Indonesia and Papua New Guinea: the life of disappearing tribes (40 photos). The amazing life of the Papuans from New Guinea

Papua - New Guinea , especially its center - one of the protected corners of the Earth, where human civilization has hardly penetrated. People there live in complete dependence on nature, worship their deities and honor the spirits of their ancestors. On the coast of the island of New Guinea there are now quite civilized people who know the official language - English. Missionaries worked with them for many years. However, in the center of the country there is something like a reservation - nomadic tribes and who still live in the Stone Age. They know every tree by name, bury the dead on its branches, and have no idea what money or passports are.

They are surrounded by a mountainous country overgrown with impenetrable jungle, where high humidity and unimaginable heat make life unbearable for a European. No one there speaks a word of English, and each tribe speaks its own language, of which there are about 900 in New Guinea. The tribes live very isolated from each other, communication between them is almost impossible, so their dialects have little in common, and people are different they simply don’t understand their friend. Typical locality, where the Papuan tribe lives: modest huts are covered with huge leaves, in the center there is something like a clearing where the whole tribe gathers, and around there is jungle for many kilometers. The only weapons these people have are stone axes, spears, bows and arrows. But it is not with their help that they hope to protect themselves from evil spirits. That's why they have faith in gods and spirits. The Papuan tribe usually keeps the mummy of the “chief”. This is some outstanding ancestor - the bravest, strongest and smartest, who fell in battle with the enemy. After death, his body was treated with a special composition to avoid decay. The leader's body is kept by the sorcerer.

It is in every tribe. This character is highly revered among his relatives. Its function is mainly to communicate with the spirits of the ancestors, appease them and ask for advice. People who usually become sorcerers are weak and unsuitable for the constant battle for survival - in a word, old people. They earn their living by witchcraft. WHITE COMING FROM THIS WORLD? The first white man to come to this exotic continent was the Russian traveler Miklouho-Maclay. Having landed on the shores of New Guinea in September 1871, he, being an absolutely peaceful man, decided not to take weapons ashore, taking only gifts and a notebook, which he never parted with.
Local residents greeted the stranger quite aggressively: they shot arrows in his direction, shouted intimidatingly, waved spears... But Miklouho-Maclay did not react in any way to these attacks. On the contrary, he sat down on the grass with the most equanimity, pointedly took off his shoes and lay down to take a nap. By an effort of will, the traveler forced himself to fall asleep (or just pretended to). And when he woke up, he saw that the Papuans were sitting peacefully next to him and looking at him with all their eyes overseas guest. The savages reasoned this way: since the pale-faced man is not afraid of death, it means he is immortal. That's what they decided on. The traveler lived for several months among a tribe of savages. All this time, the aborigines worshiped him and revered him as a god. They knew that if desired, the mysterious guest could command the forces of nature. How is it?

It’s just that one day Miklouho-Maclay, who was called only Tamo-rus - “Russian man”, or Karaan-tamo - “man from the moon”, demonstrated the following trick to the Papuans: he poured water into a plate with alcohol and set it on fire. Gullible local residents They believed that a foreigner was able to set fire to the sea or stop the rain. However, Papuans are generally gullible. For example, they are firmly convinced that the dead go to their own country and return from there white, bringing with them many useful items and food. This belief lives in everyone Papuan tribes(despite the fact that they hardly communicate with each other), even in those where they have never seen white man. FUNERAL RITE Papuans know three causes of death: from old age, from war and from witchcraft - if the death occurred for some unknown reason. If a person dies a natural death, he will be buried with honor. All funeral ceremonies are aimed at appeasing the spirits who accept the soul of the deceased. Here is a typical example of such a ritual. Close relatives of the deceased go to the stream to perform bisi as a sign of mourning - smearing the head and other parts of the body with yellow clay. At this time, the men prepare a funeral pyre in the center of the village. Not far from the fire, a place is being prepared where the deceased will rest before cremation.

Shells and sacred stones are placed here - the abode of a certain mystical power. Touching these living stones is strictly punishable by the laws of the tribe. On top of the stones there should be a long wicker strip decorated with pebbles, which acts as a bridge between the world of the living and the world of the dead. The deceased is placed on sacred stones, coated with pork fat and clay, and sprinkled with bird feathers. Then funeral songs begin to be sung over him, which tell about the outstanding merits of the deceased. And finally, the body is burned at the stake so that the person’s spirit does not return from the afterlife. TO THE FALLEN IN BATTLE - GLORY! If a man is killed in battle, his body is roasted on a fire and eaten honorably with rituals appropriate to the occasion, so that his strength and courage will pass on to other men. Three days after this, the phalanges of the fingers of the deceased’s wife are cut off as a sign of mourning. This custom is connected with another ancient Papuan legend. One man mistreated his wife. She died and went to the next world. But her husband missed her and could not live alone. He went to another world for his wife, approached the main spirit and began to beg to return his beloved to the world of the living. The Spirit set a condition: his wife would return, but only if he promised to treat her with care and kindness. The man, of course, was delighted and promised everything at once.

His wife returned to him. But one day her husband forgot and forced her to work hard again. When he came to his senses and remembered this promise, it was already too late: his wife broke up before his eyes. All her husband had left was a phalanx of his finger. The tribe was angry and expelled him because he took away their immortality - the opportunity to return from the other world like his wife. However, in reality, for some reason, the wife cuts off the phalanx of her finger as a sign of the last gift to her deceased husband. The father of the deceased performs the nasuk ritual - he cuts himself off with a wooden knife. top part ear and then covers the bleeding wound with clay. This ceremony is quite long and painful. After the funeral ceremony, Papuans honor and appease the spirit of the ancestor. For, if his soul is not appeased, the ancestor will not leave the village, but will live there and cause harm. The spirit of the ancestor is fed for some time as if it were alive, and they even try to give it sexual pleasure. Eg, clay figurine The tribal god is placed on a stone with a hole, symbolizing a woman. The afterlife in the minds of the Papuans is a kind of paradise, where there is a lot of food, especially meat.

Welcome to one of the most untouched corners of the earth. Papua New Guinea. It is a state of impenetrable tropical forests, home to 38 species of birds of paradise. There are no cars or bicycles here, not even working horses or mules. There are no restaurants, bars, shops, electricity or roads. In these places, a newborn girl may be called Spade, and a boy - Axe.

There are about 2,000 tribes living in these places, including these weirdos - the Mud People of the Wagha Valley.
To find it unusual tribe, we will go to the center of the island of New Guinea at an altitude of 1677 meters, where the large fertile Wahgi Valley is located. Here, by the way, is the fifth largest city of Papua New Guinea with a population of 46,250 people - Mount Hagen. It is also the so-called “border of civilization”, because further on are the territories of mountain tribes.

The members of our Mud People tribe from the Wagha Valley look very colorful. Their bodies are painted and smeared with clay, and there are frightening masks on their heads. The enemies will definitely think 10 times before advancing further.


Look how terrifying they are!


Handsome men.


Papua New Guinea has a language problem - more than 800 different languages ​​are spoken here, and very often members of the same tribe do not understand what their neighbors are saying just a few kilometers away.

The state of Papua New Guinea is located in the western part Pacific Ocean, north of Australia and near the equator.


The island of New Guinea and most of the country's other islands have mountainous terrain where the mountain tribes live. The altitude of a significant part of the territory is more than 1000 m above sea level, and some peaks of New Guinea reach 4500 m, that is, the belt of eternal snow. Many of the mountain ranges are chains of volcanoes. There are 18 active volcanoes in Papua New Guinea. Most of of which is located in the north of the country. Volcanic activity is also associated with strong, sometimes catastrophic earthquakes.


Plant life here is expectedly rich - more than 20 thousand plant species grow here. Dense tropical rainforests, formed by hundreds of species of trees, rise up the slopes of the mountains.


As the world's largest and largest tropical island, New Guinea occupies less than 0.5% of its land surface but supports a high percentage of global biodiversity. Approximately 4,642 vertebrate species inhabit the island of New Guinea and its surrounding waters, representing about 8% recognized species world vertebrates.


The country's fauna is represented by reptiles, insects and especially numerous birds. There are many snakes in the forests and on the coast, including poisonous ones. On the sea shores and in big rivers there are crocodiles and turtles.


And the mud people of Papua New Guinea say it's time for us to go home.

Tue, 15/04/2014 - 14:56

In all countries of the world, the concept of masculinity has its own meaning and people different countries They themselves determine when a boy can be considered a man. IN modern society In order to become a man, you need to reach puberty, start a family, gain status in society, but in various tribes, in order to be considered a real man, you often need to go through creepy rituals initiations involving pain and humiliation. And only after this can the boy rightfully bear the proud title of a man.

Canada - drug test

The Algonquin tribe considers childhood to be merely an obstacle to becoming a real man. For this reason, they conduct initiation rites aimed at completely erasing childhood memories in boys.

Young members of the tribe from 14 to 21 days sit in special cages, and they are not allowed to eat anything except a very powerful hallucinogen - visokkan. It not only leads to memory loss, but also causes other side effects- loss of speech, rapid heartbeat, severe hallucinations, aggression, inability to move, weakness and even death.

After two to three weeks, the young initiates are released from their cages and questioned. If they have completely forgotten their childhood, they have gone through the ritual and are now considered real men. If they still have at least some memories, then the cruel ritual will have to go through again.

Ethiopia - Bull and Cow Jumping

Each generation of the Karo tribe undergoes an initiation ritual - men must jump over a row of bulls in what their mother gave birth to. Literally.

Sounds like something simple and fun? Not really. The solemn ceremony has a truly terrible implication: if a man is already biologically fully grown, then among the Karo he is considered a boy until he undergoes the ceremony. And being a boy in the Karo tribe means two things: firstly, you cannot marry, and secondly, boys must kill their children.

Karo babies born to fathers who have not gone through the ritual are considered illegitimate, and according to Karo law, illegitimate children have no right to live. The tradition of killing illegitimate babies is called mingi - mothers stuff their children's mouths with dirt and leave them to die in the desert. And only if the husband jumped over the bulls naked can his children live.

Philippines - traditional circumcision

In the Philippines, circumcision is an important event. Statistics from 2011 showed that about 93% of Filipino men are circumcised. Interestingly, boys are not circumcised in infancy, but at around age 12, and Filipino teenagers can only be considered male if they are already circumcised.

And if this does not happen, society considers them cowards and weaklings. And in order to escape constant ridicule and bullying, Filipino boys themselves ask their parents to circumcise them.

There are two types of circumcision in the Philippines: modern medical and traditional. In the traditional method, no anesthesia is used - instead, boys chew guava leaves, as this is believed to reduce the pain of surgery. Instead of a knife, a piece of wood called subokan is used for this painful procedure. After circumcision of the foreskin, the penis is wrapped in white cloth.

Kenya and Northern Tanzania - group lion hunt

Maasai boys must go out to hunt a lion with only clubs and shields. In the past, they had to hunt alone, but since there are few lions left, the tradition was changed, and now the Maasai grow up to hunt in groups.

Lion hunting is very dangerous. It is because of this danger that it is considered a worthy ritual of initiation into a man. When Maasai boys hunt lions, they demonstrate that quality that, according to the Maasai, only real men possess - courage. It is interesting to note that they hunt wounded or weak lions. Lionesses are not touched, as they are considered the givers of life.

Papua New Guinea - scarification (scarring or scarification)

Kaningara tribe from Papua New Guinea, practice very unusual ritual, which aims to strengthen the spiritual connection between tribe members and their surroundings. One of the ritual ceremonies is held in the “House of the Spirit”. The teenagers live in seclusion in the Spirit House for two months. After this period of isolation, they prepare for an initiation ceremony that recognizes their transition to manhood. During the ritual, the person's skin is cut with bamboo fragments. The resulting notches resemble crocodile skin. The people of this tribe believe that crocodiles are the creators of people. The marks on the body symbolize the teeth marks of a crocodile that ate the boy and left behind an adult man.

Brazil - pain and poison

The ritual for gaining masculinity of the Matis tribe consists of four extremely painful stages. At the first stage, the initiates inject poison into the eyes of the young: the Matis believe that this is how they improve their boys’ eyesight. At the second and third stages, the boys are subjected to severe physical pain - they are repeatedly beaten and lashed.

On last stage the boys ingest a poison called campo, extracted from tree frogs. Kampo is not a hallucinogen, although it can cause strange mental reactions. But there are plenty of physiological effects from it - vomiting, dizziness and uncontrolled bowel movements. The Matis tribe firmly believes that kampo increases the stamina and strength of boys, turning them into real men and hunters.

Papua New Guinea - blood purification

The Matausa tribe living in Papua New Guinea considers female blood unclean. The Matausa are convinced that their boys, in order to become real men, must be cleansed of the filth of their mothers.

The elder begins the ritual of purifying the blood by inserting reed tubes into the throats of the young initiates - then they vomit blood. The elders then insert tubes into their nostrils to expel bad blood and mucus from the body. Periodically, the tubes are removed to be cleaned, and at this time the initiates have time to take a breath of air. Finally, the elders make several cuts on the tongues of the young people using an arrow-like instrument. After a painful ceremony, young people become real men in the eyes of the community.

Cleansing the blood of the mataus is such an important and secret rite of passage that not all members go through it - you still have to prove that you are worthy. Men who have not completed the ritual are not considered adults and cannot enjoy the corresponding privileges - for example, they do not have the right to marry. In addition, they are considered weak members of the tribe, unable to fulfill their responsibilities as men.

Australia - Penis cutting

To become real men, the boys of the Unambal tribe must experience hellish physical pain. The elders of the tribe make cuts on the skin of their buttocks, chests, arms and shoulders, and sand is poured into them to prevent the wounds from healing. Afterwards there should be scars on the body.

Also, upon reaching a certain age, all the youth of the tribe undergo an incredibly painful operation, which is medically known as a urethrotomy. To turn a young man into a real man, he is circumcised, and then the urethra of the penis is cut and this procedure is regularly repeated throughout his life, as a result of which the penis becomes “forked.”

After completing the ritual, newly-minted mature men leave the tribe for some time and live separately, but upon their return they are expected to be honored and respected by their fellow tribesmen - the ritual completes their formation as full members of society.

It must be said that the men of the tribe were lucky that they were not born, for example, on the island of Ponape, part of the Caroline archipelago - the men there not only cut the tip of their penis, but also deprive them of one testicle.

Papua New Guinea - fellatio and cum swallowing

The Sambia tribe believes that boys must swallow semen - this is the only way they can become men. Sambia boys from seven to ten years old must please experienced warriors for years and every time swallow... um... the result.

According to the tribe's belief, the male seed is the source of life and the essence of masculinity. In addition, the Sambia believe that a boy is capable of becoming a father only if he first swallows the sperm of an adult.

However, we are not talking about homosexuality here - men who have gone through the ritual are not considered gay. When boys turn 15, they stop doing this and become seed donors themselves.

Once a man gets married, he is prohibited from further participating in the ceremony. The Sambia believe that female genitals make men's reproductive organs dirty and their sperm becomes "impure" so that it is no longer suitable for children about to become adults.

High altitude dives

The Republic of Vanuatu, as the encyclopedia tells us, is a state located on the islands of the New Hebrides (Espiritu Santo, Ambrym, Efate and others; about 80 islands in total), in the southwestern part of the Pacific Ocean; and occupies an area of ​​only 12.2 thousand square meters. km.

Here, among the aborigines of some tribes, the custom of celebrating the birth of the harvest and seeing off teenagers in adult life special way in which young men receive real chance prove your courage to everyone and demonstrate your courage.

This custom is honored on the island of Pentecost. Tribal residents erect a tower in a clearing, built from improvised materials (bush branches and reeds), its height is 30 meters. And from this tower the young men, tied to a special beam with a grass rope to their shins, jump upside down towards the ground. During a jump, the human body reaches a speed of 72 km/h. A jump is considered correct when the jumper almost touches the ground with his head. And, unlike bungee jumping, the tied rope does not stretch or absorb shock. Any incorrect calculation of the length of the rope entails death.

Bullet Ant Test

The Amazonian tribe of Sateremawe Indians uses a simple mitten to perform initiation rites for teenage boys. And yet, such a ritual is considered very dangerous to health and quite painful.

The mitten that the young man must pull over his hand is filled with bullet ants, whose venom is 20 times stronger than the sting of an ordinary wasp. I think you can now imagine the pain a teenager experiences when he undergoes this rite of passage.

For this purpose, adult members of the tribe collect bullet ants throughout the jungle for several weeks, which are then stored in a certain solution, where they hibernate, retaining their poison. On a certain day, the men of the tribe gather around a common fire, and the boys pull a mitten with ants on their hands. Then they go to the fire where they dance. Many boys lose consciousness during the ritual, and their bodies shake in convulsions. The pain from an ant bite lasts for at least 24 hours. But the most curious thing is that the teenagers, in ecstasy, put on the mitten several times, trying to prove to their fellow tribesmen their courage and fearlessness.

Papua New Guinea, especially its center - one of the protected corners of the Earth, where human civilization has hardly penetrated. People there live in complete dependence on nature, worship their deities and honor the spirits of their ancestors.

The coast of the island of New Guinea is now inhabited by completely civilized people who speak the official language - English. Missionaries worked with them for many years.

However, in the center of the country there is something like a reservation - nomadic tribes and who still live in the Stone Age. They know every tree by name, bury the dead on its branches, and have no idea what money or passports are.

They are surrounded by a mountainous country overgrown with impenetrable jungle, where high humidity and unimaginable heat make life unbearable for a European.

No one there speaks a word of English, and each tribe speaks its own language, of which there are about 900 in New Guinea. The tribes live very isolated from each other, communication between them is almost impossible, so their dialects have little in common, and people are different they simply don’t understand their friend.

A typical settlement where the Papuan tribe lives: modest huts are covered with huge leaves, in the center there is something like a clearing where the whole tribe gathers, and there is jungle around for many kilometers. The only weapons these people have are stone axes, spears, bows and arrows. But it is not with their help that they hope to protect themselves from evil spirits. That's why they have faith in gods and spirits.

The Papuan tribe usually keeps the mummy of the “chief”. This is some outstanding ancestor - the bravest, strongest and smartest, who fell in battle with the enemy. After death, his body was treated with a special composition to avoid decay. The leader's body is kept by the sorcerer.

It is in every tribe. This character is highly revered among his relatives. Its function is mainly to communicate with the spirits of the ancestors, appease them and ask for advice. People who usually become sorcerers are weak and unsuitable for the constant battle for survival - in a word, old people. They earn their living by witchcraft.

The first white man to come to this exotic continent was the Russian traveler Miklouho-Maclay. Having landed on the shores of New Guinea in September 1871, he, being an absolutely peaceful man, decided not to take weapons ashore, taking only gifts and a notebook, which he never parted with.

Local residents greeted the stranger quite aggressively: they shot arrows in his direction, shouted intimidatingly, waved spears...

But Miklouho-Maclay did not react in any way to these attacks. On the contrary, he sat down on the grass with the most equanimity, pointedly took off his shoes and lay down to take a nap.

By an effort of will, the traveler forced himself to fall asleep (or just pretended to). And when he woke up, he saw that the Papuans were sitting peacefully next to him and looking at the overseas guest with all their eyes. The savages reasoned this way: since the pale-faced man is not afraid of death, it means he is immortal. That's what they decided on.

The traveler lived for several months among a tribe of savages. All this time, the aborigines worshiped him and revered him as a god. They knew that if desired, the mysterious guest could command the forces of nature. How is it?

It’s just that one day Miklouho-Maclay, who was called only Tamo-rus - “Russian man”, or Karaan-tamo - “man from the moon”, demonstrated the following trick to the Papuans: he poured water into a plate with alcohol and set it on fire. Gullible locals believed that the foreigner was able to set fire to the sea or stop the rain.

However, Papuans are generally gullible. For example, they are firmly convinced that the dead go to their own country and return from there white, bringing with them many useful items and food. This belief lives on in all Papuan tribes (despite the fact that they hardly communicate with each other), even in those where they have never seen a white man.

FUNERAL RITE

Papuans know three causes of death: from old age, from war and from witchcraft - if the death occurred for some unknown reason. If a person dies a natural death, he will be buried with honor. All funeral ceremonies are aimed at appeasing the spirits who accept the soul of the deceased.

Here is a typical example of such a ritual. Close relatives of the deceased go to the stream to perform bisi as a sign of mourning - smearing the head and other parts of the body with yellow clay. At this time, the men prepare a funeral pyre in the center of the village. Not far from the fire, a place is being prepared where the deceased will rest before cremation.

Shells and sacred Vusa stones are placed here - the abode of some mystical power. Touching these living stones is strictly punishable by the laws of the tribe. On top of the stones there should be a long wicker strip decorated with pebbles, which acts as a bridge between the world of the living and the world of the dead.

The deceased is placed on sacred stones, coated with pork fat and clay, and sprinkled with bird feathers. Then funeral songs begin to be sung over him, which tell about the outstanding merits of the deceased.

And finally, the body is burned at the stake so that the person’s spirit does not return from the afterlife.

TO THE FALLEN IN BATTLE - GLORY!

If a man is killed in battle, his body is roasted on a fire and eaten honorably with rituals appropriate to the occasion, so that his strength and courage will pass on to other men.

Three days after this, the phalanges of the fingers of the deceased’s wife are cut off as a sign of mourning. This custom is connected with another ancient Papuan legend.

One man mistreated his wife. She died and went to the next world. But her husband missed her and could not live alone. He went to another world for his wife, approached the main spirit and began to beg to return his beloved to the world of the living. The Spirit set a condition: his wife would return, but only if he promised to treat her with care and kindness. The man, of course, was delighted and promised everything at once.

His wife returned to him. But one day her husband forgot and forced her to work hard again. When he came to his senses and remembered this promise, it was already too late: his wife broke up before his eyes. All her husband had left was a phalanx of his finger. The tribe was angry and expelled him because he took away their immortality - the opportunity to return from the other world like his wife.

However, in reality, for some reason, the wife cuts off the phalanx of her finger as a sign of the last gift to her deceased husband. The father of the deceased performs the nasuk ritual - he cuts off the upper part of his ear with a wooden knife and then covers the bleeding wound with clay. This ceremony is quite long and painful.

After the funeral ceremony, Papuans honor and appease the spirit of the ancestor. For, if his soul is not appeased, the ancestor will not leave the village, but will live there and cause harm. The spirit of the ancestor is fed for some time as if it were alive, and they even try to give it sexual pleasure. For example, a clay figurine of a tribal god is placed on a stone with a hole, symbolizing a woman.

The afterlife in the minds of the Papuans is a kind of paradise, where there is a lot of food, especially meat.

DEATH WITH A SMILE ON YOUR LIPS

In Papua New Guinea, people believe that the head is the seat of a person's spiritual and physical strength. Therefore, when fighting enemies, Papuans first of all strive to take possession of this part of the body.

For the Papuans, cannibalism is not at all a desire to eat tasty food, but rather a magical rite, during which cannibals gain the intelligence and strength of the one they eat. Let us apply this custom not only to enemies, but also to friends, and even relatives who heroically died in battle.

The process of eating the brain is especially “productive” in this sense. By the way, it is with this ritual that doctors associate the disease kuru, which is very common among cannibals. Kuru is another name for mad cow disease, which can be contracted by eating uncooked brains of animals (or, in this case, humans).

This insidious disease was first recorded in 1950 in New Guinea, in a tribe where the brains of deceased relatives were considered a delicacy. The disease begins with pain in the joints and head, gradually progressing, leading to loss of coordination, trembling in the arms and legs and, oddly enough, bouts of uncontrollable laughter.

The disease develops over many years, sometimes the incubation period is 35 years. But the worst thing is that victims of the disease die with a frozen smile on their lips.

The Yali are the wildest and most dangerous tribe of cannibals in the 21st century, numbering more than 20,000 people. In their opinion, cannibalism is a common thing and there is nothing special about it; eating an enemy for them is valor, and not the most cruel way of reprisal. Their leader says that it is the same as a fish eats a fish, the one who is stronger wins. For the yali, this is to some extent a ritual, during which the power of the enemy he eats is transferred to the winner.

The government of New Guinea is trying to combat the inhumane addictions of its wild citizens. And their adoption of Christianity influenced their psychological perception - the number of cannibal feasts decreased significantly.
The most experienced warriors remember recipes for cooking dishes from their enemies. With imperturbable calm, one might even say with pleasure, they tell that the enemy’s buttocks are the most delicious part of a person, for them it is a true delicacy!
Even today, Yali residents believe that pieces of human flesh enrich them spiritually; eating the victim while pronouncing the name of the enemy gives them special power. Therefore, when visiting the most terrible place on the planet, it is better not to tell the savages your name, so as not to provoke them into the ritual of eating you.

IN Lately The Yali tribe believes in the existence of the savior of all mankind - Christ, therefore they do not eat people with white skin. The reason for this is that White color Residents associate it with the color of death. However, recently an incident occurred - a Japanese correspondent disappeared in Irian Jaya as a result of strange events. They probably don’t consider people with yellow and black skin to be the servants of the old woman with the scythe.
Since colonization, the life of the tribe has remained virtually unchanged, as has the attire of these coal-black citizens of New Guinea. Yali women are almost completely naked, their daytime clothing consists only of a skirt with plant fibers. Men, in turn, walk naked, covering their genital organs with a cover (halim), which is made from dried bottle gourd. According to them, the process of making clothes for men requires a lot of skill.

As the pumpkin grows, a weight in the form of a stone is tied to it, which is strengthened with threads of vines to give it interesting shape. At the final stage of preparation, the pumpkin is decorated with feathers and shells. It is worth noting that the Halim also serves as a “wallet” in which men store roots and tobacco. The tribesmen also love jewelry made from shells and beads. But their perception of beauty is unique. For example, they knock out the front two teeth of local beauties in order to make them even more attractive.
The noble, favorite and only occupation of men is hunting. And yet in the villages of the tribe you can find livestock - chickens, pigs and possums, which are looked after by women. It also happens that several clans hold large-scale meals at once, where everyone has their place and is taken into account social status every savage in terms of food distribution. Alcoholic drinks they do not take, but do consume the bright red pulp of the batel nut - for them it is a local drug, so tourists can often see them with a red mouth and blurred eyes...

During shared meals clans exchange gifts. Although Yali cannot be called very hospitable people, they will accept gifts from guests with great pleasure. They especially appreciate bright shirts and shorts. The peculiarity is that they put the shorts on the head, and use the shirt as a skirt. This is because they do not contain soap, the result of which is that unwashed clothes can cause skin diseases over time.
Even taking into account the fact that the Yali have officially stopped fighting with neighboring tribes and eating victims, only the most “frostbitten” adventurers can go to these inhuman parts of the world. According to stories from this area, savages still sometimes allow themselves to carry out barbaric acts of eating the flesh of their enemies. But in order to justify their actions, they come up with different stories that the victim either drowned or fell to his death from a cliff.

The government of New Guinea has developed a powerful program for bodybuilding and improving the standard of living of the inhabitants of the island, including this tribe. According to the plan, the mountain tribes should move to the valley, while officials promised to give the settlers an adequate supply of rice and building materials, as well as a free TV in every home.
The citizens of the valley were forced to wear Western clothes in government buildings and schools. The government even took such measures as declaring the territory of the savages a national park where hunting is prohibited. Naturally, the Yali began to oppose the resettlement, since out of the first 300 people, 18 died, and this in the first month (from malaria).
More big disappointment to the surviving migrants was what they saw - they were allocated barren land, the houses are rotten. As a result, the government’s strategy collapsed and the settlers returned back to their beloved mountainous regions, where they still live, rejoicing in the “protection of the spirits of their ancestors.”

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