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
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