Rare show from Gulf highlands

COVER STORY

By JAMIE HARO
THE young generation in today’s world must learn to uphold the values of their traditional customs and practices to keep their culture alive, a cultural representative says.
Mandi Cultural and Artifacts Group secretary Kingsford Yansom said this after a detailed traditional display representing Kotidanga Local Level Government at the 2023 Gulf Cultural Show in Kerema recently.
“We started our cultural group back in 2018 to showcase and promote what our ancestors have been practicing in the early days, importantly to teach our younger generation the cultural values we have back in our LLG,” Yansom said.
“It was not easy coming all the way from the hinterlands of Gulf to attend this cultural fest but we knew the importance of showing the culture/customs and beliefs that our young generation have been missing so we prepared our headdresses, dances and the custom to come and perform. In a way we need to revive our cultural beliefs.”
Yansom said this cultural group was from one of the remotest areas in the Kotidanga LLG where despite having everything they need to make a living, they lacked basic services still.

“We’ve been left out in the remote areas. Although we have everything we need back in the village, there is no direct road link to our villages as yet, and therefore for almost 45 years we never got to showcase the cultural practice out in the open and allow others to understand the type of life we still live back home.
“This also includes our rare traditional attires and beliefs that are being practiced still. Our participation meant a lot because we are trying to educate the masses, especially the younger generation who have been influenced by the tech world that these cultural practices are something we want others to continue later on in the future.”
Yansom said the cultural dance they performed at the festival was all about sourcing power to young men to strengthen their households, their families and tribes/clans.
“Everything we performed in Kerema is based on the reality of what’s still being practiced back home and back in the days.
“The special group of women that performed among the men are known as haiwa kana, which means they get to live on their own in a special place.”
The haiwa kanas get to paint themselves with mud and, still in tradition attires, play their part to lure animals (food sources) using chants. It is believed that every food source (game) from every direction would gather at particular areas. The haiwa kanas live in that certain geographical location for days or months and practice that to allow certain male relatives to go and hunt to abus for their families to be brought back home.
“That is the reason why when they were dancing during the cultural performance, they were running around the group of men, both elders and young men, to empower them while the elderly initiate the younger ones to ensure that as soon as these men are initiated they have the strength to continue to provide for their families.
“The little stick that was carried by the elders during the cultural performance is more of a power source. This stick contains power and those with pig tasks in their noses are elders and those without tasks are the ones ready to be initiated. They gently flail their hands so that power would flow towards the younger ones to strengthen them to go out and hunt and gather.
“The main purpose of this performance is to release that power/strength to the younger generation so that they can able to take care of their families, protect, provide and care for them.
“We practice this to gain strength to build houses, make gardens and event hunt and gather. Back in the days, this strength was also used to strengthen our tribes whenever we went to war with other tribes.

“So that was one way to win through this customary practice, to gain strength in the battlefield. We we felt the need to revive those traditional practices and teach our younger generation what they have been missing out on.
Yansom explained that there were also moral values to be passed on such as not to commit adultery or get into polygamous relationships and being faithful to their wives, apart from the practical skills of making gardens and building houses for families and communities.
According to Yansom the group of dancers walked for two days to the nearest village which was accessible by river and or road transport into Kerema town.
“We don’t have proper roads to travel down due to the complex geographic location but it was worth our time coming here to perform our traditional singsing and share with the rest of the province,” he said.
“It depicts the importance of how everyone plays a vital role in the community and importantly showing the strength of keeping a community closer together.
“We have these things so we continue to keep the practices and beliefs going. This is just a beginning of more to come, we are hoping we can come back for more in the future, especially when another cultural show is hosted in Kerema.”
Meanwhile, Mandi Cultural Group is expected to bring a bigger contingent to the next cultural show in Kerema.