The Mount Hagen Sing-Sing
Janice with children at Mount Hagen Sing Sing
The highlands of PNG is home to hundreds of “tribes,” each with their own language (there are 800 still today), traditions, beliefs. The allegiance, even today, to one’s clan is paramount. Called “wan-tuk” in pidgin (part English, part German, part tribal ) for “one talk.”
The history of PNG is one of much tribal warfare and many conflicts based on retribution. Kinda like “you started it first.” Today this manifests itself as a strong expectation for fairness. For example, we are told not to give pencils or paper to children as it would create “problems” if one child received something another did not. Even at funerals, if one family receives a gift of one pig from another family, they must keep track so that when someone in that second family dies, they are given TWO pigs.
When the Australians first explored the highlands in the 1930s (in pursuit of gold), they literally stumbled on a million people no one knew existed, people essentially living in the Stone Age, unexposed to the world. Imagine: only 80 years ago! The narrow valleys, thick vegetation, sharp 12,000 foot peaks had been too inhospitable and challenging to explore. Over time, as the Australian army (the Administration) sought to make the country safer and more “civilized,” they devised a strategy for encouraging peace among the tribal groups and stopping the warfare.
The first “sing -sing” was held in Mount Hagen in the ‘50s. The Administration encouraged all the tribes to come and share their music, their dancing, their dress and decoration. The strategy being: with familiarity and sharing would come peace and friendship.
Small problem with their strategy: the Australians gave out a prize for the “best” performance. Obviously competition doesn’t do anything to enhance friendship among people who have been at war. More retribution ensued. One tribe, the Huli of Southern Highlands, with dramatic wigs and vibrant face paint usually won, resulting in “retribution” from other tribes. Eventually (like within the past 10 years or so) the sing-sings have evolved to a fair — always “fair”— system of sharing prize money equally among all tribes. There are other sing-sings, but Mt. Hagen is the oldest and largest, bringing people from all over the country.
Imagine a couple thousand tribal people with brilliant red and white and yellow painted faces, towering headdresses of bird of paradise feathers, shells in noses, bodies covered in tree oil, pig fat, clay and pearl shells! The mother of pearl shells, called kina in the Mt. Hagen area, were used as currency not so many years ago. Interestingly, PNG’s cash currency today is called the kina.
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Smiling woman with shell necklace and feather headdress at Mount Hagen Sing Sing
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Mount Hagen Sing Sing participant 03
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Mount Hagen Sing Sing participant 02
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Shell adornments at the Mount Hagen Sing Sing
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Colorful Mount Hagen Sing Sing participants
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Shell and feather adornments at the Mount Hagen Sing Sing
Clearly the people are proud to exhibit their wealth, their coveted feathers and shells. Adorning children is another sign of the family’s productivity and trading successes.
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Children at Mount Hagen Sing Sing 04
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Children at Mount Hagen Sing Sing 03
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Children at Mount Hagen Sing Sing 02
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Children at Mount Hagen Sing Sing 01
Groups enter the rugby field dancing, swaying, stomping, beating drums, chanting, singing. Remnants of what they witnessed with the Australian military, some groups march and blow loud whistles. By mid-day, the field is full. The sound is overwhelming. As you turn in a circle you see nothing but color and throngs of people dancing.
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Mount Hagen Sing Sing tribe 02
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Mount Hagen Sing Sing tribe 01
The face painting is detail work, taking close to an hour in some cases. Often it seemed it was the older men and women of the group who were charged with this responsibility.
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Mount Hagen Sing Sing prep by elders 02
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Mount Hagen Sing Sing Prep 01
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Mount Hagen Sing Sing Prep 02
Some of the work is done with tempura paint bought at a store, some is clay, some is mud. The black paint is actually charcoal which requires a base layer of melted pig fat for the charcoal to adhere. I saw everything from twigs to bamboo pieces to fingers to paint brushes used to create the detail.
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Mount Hagen Sing Sing face detail 03
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Mount Hagen Sing Sing face detail 01
People gather in outlying fields hours before their performance, huddled in village groups, to patiently paint each other’s faces, meticulously construct the elaborate headdresses - one feather at a time. The feathers (bird of paradise, cassowarys, owl) are obviously cherished. They are stored flat, individually, between pages in a notebook type booklet and handled carefully. While crouching to take a picture, I accidentally brushed a feather of one headdress that was sitting on the ground. A beautiful woman with betel stain teeth gently reached out and pulled me back.
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Mount Hagen Sing Sing prep 03
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Mount Hagen Sing Sing prep by elders 01
The dancing and movements all have meaning: aggression, Spirits, mourning. My favorite was the men and women with heads covered with thin feathers gently wiggling their head to and fro. It represents flirting...and replicates pollinating.
A comment on the Mud Men. As you see, they cover themselves with their local mud and wear masks to frighten their adversaries. The masks they wear are mud and verrrrry heavy. My guess: 5-8 pounds. Some are quite ornate; all are fragile.
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Mount Hagen Sing Sing mud men 02
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Mount Hagen Sing Sing mud men 01
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Mount Hagen Sing Sing mud mask 02
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Mount Hagen Sing Sing mud mask 01
As our group climbed in the van to work our way up the steep, dusty rocky road, our driver stopped to get energized with some betel nut. Apparently it is a mild stimulant and can be addictive. Men and women of all ages chew and spit out the residual nut meat. As such, you see red splatters everywhere that looks kinda like blood. Besides staining the teeth, betel kills your taste buds and causes mouth and tongue cancer
The sing-sing, one of the things that attracted me to PNG was a fun, stimulating, overwhelming experience. There are bits that reminded me of Carnival in Rio, It is a festival atmosphere but clearly taken seriously by the people participating. They are proud of their heritage and traditions and want to share it. More than once, after taking a picture of a group of one tribe, I would see one person — quite often an older man — standing alone, quite straight and still...waiting for me to turn and take a picture of him in his traditional clothing. Proud, he would not smile, just wait for me to take my picture. Somehow my smile and “thank you” weren’t sufficient acknowledgement of my respect for him and my awareness that, during his lifetime, his world has changed more than I will ever understand.
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Mount Hagen Sing Sing solo man 02
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Mount Hagen Sing Sing solo man 03
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Mount Hagen Sing Sing solo man 01
I guess my first blog left many of you concerned for my safety! Too much drama in my part! All is fine. There are precautions: often we are told we can go nowhere alone, we are often advised that is safer to leave valuables in our hotel locker than in our person, sometimes the opposite is true, sometimes the van driver, as we move slowly through a crowd, will suddenly say “close the windows!” But people are friendly and eager to please.
Off tomorrow to Lake Murray on a 7 person charter to see a more rural and lush part of PNG. Of course, that’s flexible. I am learning that, due to weather, safety precautions, tribal “activity,” plans change unexpectedly!
