June 15th, 2016

Despite the widespread use of scientific and technological advances, in the southeastern part of the Indonesian province of Papua, a small piece of territory is lost where progress has not yet reached. The place resembles a corner of the Stone Age, whose population adheres to a primitive way of life

In the early 70s of the last century, in the central part of the island of New Guinea, Dutch travelers discovered a tribe of people living in trees. To protect themselves from attacks from neighboring tribes, the Korowai Papuans built dwellings in the jungle at an altitude of more than 15 meters. Christian missionaries managed to stop the endless wars between the aborigines. Most clans have become accustomed to the environment offered by Europeans and are now quite friendly towards strangers.

Nevertheless, high-rise buildings continue to be built.

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The Korowai habitat is a remote area between rugged mountains and two large rivers. The number of the tribe does not exceed a thousand people, and the way of life has not changed for centuries. They do not know iron, there are practically no household utensils, they use stone and bone tools for hunting and work, and are armed with bows and spears.

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The tribe consists of several large families, there is no tribal leader or shaman. Another reason for living in the treetops is the fear of the coming of sorcerers. At night, the whole family, along with supplies and animals, climbs stairs made of flexible vines to their celestial dwellings.

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The main source of food for the Korowai is the sago tree. Everything is used for cooking - leaves, fruits, wood. The tribe makes flour using stone millstones, then it is added to dishes from larvae, roots and fruits, to the meat of wild goats, wild boars, and fish. Beetle eggs, which can sometimes be found in rotten leaves, are considered a special delicacy. They are fried and served as the main dish at a festive feast.

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The Korowai think about the future - they always plant a new sago tree in the place of the one that was cut down. Another object of boundless love and worship are pigs. They are caught in snares and tamed; over time, the wild animal becomes completely domestic and serves as a guard dog. They also transport things and children. Pigs are so valued in the tribe that women breastfeed piglets, and pigs caught stealing are immediately killed.

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The tribe does not wear clothes. Women limit themselves to a loincloth and a variety of fancy necklaces made of shells and boar's tusks, with bat bones threaded through their noses. Men are real fashionistas. Their only item of clothing is a penis sheath. Moreover, every man has at least two of them - everyday and formal. The ceremonial “suit” is decorated with fur and has the most bizarre shape, corresponding to the latest trends in local fashion!

The entire Korowai tribe smokes constantly - women, children, men - they roll cigarettes from leaves and tar incessantly.

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The Korowai concept of family is quite primitive. All the women of the tribe belong to all the men. Moreover, only once a year, during the flowering of the sago tree, a festival of intercourse takes place - massive and comprehensive. At the same time, a group of young girls remains in the tribe, who are not claimed by any man. They are intended to be given in marriage to neighboring tribes, to be sacrificed to spirits at upcoming holidays (in other words, to be eaten).

Yes, the tribe has developed cannibalism. This phenomenon exists as a ritual: to eat an enemy, a stranger, especially a white one, means to receive his courage, strength, health, immortality.

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The lifespan in the tribe is not long - men are on average up to 30 years old, women a little longer. The loss of loved ones is a great grief for everyone. According to tradition, women cut off the phalanx of their fingers in memory of the deceased, and men cut their ear. Men in the tribe often die, so some women are left without fingers at the end of their lives.

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Particularly distinguished and respected dead people are mummified, but this is a very high honor and is rare. Usually the corpses are left wrapped in leaves on the ground for wild animals.

The Korowai tribe faces many dangers - bites of poisonous insects, wounds and scratches that do not heal for a long time in the local climate, hunting accidents. But the main danger is infections brought from outside by missionaries and travelers. They are killed by the common flu, rubella, measles, tuberculosis...

Their little world can die from the slightest shock. But at the same time, the Korowai world is gradually narrowing, civilization is advancing, destroying the jungle in the tropics...

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For the Korowai people, such architecture is nothing more than a way to protect themselves from floods, insects and predators living below. In addition, local residents believe that the higher the house is, the more inaccessible it is to evil spirits. The houses are lived in by families, the number of members of which can reach 12 people. Often the loaves take all the domestic animals up with them.

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Let's read what traveler Leonid Kruglov writes about his stay in this tribe.

I wanted to get to the wildest clans of the tribe. In the mission village of Senggo, I found two Papuans who spoke English, and we set off.

For four days we walked through the deserted swampy jungle, until one of the guides noticed a hut about six meters long and two wide on the edge of the forest. Not a soul around. It's empty inside. Tired, we collapsed on the bamboo floor and dozed off...

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Suddenly waking up, right above me I saw the face of a hunched old man in a loincloth. Gray beard, disheveled hair and huge whites of the eyes - Uncle Au from the Soviet cartoon! He looked at me intently. I pushed the sleeping escorts in the side. They jumped to their feet, which frightened the old man, forcing him to hide in an unlit corner of the house. After short negotiations in the local dialect, the stranger calmed down. As it turned out, Uncle Au, or rather Wuningi, is a fire keeper from the Sayakh clan. His family has built a hut in which clan members will temporarily stay. They will gather in a few days for the ritual of building a tree house. In the meantime, Wuningi brought fire here: the flame smoldered in a small split log, into which dry leaves were placed. This is how the Korowai and other Papuans carry fire over long distances.

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By the next day, about thirty people had gathered in the hut. The owner of the future house was a tall man, Oni. As they explained to me, he had two reasons for building a new home: firstly, the old one had fallen into disrepair, and secondly, He was preparing to become a father.
According to the rules, the owner of the future house is obliged to arrange a feast for all those gathered. The main treat is woodcutter beetle larvae. To stock up on them, Oni prepared several sago palms a month before the ceremony - he cut them down and left them to rot in the swamp.

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All representatives of the clan went into the thicket. I am with them. On the spot, Oni cut down the top layer from one of the lying palm trees. Fat white larvae, three or four centimeters in length, swarmed inside. The Korowai rejoiced and immediately began to eat them. Seeing that I was standing aside, They collected some larvae into a palm leaf and brought it to me. I tried to refuse, but the hero of the occasion frowned.

This is the daughter of the Mother of the Saga. Everyone who will build a house must eat it,” he handed me one larva, having first torn off its head.

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Saga is the main tree used by the Korowai for construction. That is why their main deity is the goddess of the saga. Not to eat the larva means to refuse a kind of primitive communion and thereby offend the tribe. Almost closing my eyes, I swallowed the “delicacy” and, to my surprise, noted that it tasted like a porcini mushroom. They patted me on the back approvingly.

The feast lasted two days. In the evenings, clan members gathered around the fire, smoked a pipe and told each other news. Thus began the preparation for the main part of the ritual.

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Early in the morning, all members of the clan went to the forest. Powerful banyan trees about 15 meters high grew in the thicket. But the Korowai passed them and approached something that was at least twice as tall.

Oni, the strongest in our clan, deserves this tree,” said Wuningi. - The stronger a person is, the higher he should live.

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Near the banyan tree, thin trunks of a sago palm, peeled from bark, were already lying. They were apparently prepared in advance. Several men grabbed two trunks and climbed up the tree. The other two, using the soft bark as ropes, began to tie thick branches that had been chopped in advance to the trunks. The result was a staircase about 10 meters high. At this level, the construction of a platform began, which I took as the basis of the future house: the Korowai knitted a flooring like a raft right on the tree. By nightfall the work was completed.

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The next day, around noon, I discovered that yesterday's "raft on a tree" was only the first site. About 10 meters higher a second, smaller one has already appeared. The Korowai themselves sat almost at the top and cut down thin branches, leaving only thick branches that were supposed to serve as the foundation of the house.

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By evening, most of the Korowai went to the hut, but a few men continued to work. Two people were at the top. Two others stood on the platforms: one on the top, the other on the bottom, and brought the trunks of the sago palm upstairs, where they knitted the next “raft” - the floor of the future house. The Korowai did not take breaks from their work even at night.

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On the morning of the third day, a house towered at a height of about 20–25 meters above the ground. It reached six meters in length and three meters in width. The roof was made of palm leaves.
Click to enlarge

You have to get up, you won't see houses like this anywhere. “I have the highest house in the clan,” Oni said and pushed me forward.

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On the second landing the stairs ended. The only way to reach the house was by an overhanging sago tree trunk with serifs like small steps. I did it with difficulty.

This is how we protect ourselves from strangers,” Oni explained. - The end of the trunk is fixed only to the ceiling of the house. If someone tries to climb, I will immediately know about it when I see that the trunk is swaying.

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I entered the home through a hole in the floor. The hut without windows or doors was quite gloomy. Light came in through two small holes in the roof. These, Oni explained, were made so that animal spirits could enter and leave the house. Then, according to legend, there will always be prosperity here.

In the evening the owner of the house killed a wild boar. A fire was lit at the foot of the banyan tree. Several people gathered around and sang something lyrical.
He sat on the side with his chosen one, smiled and looked up to where their new home was located. A tree house that a man built for his son.

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sources

A tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye. They practice blood feud. If your relative was harmed, maimed or killed, then you must answer the offender in kind. Broke your brother's arm? Break it for whoever did it too.

It’s good that you can pay off blood feud with chickens and pigs. So one day I went with the Papuans to the Strelka. We got into a pickup truck, took a whole chicken coop and went to the showdown. Everything happened without bloodshed.

© Bigthink.com

2. They “sit” on nuts like drug addicts

The fruits of the betel palm are the most harmful habit of the Papuans! The fruit pulp is chewed and mixed with two other ingredients. This causes profuse salivation, and the mouth, teeth and lips turn a bright red color. That’s why Papuans endlessly spit on the ground, and “bloody” blots are found everywhere. In West Papua, these fruits are called penang, and in the eastern half of the island - betelnut (betel nut). Eating fruits gives a slight relaxing effect, but is very damaging to teeth.

3. They believe in black magic and punish it

Previously, cannibalism was an instrument of justice, and not a way to satisfy one's hunger. This is how the Papuans punished witchcraft. If a person was found guilty of using black magic and harming others, he was killed and pieces of his body were distributed among clan members. Today, cannibalism is no longer practiced, but murders on charges of black magic have not stopped.

4. They keep dead people at home

If in our country Lenin “sleeps” in the mausoleum, then the Papuans from the Dani tribe keep the mummies of their leaders right in their huts. Twisted, smoked, with terrible grimaces. The age of the mummies is 200–300 years.

5. They allow their women to do heavy physical labor.

When I first saw a woman seven or eight months pregnant chopping wood with an ax while her husband rested in the shade, I was shocked. Later I realized that this is the norm among Papuans. Therefore, the women in their villages are brutal and physically resilient.

6. They pay for their future wife with pigs

This custom has been preserved throughout New Guinea. The bride's family receives pigs before the wedding. This is a mandatory fee. At the same time, women care for piglets like children and even breastfeed them. Nikolai Nikolaevich Miklouho-Maclay wrote about this in his notes.

7. Their women mutilated themselves voluntarily

In the event of the death of a close relative, women of the Dani tribe cut off the phalanges of their fingers. Stone axe. Today this custom has been abandoned, but in the Baliem Valley you can still find toeless grandmothers.

8. A necklace made of dog teeth is the best gift for your wife!

Among the Korowai tribe, this is a real treasure. Therefore, Korovai women do not need gold, pearls, fur coats, or money. They have completely different values.

9. Men and women live separately

Many Papuan tribes practice this custom. That's why there are men's huts and women's huts. Women are prohibited from entering the men's house.

10. They can even live in trees

“I live high - I look far away. Korowai build their homes in the canopies of tall trees. Sometimes it's 30m above the ground! Therefore, children and babies here need an eye and an eye, because there are no fences in such a house

© savetheanimalsincludeyou.com

11. They wear kotekas

This is a phallocrypt with which the mountaineers cover their manhood. Koteka is used instead of panties, banana leaves or loincloths. It is made from local pumpkin.

New Guinea is called the “island of the Papuans.” Translated from Indonesian daddy —"curly".
The Papuan tribes are indeed dark-haired and curly.
The island is buried in tropical forests; It's hot and humid there, and it rains almost every day.
In this climate, it is better to stay high away from the muddy and wet ground.
Therefore, in New Guinea there are almost no dwellings standing on the ground: they are usually raised on stilts and can even stand above the water.
The size of the house depends on how many people will live in it: one family or an entire village. For settlements, houses up to 200 meters long are built.
The most common type of building is a rectangular house with a gable roof.
Piles usually raise a house two to four meters above the ground, and the tribe kombayev generally prefers a height of 30 meters. Only there they probably feel safe.
Papuans build all houses without nails, saws or hammers, using a stone ax, which they wield masterfully.
Construction of a pile house requires good technical skills and knowledge.
Longitudinal logs are laid on the piles, transverse beams are placed on them, and thin poles are placed on top.
You can get into the house along a log with notches: first, into a kind of antechamber, more like a “veranda”. Behind it is a living space, separated by a bark partition.
There are no windows; light comes in from everywhere: through the entrance and through cracks in the floor and walls. The roof is covered with sago palm leaves.

all pictures are clickable

The most amazing home of Papua owls is a tree house. This is a real technical masterpiece. Usually it is built on a large tree with a fork at a height of 6-7 meters. The fork is used as the main support of the house and a horizontal rectangular frame is tied to it - this is the foundation and at the same time the floor of the house.
The frame posts are attached to the frame. The calculation here must be extremely accurate so that the tree can withstand this structure.
The lower platform is made from the bark of a sago palm, the upper one from boards of a kentia palm; the roof is covered with palm trees
leaves instead of mat walls. On the lower platform there is a kitchen, and simple household belongings are also stored here. (from the book "Dwellings of the Nations of the World" 2002)

As you know, each country has its own customs, and representatives of one nationality do not always understand the peculiarities of the mentality of another. The traditions of the Papuans, for example, simply shock and repel many. This is what we will be talking about in this review.

Papuans have their own way of showing respect for deceased leaders. They do not bury them, but store them in huts. Some of the creepy, distorted mummies are up to 200-300 years old.

The largest Papuan tribe in eastern New Guinea, the Huli, has acquired a bad reputation. In the past they were known as headhunters and eaters of human flesh. Now it is believed that nothing like this is happening anymore. However, anecdotal evidence indicates that human dismemberment occurs from time to time during magical rituals.

Papuans living in the highlands of New Guinea wear kotekas, sheaths worn over their male parts. Kotek is made from local varieties of calabash gourd. They replace panties for Papuans.

The female part of the Papuan Dani tribe often walked without phalanges of fingers. They cut them off for themselves when they lost close relatives. Today you can still see fingerless old women in villages.

The obligatory bride price is measured in pigs. At the same time, the bride's family is obliged to take care of these animals. Women even feed piglets with their breasts. However, other animals also feed on their breast milk.

In Papuan tribes, women do all the main work. Very often you can see a picture where Papuans, being in the last months of pregnancy, chop firewood, and their husbands rest in huts.

Another Papuan tribe, the Korowai, surprises with their place of residence. They build their houses right on the trees. Sometimes, to get to such a dwelling, you need to climb to a height of 15 to 50 meters. The Korowai's favorite delicacy is insect larvae.
No less interesting customs are present among the Papuan tribe