has every event from chasing after the greased pig to bicycle races to climbing up a greased pole with dangling cigarettes and beer and barefoot competitors participate complete with weaponry.

The tribes displaying their treasured ceremonial attire during the sing sing competition to tourists and locals is the climax of the weekend.

Occasionally changing pace to stage a legend from tribal history or to simulate a battle, the people dance and chant under the hot sun to the deep hollow beat of the kundu drum.

For the Highlands sing, a feast for the eyes is the kaleidoscope of color and costume. Here, the dancers embellish themselves.

What they do is color their faces in red and blue ochre and then cover their bodies with the darkest soot and they use beads, leaves, feathers, and store bought crepe paper as trimmings.

Safety pins make very fine earrings, and instead of the usual pig's tusk or other bone through the pierced septum, you might recognize a ball point pen or perhaps a piece of an automobile engine.

Not only are the village heirlooms unwrapped here but also displayed. Made from the fur of the spotted cuscus, a small marsupial, are the headpieces proudly worn by the children.

Considering how seashells were once a form of currency, the people still consider them to be valuable.

People occasionally witness the tall swaying plumes of the peacock like Raggiana Bird of Paradise, the national symbol, or that of the cassowary.

The eerie Asaro mudmen are not far behind. What they wear are grotesque headgear made from sun baked clay and straw and they are covered in white mud.

Dancing their swaying dance, leaves are slapped off their thighs. According to legend, there is a tribe that retreated into the Asaro River after being pursued by their enemies.

After they emerged covered in the white clay, their enemies fled thinking that they were ghouls. By covering themselves in the same river mud, the Asaro mudmen continue to commemorate this victory.

Prizes in denominations of cash as well as cattle are handed out after all the sing sings to the group who performed the best and were best in costume. The trek downhill begins for the people after everything is said and done.