Fifty Years Ago Today - Bridges

Wednesday, November 13, 1963

We are walking back from the Rappaports' field location after the kaiko celebrations.  The Kiap road, which is supposed to be maintained by each clan along the Simbai Valley, is in rather bad repair. Several bridges are out.  

 I do not find it pleasant to inch my way over a log or  to leap from boulder to boulder.  

We are always glad when we can cross a good bridge.  

<<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>>

Fifty Years Ago Today - KAIKO

Saturday, November 9, 1963

Kaiko today!  It is the culmination of the Tsembaga clan ritual cycle that started almost two decades ago.  Guests from other clans are pouring into the tiny hamlet of Dikai and moving up onto the singsing ground above Roy and Ann Rappaport's house, where we spent the night. We all go out early in the day to record with notes, photographs and 16 mm. film as much as we can of this important occasion.

The dance ground, cleared and leveled from the side of a steep hill,  is filled with visitors from allied clans. I keep to the edges, as do the small boys - trying to see as much as possible while keeping out of the way.

Once the massed dancing and drumming begins, I switch to color film.

<<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>>

Fifty Years Ago Today - Pigs for the Ancestors

Friday, November 8, 1963

Numengump Ritual Grove, Simbai Valley, Papua New Guinea

For a whole year now,  Roy Rappaport has been studying the ritual cycle of the Tsembaga clan. Marek and I have spent a day walking to his field site in Dikai in order to photograph and film the closing rituals of this cycle. 

Today, the pigs that have been raised over the preceding years have been brought to the ritual grove where they are presented to the ancestors with invocations.

Marek films the proceedings and Rappaport takes notes of the details as the pigs are killed and butchered by the men. 

The women are busy cooking, and the children  run around, watching every detail of the action as they play among the busy adults. 

 The pork is destined to be distributed among the Tsembaga's allies who will gather on the next day and receive gifts of meat and fat in recognition of their help in previous battles with enemy clans.

**In future years, as Rappaport worked with what he learned, the ceremonies of this day and the next provided keys to an understanding of Maring culture as a whole**

<<<><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>>

Fifty Years Ago Today - The beloved outsider

Tuesday, November 5, 1963

Walking along the path through Koinambe, Marek and I came across Maia and several of the smaller boys.  They leaped into his arms - simultaneously joyous and teasing. 

 He put them down gently.

Nearby women chuckled and the smaller children looked on.  Were they envious?

Rungwa, Maia's little sister, turned to look at me as I was taking one of the photos.

We had been living in their area for eight months, so she was not longer afraid or shy. But the nearest she came in direct interaction was the big smile she gave me.

<<<>>><<<>>><<<>>>

Now

In September, as I was going through my photos and reliving my memories of Papua New Guinea fifty years ago, I became more aware of my life in Europe today.  Running water, boughten clothes, central heating, car, plenty of books and food available in stores - all taken for granted since I was born.

My life has expanded to include new things. Computer (since 1985). Internet (since 1992). Cellphones by the rest of my family though I remain a hold-out (since 1998).

The accelerating pace of the new impresses me, though I live my daily life as much as possible in its margins.  My landscape is unmarred by skyscrapers. Overnight, wild boars can root out a nicely laid path through the woods. I cut the autumn chill in the house by building a fire in the fireplace with wind-fallen branches from the surrounding oaks. I can eat apples, chard, figs, zucchinis grown locally.

Yet the concept and reality of globalization is omnipresent.  I appreciate my colleagues who diligently pursue research around the world  -  who are "our eyes and ears" and narrate the stories we all need to know as life moves on.

Here are my recent favorites:

The Noodle Narratives

Follow the Things

Where Underpants Come From: From Cotton Field to Checkout Counters - Travels Through the New China and Into the New Global Economy

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

Fifty Years Ago Today - Learning and Improvization

Monday, September 23, 1963

Bossboy Gul's daughter, Koram, picks up some bits of fiber her mother is making into twine and tries her hand at twisting the bits together.

For a few minutes she concentrates intensely, but as the bits of twine refuse to turn into twine for her little hands, she loses interest and runs off to play with other little girls.

Eventually twisting twine will become a skill she will use to make clothing and string bags, an activity that will keep many hours of her future days occupied. There are no shortcuts for making the bilums (string bags) necessary for carrying small children and garden produce.

The young men who are earning money by working for us as cooks and translators, have found a shortcut for carrying water from the stream to our house. Empty cans from the kerosene we use to fuel our camp stove, Tilley lamp and hurricane lanterns, are slung like a hunted pig from a pole.

<<>><<>><<>>

Fifty Years Ago Today - In Kondibia's yard

Thursday, September 19, 1963

A couple of days later, we walked over to Tenegump again, this time actually going into Kondibia's yard.  Both Kondibia and his wife were happy to see us, though we had always hesitated to enter their yard as their daughter, Kringa, was one of the few kids who continued to be very shy of us.  This time, she screwed up her courage, and encouraged by her father, slowly crawled toward Marek.

At'ema had stuck two digging sticks into the ground and was beginning to tie the lengths of cut twine, prepared by the women in previous days, onto a central piece of twine. This was the beginning of a new fringed skirt - pulpul. 

At'ema's brother, Korip, was busy binding together five sharp wooden points to make an arrow suitable for hunting birds.

<<<>>><<<>>><<<>>>

Fifty Years Ago Today - Counting for a pulpul

Tuesday, September 17, 1963

Today, for the first time, we see the preparations for the making of a woman's fringed skirt. At'ema has twisted an uncommonly lengthy piece of twine and now, helped by her neighbor, is dividing it into bundles of short pieces of equal length.

She ties off each of the many ends with a neat knot.

Then she places the bundles one by one in the spaces between her fingers.

After all the finger "place-holders" are taken, she hangs the remaining bundles over her forearm until she sees that there are sufficient bundles.

Verbally, the Maring use only two words for counting:
rangwai = one
romai = two
rangwai-romai = three

The kind of "visual counting" we are witnessing today extends the possibilities in a practical way.

<<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>>

Fifty Years Ago Today - Walking through Tenegump

Monday, September 16, 1963

Walking through the hamlet of Tenegump, we came upon Kwingn, six month's pregnant, and her daughter, Kanuk, on the path outside their yard, cleaning their fine pig. Kai, the neighbor girl, had come over to visit, bringing her little nephew, Piag.

After a while, Kai took Piag back to his mother, who was sitting at the edge of the bank above the path.   Meiko, the oldest man in the Fungai clan, was enjoying the sociabilities from the edge of the bank.  

                         

Kai and Piag's mother, Rango, settled down to make twine from bark fiber and possum fur, destined for a new fringed skirt.

Pretty soon,  Piag fell asleep as Rango kept twisting twine.

Below in the path, Kwiank entertained the bigger kids  -  Kanuk and Gunia  -  with a lizard he had just shot with his tiny, handmade bow and arrows.

<<>><<>><<>>

Fifty Years Ago Today - Marek's Pipe

We walked over to Tenegump hamlet and were welcomed by three boys. Marek sat down in the shade of a central tree,  his pipe habitually clutched between his teeth.  Gunia and Maia climbed into his lap, thoroughly enjoying being able to play with an adult man in this totally informal, joking manner.  Kauwia,  slightly older, had his small bow-and-arrow set firmly in hand, ready to hunt lizards in the surrounding overgrowth.  He was also holding a half-smoked cigarette which had gone out.

Seeing the tobacco in Marek's pipe burning merrily, he stepped forward and, in a typical gesture of wheedling, he asked for a light. The other boys were already jealous as they didn't have cigarette stubs of their own.

Continuing his request/demand, Kauwia play-threatened Marek with a typical hand-gesture. 

One might translate this into English as "I'll get you!"  The Italian translation seems even closer: "Mi racommando!"

<>>><><<<>

Fifty Years Ago Today - The Bossboi and his daughter

Gunts Yard, Simbai Valley, Papua New Guinea

September 6, 1963

Bossboi Gul spent several hours with his youngest daughter, Koram, while her mother was gardening.  He gave Koram a special treat of sugarcane, biting off the tough outer bark and handing her little juicy inside bits that she could chew to suck out the sweet juice. The Maring people laughed at our custom of drinking water - cold from streams or heated with tea.  To them, sugarcane, mbo, was what one drank. Thirst could also be quenched with a juicy cucumber straight from a garden.

When it was time to head back to their home in Tenegump.  Gul exchanged a few words with the young men who were gathered in the haus kuk, where they prepared food for themselves and for us, the visiting anthropologists.

Then Gul helped Koram over the fence surrounding the yard, protecting the inner space from visits by the free-ranging domesticated pigs .  Fences protected all yards and gardens, so there were many fences to be navigated every day and children learned young to climb over them.  Gul gave Koram a hand - lifting her in the traditional way the Maring lift their babies, i.e. by grasping one upper arm.

<>>><>>><>

Fifty Years Ago Today - Grandmother Wayakai

September 3, 1963

Gunts Yard, Simbai Valley, Papua New Guinea

Wayakai is looking after her granddaughter, Waruk, while Waruk's mom, Wia, is off working in a garden. Waruk has found a tiny stub of cigarette at the edge of the yard.  The Maring grew their own tobacco  -  single plants near the men's houses, individual leaves picked only as needed and immediately dried over  hot stone near a fire.  

These cigarettes were smoked to the last millimeter, and were passed down from grown-ups to kids as they got shorter and shorter. 

Wayakai let Waruk light the tiny stub with the cigarette she herself had been smoking.

<>>><>>><>

Fifty Years Ago Today - Pete Vayda's Departure from Gunts

On Sunday, September 1, 1963,  Pete Vayda left Gunts. He had lead the Columbia University Expedition to study the Human Ecology of the New Guinea Rain Forest and had spent a year among the Maring-speaking people of the Simbai and Jimi Valleys. The local people gathered to give him a good send-off for the walk from Gunts to Simbai.

Local men lashed Pete's equipment and notes onto carrying poles in readiness for the 2 - 3 day walk to the Patrol Post in Simbai from where he would take a plane to Madang, and from there return via Australia to New York to write up the results of his fieldwork.  

Vayda's was one of the very first anthropological studies to be completed by running the detailed field data through a main-frame computer  -  information carried from the slopes of the Bismarck Mountains and transformed into new understandings at Pupin Laboratory in Morningside Heights. 

<>><<><<>

Fifty Years Ago Today - After a Nap

Gunts, Simbai Valley, Papua New Guinea

Friday, August 2, 1963

Waruk had been sleeping in her bilum, slung from a forked pole at the side of Gunts yard. Her mother, Wia, had been chatting with other women gathered in the shade of the banana trees.  

Wia took Waruk out of the bilum just as soon as she heard her stirring.

She wiped her nose with  bit of leaf, 

..... checked her hair for lice,

...and Waruk settled down to nurse.

<>><<><<>