The dwelling of the Papuans. About the Papuans. They pay for their future wife with pigs

In the central mountainous regions, villages most often consist of separate, randomly scattered and far from each other huts or small groups of huts. They are usually inhabited by members of one genus or its subdivision.

Groups of huts are surrounded by fences of pointed stakes about a meter high. In total, there are usually 40-50 inhabitants in a village. However, in some areas, settlements with a population of several hundred people have been found.

Sometimes the whole village consists of one large house, standing above the ground on stilts, accommodating 50 or more people. Inside the house, along the side walls, there are hearths where married couples live. Children usually take places in the middle of the house.

On the northeastern coast, the southeastern peninsula, and in some other places, there are large villages, each with up to 300 inhabitants. Around the site, which has a round or horseshoe shape (depending on the conditions of the area), there are several isolated groups of buildings connected by narrow paths. Each group of buildings has a special name. There is a men's house on the site. IN last years the colonial administration began to introduce "villages of a new type": the Papuans are forced to place their houses on three sides of a large quadrangle, one side of which remains free. This type of village is convenient for colonial patrols, more safe for them. But the Papuans do not like this type of village, which is completely alien to them, and having built such a village, they do not live in it, but settle somewhere nearby.

The huts of the Papuans are extremely diverse in their form. Cone-shaped huts are found in the central mountainous regions, as well as among the Mekeo tribes on the southern coast and in the area of ​​Humboldt Bay. Tribes living in the upper reaches of the river. Mamberamo, they build something like two-story huts: inside the hut, at a height of 1.5-2 m from the ground, bamboo trunks are laid in rows, which form the upper floor used for sleeping; you can climb here along a trunk with notches or along an obliquely set board. On the shores of the Gulf of Astrolabe and in other places, quadrangular huts are built with a gable roof, raised very high to better drain rainwater.

Changes in the organization of power and in the economy during the colonial period

Every Papuan community now lives a more or less closed life. Its members clear land in the forest near the village, cultivate the land, harvest crops, pay taxes to the colonial administration, supply a certain number of young men to work on a "contract", etc. The life of the community is managed by " big man", or foreman, subordinate to the colonial official.

Before the arrival of the colonialists, the position of foreman among most tribes did not give any privileges. The foreman worked on an equal footing with everyone. The only thing in which he differed from the rest of the community was the number of wives: he had not one, but usually two or three. The foreman usually became a person who stood out for his personal qualities among other members of the community, for example physical force and dexterity, knowledge of customs and legends. There was nothing resembling a relationship of domination and subordination in the relationship between the foreman and other members of the community.

“All adults,” writes Miklukho-Maclay, “have the same right to vote, but among them there are more influential ones, distinguished by their intelligence or dexterity, and people do not obey their orders, but their advice or opinion.”

European colonial invasion late XIX V. interrupted the independent development of the Papuans and violated their traditional social order. The colonial administration, using the foreman for their own purposes, assigned him significant rights and privileges and created opportunities for him to materially enrich himself at the expense of other members of the community. At present, the foreman receives a salary from the colonial administration, albeit a very small one. But, in addition, he receives 10% of the amount of taxes collected by him and therefore tries to collect taxes as much as possible.

The various terms in local dialects that denoted the foreman are increasingly giving way to the Melanesian term luluai. In many villages, a new position has been introduced - tultul. This is a luluai assistant, a little knowledgeable English language. His duties are effectively reduced to serving as an interpreter between the luluai and the colonial official when the latter visits the village. Tultul is usually appointed by a colonial official from among persons who have worked for a long time under a contract on the plantations or mining of European "masters". The authority of the Luluai among the Papuans rests to a large extent on old tribal customs, while the direct connection of the Luluai with the colonial administration, on the contrary, undermines its authority among ordinary members of the community. The colonial administration is trying to revive and revive the old, dying tribal institutions and thereby strengthen the power of the Luluai.

The situation in the areas that fell under the control of the colonialists has changed dramatically. The Papuans lost part of their land. The colonizers need workers on the plantation. Many young Papuans are forced to leave their native villages for several years and work on plantations. Mostly old people, women and children remain in the villages. They have to take over all the work that was previously done by young men: clearing new sites, raising virgin land, building huts, boats, etc. Children start working from an even earlier age than before. The absence of the most able-bodied part of the population has a very painful effect. In many villages gardens have been neglected, new plots have not been cleared: there are no strong working hands, and the tools of labor have remained the same.

missionaries

Destroying the old (“pagan”) cults, the European missionaries, instead of them, plant not on the scientific worldview, but other religious ideas and superstitions, which can only further obscure the consciousness of the natives. They anathematize many valuable things in the culture of the Papuans, hinder the development of folk art.

"Government ethnographer" F. Williams writes that the missionaries destroyed "all the bright colors of the culture of the Keveri tribe" (Papuans from the southern coast). Now the Keveri do not wear jewelry because they are afraid of "getting sick". Holidays are not celebrated, drums are not made; there are no dances; if the Keveris dance, they will "die". They don’t sing old songs, they don’t tell old legends (otherwise they will “get sick”). "All old customs are bad customs" is what the Keveri missionaries taught. Williams asked the locals, "If you're not telling old stories, then what are you talking about?" They replied: "If we throw away all the old customs and adopt a new way of life, we will have eternal life - that's what we are talking about." It should be noted that even the "government ethnographer" Williams was deeply impressed by this "new way of life". “It is hard to imagine anything more bleak!” he writes 1 .

The Papuans, however, do not want to give up their traditional way of life. In the area of ​​which Williams writes, they revived the festivities and dancing despite the threats of the missionaries. The missionaries closed the school in vil. Duramu, but this measure was also in vain 2 .

Education and healthcare

The preservation of religious and magical rites and ideas in a number of regions of New Guinea is to a large extent due to the almost total illiteracy of the Papuans. The first school was opened in New Guinea in 1911. Now there are several hundred "schools" there, almost all of which are in the hands of the missions. But what are these “schools”! Usually a school teacher, who is also a missionary, teaches Papuan children to read prayers and sing religious hymns, and this is where the "education" of the Papuans ends. Quite often the "teacher" does not know the Papuan language, and the children, of course, do not know English. As a result, it turns out that the "teacher" tells the children, as Capell writes, "about an unfamiliar subject in an incomprehensible language" 3 . There are, however, also Papuan teachers, but they themselves are very little trained;

In some schools - the so-called "civilizing" (civilizing schools) children are taught crafts, the rudiments of agricultural technology, reading and writing. Ordinary general education subjects are considered inaccessible to them, and they are not taught. Arithmetic, for example, is taught only in those areas where commodity and money circulation has already entered into everyday life. The languages ​​of instruction in some cases are local dialects, in others - pidgin English. In West Irian, teaching is conducted in Malay. Literary European languages(particularly English) the colonialists do not want to teach Papuan children.

True, the colonial administration feels the need for literate Papuans, but here it encounters the resistance of planters and miners, for whom this is unprofitable. In 1929, the administration of the Mandatory (now Trust) Territory of New Guinea decided to send seven Papuan teenagers to Australia to study. But the planters and miners raised such a fuss about this that the administration abandoned its intention. A local newspaper editorial dated February 1, 1929, reported: "We are pleased to learn that the seven natives who were supposed to be sent to Australia will not be sent there." This story repeated itself in 1947, when six Papuans were supposed to be sent to medical school in Fiji. Planters and miners do not want their slaves to know more than the "masters" need.

The Australian anthropologist I. Hogbin, in his recently published book, written after a long stay in one of the villages of New Guinea, writes: “As the experience of the natives grows, the need for technical education arises. If the Australians, said one native of the Buzama tribe, would send us more teachers, we would have our own engineers, doctors and pilots.

Medical care in New Guinea is virtually non-existent. There are only three doctors for every 100,000 inhabitants 2 . The colonial administration spends less than 1s. per person per year, counting, of course, only the population of "controlled" areas. All Papuan women give birth in their huts, without any medical assistance.

Modern colonization

In some villages, far from all, there is a special position: "medical tultul". about 10 thousand people of European origin. They usually live in coastal areas, there are very few of them in the mountains. This is the ruling stratum: colonial officials, planters, miners, labor recruiters, missionaries, buyers, etc. These are the people who directly pursue the policy of colonial oppression, plunder the natural resources of New Guinea and ruthlessly exploit indigenous people. They fraudulently "buy" land from the Papuans and force them to work for meager wages. In 1921-1922. the administration of the mandated territory cynically wrote to the League of Nations that "the most reliable means of civilizing the natives is their work for the Europeans." When the localities in Kokoda in the 1920s began to build a small airfield, they set up a prison nearby, arrested several dozen Papuans and forced them to clear the landing area.

New Guinea has an underdeveloped mining industry (oil in West Irian, gold in northeast New Guinea and Papua). But the main occupation of Europeans is plantation management. Copra, trepang, pearls are exported from New Guinea.

The houses of Europeans are built from boards brought here. Many planters in the early years of their settlement in New Guinea live in houses built from local material, roofed with sago palm leaves or kunai grass. The floor is usually covered with mats. Heavy furniture, as a rule, is not.

plantation slavery

At present, the exploitation of natural resources in New Guinea is in the hands of foreign companies. In 1952 there were 47 such companies; the largest of these was the American trust Buloio Gold Dredging 1 . Companies exploit the labor of the local population - big number young Papuans work on plantations, mining and oil development, usually far from their home village.

Plantation and mining labor is labor lost to the community. The Papuans do not want to leave their villages. Therefore, a system of coercive measures was introduced, applied by the colonialists to the Papuans - the “system of contracting”. It comes into force from the moment the village is taken "under control";

In New Guinea, a village "under control" is a village subject to a monetary tax. For non-payment of tax rely forced labor on plantations and mining. And in order to pay the tax, the Papuan, who has never had and does not have money (except for shell money), must obviously go to work for someone who has money, i.e., again, to a planter or to miner.

A recruiter comes to the village, makes the Papuans drunk (he gets 4-5 pounds sterling for each “contracted guy”) and forces them to press their finger under the incomprehensible text of the “contract”.

Work on plantations and mining is hard and exhausting. Wages are extremely low. By issuing coupons or bonds instead of money (with which the Papuan pays exorbitant prices for the food given to him), by systematic fines, wages are further reduced 2 .

Not surprisingly, it is becoming increasingly difficult for recruiters to recruit labor for plantations and mining. In 1948/49 there were only 30,000 Aboriginal workers on the plantations and in the mines of the Trust Territory. The "shortage" against the need was about 8 thousand. In 1954, about 2.5 thousand Papuans were employed in the oil development of two companies - Australian and American - in the colony of Papua, in the southeast of New Guinea. They serve for the most part porters and perform various menial tasks. But the Papuans are beginning to master a more qualified trade. In the jungle, where the colonialists do not want to work themselves, the Papuans are entrusted with this or that work on oil exploration, monitoring the machines. And the Papuans cope well with the maintenance of complex devices, such as seismic (geophone), etc. 3 .

In such works as clearing roads, repairing bridges, etc., the colonialists openly, without hiding behind even the "fig leaf" of the contract, practice forced labor. They drive the Papuans out of neighboring villages and 9 threaten them with prison or corporal punishment and force them to work.

National Liberation Movement

The Papuans are becoming more and more aware that the only reason for their backwardness at the present time lies in colonial oppression. Their struggle for national independence is becoming more organized.

When Japanese troops landed on the northeast coast of the island in 1942, all European residents evacuated from New Guinea to Australia. For some time the Papuans turned out to be the masters of the island. And they decided to fight for their land "with the help of wooden spears against the mechanized power of the modern army!" exclaims one author. They turned against the Japanese. In the region of Biak Island (West Irian), an uprising broke out, called the Maneren movement - after the legendary leader Mansrei-Magundi, who ruled a happy country when there were neither Japanese nor Dutch colonialists in it. The uprising was led by the Papuan Stefanus. He put forward the slogan "Papuan land for the Papuans!" and called on the people to fight for their freedom against foreign tyrants. The movement quickly spread from Biak Island to Nomfur Island. A warship was sent against the rebels. The Papuans, armed with spears, bows and arrows, attacked this ship, but were dispersed by cannon fire 1 .

In those same years, the movement headed by the Papuan Simpson set itself similar goals. Simpson was killed by the Japanese. And when, during the war, Anglo-American troops landed on the southwestern coast of New Guinea, the Papuans also opposed them. According to two authors (Hogbin and Wedgwood), the Papuans told the Anglo-Americans the following: “If you take away our land, our wives and children and we ourselves will die of hunger. We'd rather die fighting than starve to death. Only when we are dead will the soldiers take our land” 2 .

Since the end of the Second World War, uprisings against colonial oppression have not stopped throughout New Guinea. In his new book, Transfiguration, Logoine writes: “People report abuse, demand higher wages and strike when they are denied. The authorities face difficulties when the delegations of the local population demand an increase in the number of teachers, the introduction of new crops and the organization of local self-government” 1 . The Papuans are demanding self-government, they are fighting under the slogan "New Guinea for the Papuans".

The uprisings in West Irian are especially decisive.

In 1945, the Manerin movement revived for a short time. In another area, the Mera-Puti uprising (translated as "Red-White") began under the leadership of the Papuan Marcus Indeu. At this time, the leaders of the Mannerin, Measure-Way, and re-emerging Simpson movements established a connection with each other. A specific political goal of the struggle was set - unification with Indonesia. In February 1947, the Dutch government sent troops and organized massacres. But the movement continues. There were uprisings in the areas of the cities of Babo, Kobas, Fakaofa, Sorong 2.

In the city of Madang (Astrolabe Bay) in 1946, 2,000 Papuans revolted. In Finschhafen in the same year, all the Luluai and Tultulu returned their uniform caps to the kiap (colonial official), that is, they refused to serve the colonial administration. In the village of Anuapata (south coast), in the same 1946, the Papuans of all neighboring villages gathered and sent a radiogram to the Australian Minister of Colonies: "The people do not want the return of the old system of government, the people want to establish a new government" 3 .

Soviet representatives to the UN repeatedly spoke on questions relating to New Guinea. The draft agreement on trusteeship over New Guinea, presented by Australia, did not provide for specific guarantees of freedom of speech, press, assembly. He passed over in silence the issue of greater involvement of the local population in participation in deliberative and legislative bodies. The Soviet delegation insisted that these points be included.

The Soviet delegates to the trusteeship committee managed to achieve the inclusion of a number of points that would expand the rights of the Papuans. But the General Assembly did not take into account the decision of the Trusteeship Committee and by a mechanical majority approved the draft in its original form.

A movement against colonialism is expanding in New Guinea. The events taking place on this island deserve the closest attention.

New Guinea is called the "island of the Papuans". Translated from Indonesian papu-va —"curly".
The Papuan tribes are indeed dark-haired and curly.
The island is drowning in tropical forests; It's hot and humid, with rain almost every day.
In such a climate, it is better to stay high from the muddy and wet ground.
Therefore, in New Guinea there are almost no dwellings standing on the ground: they are usually raised on piles and can even stand above the water.
The size of the house depends on how many people will live in it: one family or a whole village. For the village build houses up to 200 meters long.
The most common type of building is a rectangular house with a gable roof.
Piles usually raise the house two to four meters above the ground, and the tribe kombaev generally prefers a height of 30 meters. Only there, probably, they feel safe.
All Papuan houses are built without nails, saws and hammers, with the help of a stone ax, which is masterfully wielded.
Building a pile house requires good technical skills and knowledge.
Longitudinal logs are laid on the piles, transverse beams on them, and thin poles on top.
You can get into the house along a log with notches: first, into a kind of front hall, more like a “veranda”. Behind it is a living room, separated by a bark partition.
They do not make windows, the light penetrates from everywhere: both 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 dwelling of Papuan 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.
Frame posts are attached to the frame. The calculation here must be extremely accurate so that the tree can withstand this design.
The lower platform is made from the bark of the sago palm tree, the upper platform is made from the boards of the kentian palm tree; the roof is covered with palm trees
leaves, instead of the walls of the mat. A kitchen is arranged on the lower platform, and simple home belongings are also stored here. (from the book "Dwellings of the peoples of the world" 2002)

Tooth for tooth, eye for eye. They practice blood feuds. If your relative was harmed, maimed or killed, then you must answer the offender in kind. Did you break your brother's hand? Break and you to the one who did it.

It's good that you can buy off blood feuds 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 went off without bloodshed.

2. They "sit" on nuts like drug addicts.

The fruits of the betel palm tree are the most harmful habit of the Papuans! The pulp of the fruit is chewed, mixed with two other ingredients. This causes profuse salivation, and the mouth, teeth and lips turn bright red. Therefore, the Papuans endlessly spit on the ground, and "bloody" blots are found everywhere. In West Papua, these fruits are called pinang, and in the eastern half of the island - betelnat (betel nut). The use of fruits gives a slight relaxing effect, but it spoils the teeth very much.

3. They believe in black magic and are punished for it.

Previously, cannibalism was an instrument of justice, not a way to satisfy one's hunger. So the Papuans were punished for witchcraft. If a person was found guilty of using black magic and harming others, then 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 the dead at home

If we have Lenin "sleeping" 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 mummies are 200–300 years old.

5. They let their women do hard manual labor.

When I first saw a woman in her seventh or eighth month of pregnancy chopping wood with an ax while her husband was resting in the shade, I was shocked. Later I realized that this is the norm among the Papuans. Therefore, women in their villages are brutal and physically hardy.

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 take care of the piglets like children and even feed them with their breasts. Nikolai Nikolaevich Miklukho-Maclay wrote about this in his notes.

7. Their women mutilated themselves voluntarily

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

8. Dog teeth necklace is the best gift for your wife!

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

9. Men and women live separately

Many Papuan tribes practice this custom. Therefore, there are male huts and female ones. Women are not allowed to enter the men's house.

10. They can even live in trees

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

11. They wear koteki

This is a phallocript, with which the highlanders cover their manhood. Koteka is used in place of shorts, banana leaves, or loincloths. It is made from local gourds.