Chief with 3 of 5 wives
Head shot of chief showing his cassowary plume
Another photo of the chief and 3 of his 5 wives, and cassowary plume
This fellow, whom we dubbed the "firestarter," started a fire with a sliver of rolled up grass, a slot in a small branch, and some tinder
Joyce on her tryout with the chief's wives
The husband of the wife in menses, cooking his own meal --sweet potatoes roasted in a bed of coals
The husband in full tribal dress
Head shot of the husband (please note the absence of cassowary feathers)
The happy wife in menses, with two of her children
The wife in menses with children and inevitable family pigPapua New Guinea, Part 2 - Wife in menses
Attached are some photos showing the husband of a wife in menses, in tribal dress, and of his wife and children and of course one of the family pigs. He showed us how he fed himself: roasting sweet potatoes in a bed of coals (Reminded me of my summer camp days, when we stole some potatoes from the kitchen and threw them into a bed of coals in a fire that we made behind our cabin -- great eating! We called them "mickeys" but I cannot now remember why.)
It was somewhat disconcerting to see the husband about 20 minutes later walking on the side of the road in shorts and a T-shirt. Unfortunately, we had passed him before I could unlimber my camera.
Papua New Guinea, Part 2 -- Chief with 5 wives
Also attached are some photos of a chief who supposedly has five wives (I say supposedly because only three wives showed up). Joyce decided to see if she would fit in but there is something discordant about the lineup with her in it.
Joyce's additions to PNG Part 2 - Chief w/ 5 Wives!
There wasn't one moment when I was thinking of trying out to be Wife #6! This chief was quite jolly and I was careful to stand in the lineup farthest away from Him! You will notice that the two older wives were somber but the youngest one near the chief was quite often smiling. The chief, as is their custom, has a long necklace composed of short bamboo sticks. Each bamboo stick represents at least 10 pigs (maybe more) and is a true mark of wealth (and power).
6 comments:
Hard as it must be for the guy to change out of shorts and T shirt into traditional clothing regularly, imagine how it is for the guy who re-enacts the menses thing: every time tourists come by he has to cook for himself!
In watching TV I have often thought how strong people in PNG are; whatever their diet truly is, it is more than the bare minimum. The 19 year-old looks like an athlete. The women seem to have plenty of reserves too. The environment and weather probably explain why this is such a successful locus of human colonization, with its own origin of agriculture.
One of the remarkable features of New Guineans is their general level of well-being. No one is malnourished, the children are sleek, and there is no evidence of obesity. Indeed, the climate is benign,rainfall is plentiful, and the soil is rich (volcanic), so that several crops can be raised in a single year. The New Guineans long ago mastered the art of irrigation, more to avoid washouts during the rainy season than to water otherwise arid land. And according to our host at Rondon Ridge, there is archaelogical evidence of irrigation dating back 8,000 years. Regardless of whether this is true, the diet of sweet potatoes, sago, taro, bananas, beans, and other crops seems to be quite varied and more than subsistence; pigs are evidence of wealth and are eaten only on feast days, and at least in the interior regions, fish is not part of the daily diet.
Margaret Mead observed the general athleticism of young Manus children, and it seems logical that they should be well endowed since children have a prolonged outdoors childhood free of the constraints of formal education such as sitting in a classroom for years on end.
If I had to guess, since the menses demonstration is staged for our benefit, the wife cooks the food before we arrive and the husband makes believe for our benefit.
I feel kinda bad for the natives who have to dress up like that every time tourists come by
but it is nifty to see the actual native dress
they seem like really interesting people
I loved the PNG pics!
Joyce, you make an excellent wife for this man! I couldn't even tell which one was you in the photo!
Wish you could have brought me home a pig, but oh well...
I was looking at some of the photos in more details and I think some of the plants have been taken into the ornamental trade and sold here.
Also I think the wife who has the red beads has bigger biceps than me!
Listen up Jen! The chief's son is a real Hunk and as I wrote is gathering bride-price for an American Woman.I don't know what type of personal trainers they have in PNG but he is in really fine shape and worthy of your consideration.
As for me, PNG does not have any facilities for manicures and pedicures so I don't think it would work out long term for me. Plus even this chief did not have enought pigs to pay for my bride-price!!!
There is, by the way, one chief who owns coffee plantations who has 20 wives and 80+ kids. Now that is a man for you.
Joycee
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