PAPUA

THE HIGHLANDS
The Tari region and the Huli tribe
The best-known of the Highland tribes is the Huli, in the region of Tari, which is surrounded
by verdant valleys squeezed into limestone peaks with scattered rushing waterfalls and dense
forests, where one can meet most of the species of the birds of paradise. The Huli tribe
numbers approximately 80,000 members. They are usually short and muscular with a strong
and proud personality, and they often act altruistically for the common good, despite their
individualism. They have a clear awareness of both their history and culture, as can be seen
in their knowledge of their genealogical trees and of their traditions. They believe that they
descend from an ancient ancestor known as Huli, The Son of the Forest Spirits and the first,
according to tradition, farmer in the region.
The status of leader is not handed down; one becomes socially powerful through their
military qualities, the wealth they have collected and their skills as a mediator in solving
tribal differences. The Huli are certainly not a peaceful tribe. They live constantly at war, with
many small local disputes that are often unrelated, as the causes are almost always personal
disagreements and not some traditional enmity with another tribe. They fight primarily for
three reasons: land, pigs and women, and in that order. Other main characteristics of the Huli
are the unusual relationship between the two sexes and the extensive practice of magic in
religious life. As for the women, because of their great power to create life, they are considered
by the men of the tribe to be a permanent threat to their masculinity. The use of magic is
particularly widespread as the Huli religion is clearly animistic, being founded on the belief
in the existence of spirits that animate every manifestation of the natural world. For the Huli,
everything has a soul: the forest, the mountain, the river, the sun and the animals, and all are
potential spiritual entities that require supplication, worship and appeasement.
Youths are separated from their mothers and gradually from every woman for a period of
isolation that lasts from one-and-a half to three years. During this period they live isolated
from female company, purging themselves of every female “essence” and growing their hair.
At the end of this purging period they cut their long and well-cared hair and make their
famous wigs, for which the Huli have become known as the “Wigmen”. During this period
it is forbidden to sleep with their heads touching the ground and they are obliged to drizzle
magic water over their heads every day, expelling the bad spirits. These wigs are adorned
with the plumes of birds of paradise and signify self-denial and catharsis as characteristics of
masculinity. After this purging the young man is ready to handle the “threat” of coupling and
the responsibilities of marriage.
Nonetheless, the Huli, despite their superstitious beliefs, do not hesitate in resorting to
western medicine when suffering from a serious illness. In the Tari region I had the opportunity
to visit a Doctors without Borders clinic: dozens of helpless and seriously ill people were
patiently waiting their turn to receive medical care in one of the ad hoc clinics that had been
set up, without losing the smile from their faces. Malaria, Aids and tuberculosis can count
many victims here, and the doctors work truly selflessly against these illnesses, in absolutely
primitive conditions.
Drizzling ‘magic’ water Wig maker Tari School Inside a school class The tribe doctor
Working in the fields
Basket weaving, Tari Naive paintings Hunter in Mt Hagen Medecins Sans Frontieres