The culture of Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...

is many-sided and complex. It is estimated that more than 1000 different cultural groups exist in Papua New Guinea, and most groups have their own language. Because of this diversity, in which they take pride, many different styles of cultural expression have emerged; each group has created its own expressive forms in art

Art

Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....

, dance

Dance

Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....

, weapon

Weapon

A weapon, arm, or armament is a tool or instrument used with the aim of causing damage or harm to living beings or artificial structures or systems...

ry, costume

Costume

The term costume can refer to wardrobe and dress in general, or to the distinctive style of dress of a particular people, class, or period. Costume may also refer to the artistic arrangement of accessories in a picture, statue, poem, or play, appropriate to the time, place, or other circumstances...

s, singing, music, architecture

Architecture

Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...

 and much more.

To unify the nation, the language Tok Pisin

Tok Pisin

Tok Pisin is a creole spoken throughout Papua New Guinea. It is an official language of Papua New Guinea and the most widely used language in that country...

, once called Neo-Melanesian (or Pidgin English

Pidgin English

Pidgin English is a non-specific name used to refer to any of the many pidgin languages derived from English. English-based pidgins include:*American Indian Pidgin English*Bislama...

) has evolved as the lingua franca

Lingua franca

A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...

— the medium through which diverse language groups are able to communicate with one another in Parliament, in the news media, and elsewhere.

People typically live in village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

s or dispersed hamlets which rely on the subsistence farming of sweet potatoes and taro. The principal livestock in traditional Papua New Guinea is the oceanic pig (Sus papuensis). To balance the diet, people of PNG hunt, collect wild plants, or fish — depending on the local environment and mode of subsistence. Those who become skilled at farming, hunting

Hunting

Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...

, or fishing

Fishing

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

 — and are generous — earn a great deal of respect in Papua New Guinea.

Traditional cultures

On the Sepik River, there is a world-renowned tradition of wood carving

Wood carving

Wood carving is a form of working wood by means of a cutting tool in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ornamentation of a wooden object...

. These carvers create forms of plants or animals, because they believe these are their ancestor

Ancestor

An ancestor is a parent or the parent of an ancestor ....

 beings and because they feel they are beautiful. They also create traditional skull portraits. Also well represented in the collections of museums around the world is the Malagan

Malagan

Malagan ceremonies are large, intricate traditional cultural events that take place in parts of New Ireland province in Papua New Guinea...

 art tradition of New Ireland

New Ireland (island)

New Ireland is a large island in Papua New Guinea, approximately 7,404 km² in area. It is the largest island of the New Ireland Province, lying northeast of the island of New Britain. Both islands are part of the Bismarck Archipelago, named after Otto von Bismarck, and they are separated by...

.

Even though sea shells are no longer the currency

Currency

In economics, currency refers to a generally accepted medium of exchange. These are usually the coins and banknotes of a particular government, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...

 of Papua New Guinea - sea shells were abolished as currency in 1933 - this heritage

Cultural heritage

Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations...

 is still present in local custom

Convention (norm)

A convention is a set of agreed, stipulated or generally accepted standards, norms, social norms or criteria, often taking the form of a custom....

s. In certain parts of the country a groom must bring a bride price

Bride price

Bride price, also known as bride wealth, is an amount of money or property or wealth paid by the groom or his family to the parents of a woman upon the marriage of their daughter to the groom...

 to the wedding ceremony. In some cases this is paid in golden-edged clam

Clam

The word "clam" can be applied to freshwater mussels, and other freshwater bivalves, as well as marine bivalves.In the United States, "clam" can be used in several different ways: one, as a general term covering all bivalve molluscs...

 shells http://www.cedarville.edu/academics/education/resource/geo/countries/papuang/culture.htm. In other areas, a dowry

Dowry

A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...

 is payable rather than bride price. These payments may take the form of shell money, food, pigs, cash, or other goods.

In some parts of the New Guinea highlands, people engage in colorful local rituals that are called "sing-sing

Sing-sing

Sing-sing is a gathering of a few tribes or villages in Papua New Guinea. People arrive to show their distinct culture, dance and music. The aim of these gatherings is to peacefully share traditions. Villagers paint and decorate themselves for sing-sings....

s". They paint themselves and dress up with feather

Feather

Feathers are one of the epidermal growths that form the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on birds and some non-avian theropod dinosaurs. They are considered the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates, and indeed a premier example of a complex evolutionary novelty. They...

s, pearl

Pearl

A pearl is a hard object produced within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is made up of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other...

s and animal skins to represent birds, trees or mountain

Mountain

Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...

 spirits. Sometimes an important event, such as a legendary battle

Battle

Generally, a battle is a conceptual component in the hierarchy of combat in warfare between two or more armed forces, or combatants. In a battle, each combatant will seek to defeat the others, with defeat determined by the conditions of a military campaign...

, would be enacted at such a musical festival

Festival

A festival or gala is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on and celebrates some unique aspect of that community and the Festival....

.

Traditional music

Christian missionaries disapproved of Papuan folk music throughout the colonial period of the country's history. Even after independence, the outside world knew little of the diverse peoples' traditional music genres. The first commercial release to see an international audience didn't occur until 1991 (see 1991 in music

1991 in music

See also:* 1991 in music Record labels established in 1991-Summary:The year 1991 is the year that grunge music made its popular breakthrough. Nirvana's Nevermind, led by the surprise hit single "Smells Like Teen Spirit", becomes the most popular U.S. album of the year...

), when Mickey Hart

Mickey Hart

Mickey Hart is an American percussionist and musicologist. He is best known as one of the two drummers of the rock band the Grateful Dead. He was a member of the Grateful Dead from September 1967 to February 1971, and from October 1974 to August 1995...

's Voices of the Rainforest was released.

After 1872, foreigners introduced Christian hymns, including Gregorian chant

Gregorian chant

Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic liturgical music within Western Christianity that accompanied the celebration of Mass and other ritual services...

ing. Peroveta anedia, ute

Ute

-Tribes:*Ute people, an American Indian people now living primarily in Utah and Colorado**Southern Ute Indian Tribe of the Southern Ute Reservation, Colorado**Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, Utah...

and taibubu, all forms of Polynesian music, were also introduced in this period. The Gold Rush brought an influx of Australian miners who brought with them the mouth organ

Mouth organ

A mouth organ is a generic term for free reed aerophone with one or more air chambers fitted with a free reed.Though it spans many traditions, it is played universally the same way by the musician placing their lips over a chamber or holes in the instrument, and blowing or sucking air to create a...

.

Traditional celebrations, which include song, dance, feasting and gift-giving, are called singsing. Vibrant and colorful costumes adorn the dancers, while a leader and a chorus sing a staggered approach to the same song, producing a fugue

Fugue

In music, a fugue is a compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject that is introduced at the beginning in imitation and recurs frequently in the course of the composition....

-like effect. 1993 saw television spreading across the country, and American popular music continued to affect Papuan music given the diffusion of radio since WWII. Since 1953, singsings have become competitive in nature, with contests occurring in Port Moresby, Mt. Hagen and Goroka

Goroka

Goroka is the capital of the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. It is a town of approximately 19,000 people , 1600m above sea level. It has an airport and is on the "Highlands Highway", about 285 km from Lae in Morobe province and 90 km from the nearby town of Kainantu also...

. 1949 saw the first Papuan to achieve international fame, Blasius To Una

Blasius To Una

Blasius To Una was a musician from Papua New Guinea. He composed hymns in his language Kuanua. He has been described as "probably the first Papua New Guinean music personality to receive attention from a wide public".-References:...

, begin his career.

Popular music

Radio broadcasting

Broadcasting

Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...

 of western popular music began by the late 1930s. String band

String band

A string band is an old-time music or jazz ensemble made up mainly or solely of string instruments. String bands were popular in the 1920s and 1930s, and are among the forerunners of modern country music and bluegrass.-String bands in old-time music:...

s became very popular by the early 1950s, and soon dominated the pop landscape. In the late 1960s, rock bands like the Kopikats had appeared in cities, while string bands like the Paramana Strangers had become well-known internationally. This was followed by the importation of bamboo bands, a style of music from the Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...

 using bamboo tubes played by hitting them with sandals. It first arrived in the area of Madang

Madang

Madang is the capital of Madang Province and is a town with a population of 27,420 on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. It was first settled by the Germans in the 19th century....

 in the mid-1970s, and soon spread throughout the country.

By the end of the '70s, a local recording industry had appeared and artists like Sanguma

Sanguma

Sanguma was a Papua New Guinean musical ensemble active from 1977 to 1980. They combined music from the cultural tradition of Papua New Guinea with Western instruments were one of the first Papua New Guinean music groups to perform internationally...

 and, later, George Telek

George Telek

George Mamua Telek, commonly known simply as Telek is a singer from Papua New Guinea.Born in 1959 in Raluana, East New Britain Province, Telek is one of the few Papua New Guinean singers to gain international fame. Telek sang with various bands in Papua New Guinea early in his career - most notably...

, began mixing native and Western styles like rock music

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 and jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

.

Literature

Ulli Beier

Ulli Beier

Horst Ulrich Beier was a German editor, writer and scholar, who had a pioneering role in developing literature, drama and poetry in Nigeria, as well as literature, drama and poetry in Papua New Guinea...

, a lecturer in English Literature at the University of Papua New Guinea since 1967 was crucial in encouraging young writers and getting their work published. From 1969 to 1974 he was the editor of Kovave, a journal of New Guinea literature. He also published Papua Pocket Poets, and Pidgin Pocket Plays. Kovave ceased publication in 1974 but was replaced by the journal New Guinea Writing although this concentrated on folk tales.

Natachee was the first Papuan poet to appear in print. The first autobiography

Autobiography

An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...

 was Albert Maori Kiki

Albert Maori Kiki

Sir Albert Maori Kiki was a Papua New Guinea pathologist and politician. He was one of the founders of the Pangu Party, which demanded 'home rule leading to eventual independence' for New Guinea...

's Kiki in 1974. The first novel was Crocodile (1970) by Vincent Eri

Vincent Eri

Sir Vincent Serei Eri, GCMG was the fifth Governor General of Papua New Guinea and is often cited as being the first Papua New Guinean national to write a novel, The Crocodile in English...

.

Visual arts

There is a rich and diverse tradition of visual art. In particular, Papua New Guinea is world-famous for carved wooden sculpture: masks, canoes, story-boards. Many of the best collections of these are held in overseas museums.

Those identified as being in the first wave of contemporary art in Papua New Guinea are: Mathias Kauage

Mathias Kauage

Mathias Kauage O.B.E., born in Miugu, Chimbu Province, Papua New Guinea in 1944, died in May 2003 , was a Papua New Guinean artist. In 1998, Kauage was awarded the Order of the British Empire for services to the arts by Queen Elizabeth II. The National Gallery of Australia has described him as...

 OBE

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 (1944–2003), Timothy Akis

Timothy Akis

Timothy Akis, born around 1944 in Tsembaga village, Simbai Valley, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea, died in 1984, was a Papua New Guinean artist. His art consisted primarily in imaginative pen and ink drawings and batiks inspired by his country's wildlife...

, Jakupa Ako and Joe Nalo, all from the tough urban area of Port Moresby

Port Moresby

Port Moresby , or Pot Mosbi in Tok Pisin, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea . It is located on the shores of the Gulf of Papua, on the southeastern coast of the island of New Guinea, which made it a prime objective for conquest by the Imperial Japanese forces during 1942–43...

. Kauage won Australia's Blake Prize for religious art, four of his works are in the Glasgow Museum of Modern Art, and he had a solo show in 2005 at the Horniman Museum, "Kauage's Visions: Art from Papua New Guinea". Other noted Papua New Guinean visual artists include Larry Santana

Larry Santana

Larry Santana, born in Ramu Valley, Papua New Guinea, in 1962, is a Papua New Guinean painter.Larry's original surname was 'Mike' i.e. Larry Mike and he studied under that name at the Goroka School of Art and Design in 1979. One of his painting tutors at that time was New Zealander Roger Smith...

, Martin Morububuna and Heso Kiwi.

Sport

See main Sport in Papua New Guinea

Sport in Papua New Guinea

Sport is an important part of the national culture. Rugby League is the most popular Sport in Papua New Guinea.Other popular Sports include most Football codes , Cricket, Volleyball, Softball, Netball and Basketball...

Sports are hugely popular in Papua New Guinea and its citizens participate in and watch a wide variety. Popular sports include most forms of football (rugby league

Rugby league

Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

, Rugby Union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

, Soccer and Australian rules football

Australian rules football

Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

), cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

, volleyball

Volleyball

Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...

, softball

Softball

Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...

, netball

Netball

Netball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ...

 and basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

. Other Olympic

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

 sports are also gaining popularity including boxing

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

 and weightlifting.

Rugby league is the most popular sport in Papua New Guinea (especially in the highlands) which also unofficially holds the title as the "national sport". The annual Australian State of Origin

Rugby League State of Origin

State of Origin is an annual best of three series of rugby league football matches contested by the Maroons and the Blues, who represent the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales respectively...

 matches are the most watched sporting event of the year. The West New Britain Rugby League player, Marcus Bai

Marcus Bai

Marcus Bai is a Papua New Guinean former rugby league footballer of the 1990s and 2000s. Primarily a winger, he played his final season in 2006 for English Super League team Bradford Bulls. He is the only man to win the World Club Challenge with three different clubs...

, is a national celebrity after he played for the National Rugby League

National Rugby League

The National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...

 with Melbourne Storm

Melbourne Storm

The Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the city of Melbourne. They are the first fully professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria....

 (he also currently playing in the European Super League

Super League

Super League is the top-level professional rugby league football club competition in Europe. As a result of sponsorship from engage Mutual Assurance the competition is currently officially known as the engage Super League. The League features fourteen teams: thirteen from England and one from...

 competition). A new national competition started in 2005 called the SP Cup. See article Rugby league in Papua New Guinea

Rugby league in Papua New Guinea

Rugby league is the most popular team sport in Papua New Guinea, and is indeed regarded as the national sport. The people have a reputation for being the most passionate supporters of the game in the world....

.

Australian Rules Football, once the most popular football in PNG until the 1970s, is gaining popularity with the introduction of players at the top level into the AFL, including Mal Michael

Mal Michael

Malcolm Roberto "Mal" Michael is a former Australian rules footballer. He is notable for his successful professional Australian Football League career. Following a career spanned 238 games and three clubs in two Australian states he is best known as a triple premiership full-back with the...

 (Brisbane Lions

Brisbane Lions

The Brisbane Lions is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Brisbane, Queensland. The club was formed from the merger of the Brisbane Bears and the Fitzroy Lions in 1996...

) and James Gwilt

James Gwilt

James Gwilt is an Australian rules footballer for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League .-Early life:...

 (St Kilda Football Club). PNG has the largest number of Australian Rules Footballers outside of Australia, and has one of the fastest growing junior development programs. The "Mosquitos

Papua New Guinea national Australian rules football team

The Papua New Guinea national Australian rules football team represents Papua New Guinea in the team sport of Australian rules football....

", currently captained by Navu Maha

Navu Maha

Navulani Maha is an all-round sportsman who has represented Papua New Guinea in cricket and Australian rules football. He is the son of the ICC's Chairman for Papua New Guinea....

 are the national team and were runners up in the Australian Football International Cup

Australian Football International Cup

The Australian Football International Cup is an international sport competition in Australian rules football...

 in both 2003 (to Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

) and 2005 (to New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

). See article Australian rules football in Papua New Guinea

Australian rules football in Papua New Guinea

Australian rules football in Papua New Guinea is a rapidly developing team sport which was initially introduced by Australian servicemen. The sport has a long and somewhat shaky history, but has recently achieved big strides in the Papua New Guinea community and is now the second most popular sport...

.

Cricket is traditionally popular in the Papuan provinces where the British had the most influence. In the Trobriand Islands

Trobriand Islands

The Trobriand Islands are a 450 km² archipelago of coral atolls off the eastern coast of New Guinea. They are situated in Milne Bay Province in Papua New Guinea. Most of the population of 12,000 indigenous inhabitants live on the main island of Kiriwina, which is also the location of the...

cricket has become fused with the local culture and a game played with stones instead of a rock and unlimited fielders has developed. It was introduced in 1903 by Methodist missionaries, and has become a beloved sport there.

Further reading

• James Patrick Sinclair. The Arts of Papua New Guinea. (1977).

• Susan Cochrane, Michael Mel. Contemporary Art in Papua New Guinea. (1997).

• Gloria Stewart. Introduction to Sepik Art of Papua New Guinea.

• The Stories of Pokop of Pohyomou. (Papua New Guinea University Press, 1996).

External links

• PNG Arts shop
• Oksapmin Society and World View Extracts from the ethnography of the Mountain Ok