On August 8th, 2023, I had the pleasure of traveling to Papua New Guinea. This adventure was undoubtedly different from my prior travels, as Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a place unlike any other. The culture, the tribes and the vibe are all unique. I spent just over three weeks in this country having some amazing experiences and learning as much as I possibly could about this largely ignored culture.
I documented my travels throughout the country in six separate posts, preceded by a post on the history of the nation. You can see Papua New Guinea through my eyes by perusing the posts in the carousel below.
Papua New Guinea inspired me to introduce a new section to my travel blog. Cultural Snapshots will be where I will delve a bit further into certain aspects of the cultures I have encountered during my travels. I hope to provide my readers with a deeper look and first-hand knowledge that you simply cannot get from search engines.
In this Cultural Snapshot, I will be introducing you to the Omo Bugamo tribe, also known as The Skeleton Men of the Highlands of Papua New Guinea.
The Omo Bugamo
Chimbu Province
The Omo Bugamo tribe hails from Chimbu/Simbu province in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. The terms Omo Bugamo and Chimbu / Simbu are used interchangeably to refer to people from this area. There are an estimated 180,000 people in the region, which measures approximately 6,100 square kilometers. In 1994, it was estimated that 80,000 of the residents spoke Kuman (the official language of the region) with 10,000 of them being monolingual.
The term Chimbu was used to describe the people by the first Australian explorers who made contact with them in the early 1930s. They heard the word simbu being uttered by the people and may have believed this was the name of the tribe. However, the term Simbu (“Sipuuu”) is an expression of surprise in the Kuman language and must have been uttered constantly as the people encountered the explorers. Interestingly enough Simbu also translates into welcome, appreciation or thank you in the English language.
Little archaeological evidence exists for the Chimbu area directly, but data from other Highland areas suggest a presence as early as 50,000 years ago. Approximately 10,000 years ago, it is believed that the economic focus in the region shifted from agrarian to agricultural. Due to the extreme terrain, the Highlands population grew slowly for decades. However, the introduction of the sweet potato in the 1700s caused a dramatic increase in the population of the area due to its high-yield crops.
Western Contact
First Western contact occurred in 1934 when an expedition, led by gold miner Michael Leahy and Australian patrol officer James Taylor, passed through the area. Soon afterward an Australian government patrol post and Roman Catholic and Lutheran missions were established. As usual, the colonizers arrived and were determined to proselytize the “savages” and curtail tribal fighting while they established administrative control in the area.
Limited government resources coupled with the remoteness of the location, made this goal difficult, and by the beginning of World War II only a fragile peace had been attained in parts of Chimbu. Post World War II, Australian administrative control solidified and expanded as locals were recruited as laborers for coastal plantations, and coffee was introduced as a cash crop.
Omo Bugamo
Today, the Highlands are regarded as the true heart of Papua New Guinea and home to the most renowned tribes. The Omo Bugamo tribe is easily one of the most recognized groups because of their unique traditional body art. The men paint their entire bodies in black and white paint emulating the human skeleton, thus their moniker, the Skeleton Men. The origins of their skeleton-based adornment can be traced back to an intriguing legend.
Skeleton Men Legend
Approximately 200 years ago, a number of hunters from a particular village ventured into the mountains but failed to return. Finding their disappearance strange, a group of warriors embarked on an expedition to see if they could locate them. As they ventured deeper into the rugged terrain of the mountains, the warriors stumbled upon a cave. As they explored the cave, they made a gruesome discovery – the skeletons of the missing hunters. However, before they could investigate further, they sensed the presence of someone or something lurking in the darkness with them.
Omo Masalai
The evil spirit or monster known as Omo Masalai, which had killed the hunters was also there. Omo Masalai feeds on human flesh and is endowed with a heightened sense of smell. Realizing the imminent danger, the warriors knew they needed a plan if they were going to survive.
Omo Masalai arouses fear among the people because it is difficult to identify. It can take on any shape or form and is associated with magic. It is unpredictable, may trick its victim into taking the wrong trail or eating some bewitched food. Omo Masalai may also be found anywhere, it may reside in trees, stones or holes.
With few resources available, they decided to camouflage themselves in order to escape detection by the monster. Using black and white clay, they meticulously recreated the appearance of the fallen hunters’ bones on their bodies. Rendering themselves undetectable, the ruse succeeded, and as the monster slept the warriors stealthily made their way back to the safety of their village.
According to another less fanciful tale, the skeleton-based adornment was initiated as a way to scare other tribes, as death and ghosts provoke fear across the spectrum of the tribes of Papua New Guinea. The aim was to make enemies believe they were supernatural and possessed otherworldly powers.
Today, when the Skeleton Men perform at festivals, they often act out this legend by incorporating a man dressed as Omo Masalai. The men silently battle the spirit with their bows and arrows and act out an expelling ritual. Their performance is enhanced by the fact that the minute they begin to perform, a hush instantly falls over the crowd. Check our their performance below.
Villages
In contrast to highland areas to the east, Kuman Chimbu do not arrange their houses into villages but rather have a dispersed settlement pattern. Traditionally, the men lived apart from females and boys in communal houses set on ridges for purposes of defense. Each married woman and her unmarried daughters, young sons, and the family’s pigs lived together in a house near the family’s gardens. The family’s greatest economic asset was also housed here – their pigs. Although this housing pattern still exists, it is not as prevalent today. The decrease in tribal fighting and shifts in societal norms have resulted in more men residing with their families. Most Chimbu houses are oval or rectangular, with dirt floors, low thatch roofs and walls woven from plant fibers.
Subsistence
The primary subsistence crop in Simbu is the sweet potato. Grown in gardens often staged on slopes as steep as 45°, sweet potatoes comprise about 75% of the average diet. There are a mind-boggling 130 varieties of sweet potato grown in the region.
In addition to sweet potatoes, other crops grown for consumption include sugarcane, greens, beans, bananas, taro, and the fruits and nuts of the pandanus plant. Pigs are unquestionably the most important and valuable animal to the Chimbu. I was told tribal warfare always had three sources: land, pigs, and women – in that order. Pigs, live or cooked, are the main item used in ceremonial exchanges that foment strong societal bonds.
Ceremonial exchanges of pork, vegetables, money, or purchased items (think alcohol) create a debt that the receivers must repay to preserve prestige or respect. These exchanges occur at various times throughout the year for various reasons but are mostly done in times of celebration, such as a marriage or a birth. These exchanges may also be used as compensation for an injury, death, or damages.
The largest of these exchange ceremonies was the pig ceremony (bugla ingu), at which hundreds of pigs were slaughtered, cooked, and distributed to friends and family. This was a celebration of fertility – the fertility of both man and land and an abundance of pigs. Today, money has become an increasingly important item exchanged in these ceremonies. For most rural people, money is earned by growing coffee in small gardens (“small batch” or artisanal production to those in the Western world). Money may also be acquired through the sale of vegetables in local markets.
Division of Labor
As in precolonial times, the division of labor remains based primarily upon gender. Men work the land, dig ditches, build fences and houses, and are responsible for the production of coffee. Men are also responsible for politics and governing and, in times of tribal warfare, defense of the territory.
Women do the majority of the garden planting, weeding, and harvesting, care for the children, cook, and tend the pigs. Predominantly, women sell items (mostly fresh vegetables) in the local markets.
Land Ownership
Each family’s land is divided among several different plots, often on different types of soil at different altitudes. Land is most commonly passed down from a father to his sons, usually once they are married or once the father becomes less active with age.
It is not unusual for a family to have land rights in more remote locations due to associations with distant relatives.
Land for food is available to all, as absolute landlessness is unknown here. However, there is a scarcity of land suitable for growing coffee and other tree crops because many people have taken up growing these cash crops. The lack of land suitable to grow cash crops has led to a large number of Chimbus in some higher altitude areas, to migrate to towns or less crowded rural areas.
Patrilineal Society
Society is organized in patrilineal segments known as “brother” groups. All the men in a designated group can trace their lineage back to a common “father” ancestor. These kin groups or clans can consist of between 600-800 individuals. Clan names are often taken from the ancestral founder’s name combined with a suffix meaning “rope.” Within the clans are further divisions known as subclans consisting of between 50 and 250 people. The subclan is often the main organizing unit at ceremonial events, such as marriages and funerals. Members of this subgroup also interact more extensively and frequently.
Marriage
Marriage represents a social and economic link between the groom’s kin group and the bride’s kin group. The bride price is negotiated by senior members of the two groups and payable in pigs and money. Men are usually in their early twenties when they marry; women are usually between the age of 15-18. The couple usually resides with or near the groom’s family. Polygamy is still common, although the influence of Christian missionaries has reduced its occurrence. Having multiple wives represents an economic advantage for men because women are the primary laborers in the gardens.
Family Unit
As mentioned previously, men traditionally lived separate from their wives in communal houses. They would often join their wives and children in the late afternoon at mealtime. Married couples sharing a residence is becoming more common. If a man has more than one wife, each wife has a separate house and gardens. Smart!
Socialization
Infants and children of both sexes are cared for primarily by their mothers and elder sisters. Around age 6 or 7, boys move in with their fathers, if their fathers reside in a communal house. This is also the age at which most children begin to attend school, as well. Up to adolescence, Chimbu girls spend large amounts of time with their mothers, helping with daily work.
The Chimbu, like the Iatmul (Crocodile Men) also have a male initiation ritual. This ritual, which is held during the preparation for the pig ceremony, involves the seclusion and instruction of boys and young men at the ceremonial ground. As the festivals are held every seven to ten years, there is a large age range among the initiates. Similar to the Iatmul tribe, initiation used to involve bloodletting and other painful practices. Largely discouraged by Christian missionaries, today these ceremonies have been abandoned. Candidates are still instructed in the meaning of the sacred koa flutes, tribal traditions and their role in society.
The sacred flutes were played by the men after completion of a successful raid. Curiously, in the Kuman language, “koa” is also the word for menstrual blood or vagina.
Young women also underwent a form of initiation. At first menstruation, girls were secluded and for a few days (or weeks) instructed in proper behavior for a female. Their passage into adulthood, was then celebrated with a family feast, including members of the local subclan and kinsmen.
Religion
Traditionally, the indigenous Chimbu considered the sun a spirit of fertility. While there was no organized form of religion, religious ceremonies centered around belief in the supernatural and ancestral spirits. It was believed that ancestral spirits could be conjured for protection through the sacrifice of pigs.
There is still wide belief in witchcraft and sorcery. Certain illnesses, sudden death or anything one cannot explain is usually attributed to witchcraft. It is further believed that deaths caused by sorcery or war that are not avenged result in the release of a dangerous, restless spirit that can cause harm to the living. It is a common belief that a person’s spirit lingers near their burial site.
Although many traditional supernatural beliefs still exist, the majority of the population profess to be Christians.
Unique Genetic Profile – Denisovan DNA
Another curious thing I discovered while researching the (Chimbu) tribe was that they (along with all Papuans) apparently have a unique genetic profile.
After Homo sapiens first migrated out of Africa, our species repeatedly interbred with a number of now extinct hominin species, including the Neanderthals and Denisovans. The signs remain in our DNA today – all people of non-African descent carry some Neanderthal DNA, while some Asian people also have Denisovan DNA. Not much is known about the mysterious Denisovans.
Over the centuries, while other Sapiens in Asia and Europe were intermixing, blurring the traces of their migrations, the genome of the first Papuans, which is the same as that of the first Australian Aborigines, has remained largely intact. With a unique genetic heritage incorporating 2 to 4% Neanderthal and 4 to 6% Denisovan genes.
A new study led by Uppsala University revealed the Philippine ethnic group Ayta Magbukon (Negritos) has the highest proportion of Denisovan genes in the world.
The Papuan genome is unique in that it contains both Neanderthal AND Denisovan alleles. In addition, native Papuans appear to have received an immune advantage from this distinct genetic coding. Two of the Denisovan genetic variants discovered in Papuan cell lines possessed the ability to lower the inflammatory response to infections. This genetic “gift” could have helped Papuans fight off diseases they would have encountered in the region.
Next Post: The Holosa Tribe – Asaro Mudmen
Make sure you don’t miss any posts from Soul-O-Travels.com by subscribing here:
Well written article. I love your
travels they are interest and inspirational happy travel and trails to you.
LaVita
Hi, LaVita! Thank you so much. This culture is so rich and there is so little written about them. I just hope I’m doing them justice…