Cultural shows in PNG are unique. People from different regions come along in their full traditional costumes and chant, sing and dance for a few days. These shows were started in the Highlands by Australians in the 1960's as a way of bringing different tribes together who normally fought each other. Today the Highlands shows are famous and the concept has spread to other parts of PNG, although the tribes still fight each other at times!
The Enga Show is one of the most amazing spectacles we've ever witnessed. The colour, the haunting chanting and the variety of costumes were unbelievable. This show is not one of the famous one yet, incredibly, there were about 1,000 perfomers, maybe 3,000 locals watching from outside the arena and only about 15 or 20 tourists who were free to wander right in among the performers! We could sit in the VIP stand right in front of the performers with the officials - all for about $20. It was like we had 1,000 people performing just for us!
There were 30 or so performing groups, although a few were quite similar to each other. They mostly stayed in lines, chanting and/or beating drums. I'll keep the writing short here because this post is all about the photos.
First up are the wigmen. When boys reach puberty in certain tribes they attend wig school. The boys must be virgins and remain virgins throughout their time at wig school. For 18 months they do special things to promote hair growth and their hair isn't cut during this time. It's then cut and a specialist wigmaker forms a wig from it. This is added to over the years and decorated with feathers etc. Once a boy graduates as a man he can go searching for a wife.
The hats below are actually wigs made from the wearer's own hair.
This group looked impressive with all their spears lined up.
There was often one leader of the group who dressed differently to the others.
These guys had a great sound.
There were some younger boys in the group who didn't have wigs yet.
The wigs were decorated with spectacular feathers.
There were women in the group too.
On the back of each performer were pig tusks and the beak of a hornbill bird! Although these constumes were incredible, a lot of bird and animal parts were used in them.
This group of women were part of a mixed group of men and women. They wore cuscus hats. Cuscus are a type of possum that are eaten.
The leader of this group was completely covered in black oil!
Often, the backs of the costumes were just as interesting as the fronts.
The largest group was these two rows of women. The front row had yellow paint on their bodies and the back row didn't so they must have been from slightly different tribes but they sang and danced together. There would have been about 100 of them and they made an incredible spectacle as they all moved together.
All 100 women wore "bilums", local bags, slung from their heads.
This group was really colourful and had pointy shapes made from feathers on their heads. Bird of paradise feathers are very popular.
Sometimes there was a lot of skin on show. Breasts were everywhere but bums were always covered with "arse grass"!
The leader of this group wore a scary mask.
There must have been some incredibly sore boobs by the end of each day!
Note the pierced noses.
Some groups went for a more natural look. These guys used leaves as their decorations.
This group wore hats from cuscus skins.
This group looked they had walked straight out of the forest with all their mossy decorations.
Note the full bird wings!
Moss ladies.
These ladies were laden with shells. We are a long way from the sea here so these would be very expensive. This group was one of the few who didn't dance in lines.
The collection of objects on their heads was amazing. I'm sure that blue thing is part of a car or something!
Another group that didn't perform in lines was these warriors. They ran around for hours pretending to shoot arrows.
Their leader not only had cassowary feathers in his hair but carried a cassowary foot!
These guys had their faces painted in the colours of the PNG flag.
One group of only about 6 people had spotty painted faces.
The following are from a mix of groups.
This boy had an amazing head-dress made from cassowary feathers.
Another small group had unusual cassowary head gear,
Around the grounds, there were a few other things happening. This guy wandered around showing how salt was carted to other regions to be traded.
Around the edges of the arena, a few groups entered the 'craft' competition which seemed to be where a tribe or village showed a depiction of their traditional villages. They built mini houses and wore traditional attire.
The lady on the left is wearing a hat made from bark.
We talked to these mossy men for a bit. Yes, many of them spoke English.
There was something very regal and proud about this guy.
As I wandered around I got accosted to get my face painted. It was a bit of fun. As he painted my face the guy explained that they go out to the forest to collect the ingredients to make the paint. During that time they aren't allowed to eat. It took a bit of doing to get the paint off later so I can't imagine how people get it off their whole bodies!
The next day we saw this girls collecting carbon from an exhaust pipe for paint!
The show ran for three days (we were there for two). During this time the groups performed for hours and hours. There were long, drawn out speeches at times, incuding by the Australian High Comissioner, and it just all got a bit much for some performers!
There were a few stands around the arena showing various cultural things. This is a tree kangaroo, which is related to Australian kangaroos.
A possum.
At speech time, all the groups faced the grandstand. Although they all stopped and started their chanting at different times, occassionally many were performing at the same time. It was an incredible sight. I'll leave you with the whole haunting, pulsating mass.
What an experience!
Heather and John
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