CONTENTS
A once in a lifetime experience
The official opening begins
Opening the ears of the house
First day and night of the main celebration
More visitors bring entertainment
AUDIO:
Click the audio links under each title for Dr. Tyman's narration
A once in a lifetime experience
on_intro
The highlight of my first visit to Torembi was the opening of a new haus tambaran, or spirit house — the sort of thing you see once in a lifetime, if you’re lucky.
It took two years to build and both the materials and labour were provided by members of just one of the two moieties (or clan groups) in the tribe.
In front of the haus stood the rounded ceremonial waak. In the old days this would have been a mound of earth on which were piled the bodies of enemies captured or killed in battle.
In this case, it was simply a small, fenced off area, carefully decorated, and connected to the spirit house by a length of split cane from which were hung emblems of the moiety’s garden spirits.
At one end of the haus tambaran was a large dancing ground, outlined by coconut palms believed to have been planted by village ancestors. From the size of the trees, it was obvious that the area had served as a sacred site for many generations.
Since women, traditionally, are not allowed to enter a spirit house, and the planned festivities would last for three weeks, benches were built for them on either side of the dancing area.
Here they could rest by day and by night.
The inside of the haus had been decorated too. One of the old drums was cleaned up using oil paints flown in from Wewak.
There was also a new debating stool, which the men would hit with a switch of leaves to emphasise their point during a debate.
Though usually positioned inside the haus, the debating stool was brought out of doors for the singsing.
Its female counterpart spent the whole time out of doors, in company with the women, standing beside the waak.
It was dressed and decorated like a woman from the village, with a kina shell around its neck, and with a bilum on its back, made from coloured string.
The official opening begins
2_before_dawn
The official opening of the haus began shortly before dawn.
In a brief ceremony the leading men of the village invited the spirits of their ancestors to occupy the building prepared for them.
This ceremony included the beating of sticks and chanting to welcome the spirits and as they entered the building the spirits sang their songs.
The first rays of sunshine illuminated the totem at the apex of the gable and gradually as the sun rose we could see the decorated areas beneath the eaves, with painted faces, wild fruits, flowers and feathers.
The flutes continued to sing — evidence that the spirits had entered the haus.
The masks in the walls represented the village’s most famous ancestors and the open spaces between them were the ‘eyes’ of the haus.
Once the spirits had entered the haus, they had to be fed, so a pig was killed, cooked and divided into as many pieces as there were families represented in the haus.
Then a piece of meat was hung up alongside the space allotted to each family.
The most decorated of the posts, in a favoured position, belonged to the man whose family had done the most to build the haus.
In other cases, the meat was simply hung up alongside each man’s personal possessions, in this case, a kerosene lamp, a water bottle, his favourite headband and some bedding.
Opening the ears of the house
3_eyes_and_ears
With its eyes opened it was now necessary for the ‘ears’ of the haus to be opened up also.
Several men with spears were urged on by the crowd of onlookers.
They threw their spears with great accuracy, striking the ears of the haus — that is the ends of the gable on either side of the masks — and were left to hang there.
When I returned to Torembi a year later, the spears were still in position, though the surrounding decorations had faded.
Some of the women present then began dancing around and around the haus in celebration.
They waved garden tools or leaves as they danced.
Other women spent their time checking on how much each family had contributed towards the cost of the opening.
Banknotes were attached to spears stuck into the ground at each end of the building.
First day and night of the main celebration
4_first_day
The main celebration, with almost non-stop singing and dancing, did not begin till the heat of the day had passed — and it continued thereafter, from late afternoon to sunrise, for 21 days.The flutes were played throughout this time, day and night, and the women who had danced first did so again from time to time.
The rhythms for the dancing were provided not by garamut, though there were two such drums in the house, but by kundu drums and by choruses sung by the dancers themselves.
The entertainment on that first afternoon was provided by the village in which the new haus tambaran was situated, that is, Torembi 2.
Young and old were dressed for the occasion, many wearing traditional headdresses made from feathers.
The procession of dancers and singers moved round and round the haus and the waak.
The song they sang had 150 verses and took about 12 hours to sing.
The dancers did not dance continuously, however. They would perform for 15 or 20 minutes, then take a break, sitting, standing or talking with friends and relatives.
The forms of decoration or bilas worn on the occasion included shells, coins, seeds, feathers, flowers and leaves.
Some people also improvised using the ring pulls from beer cans and the caps from beer bottles.
The most common headbands worn by the men were made of cuscus fur — a reminder of the days when these were worn only by those who had killed a man in battle defending the village and its people.
At about 5 o’clock in the afternoon on the first day, the cry went up that the dancers from Torembi 3 had arrived and those from Torembi 2 went out to meet this new group on the river bank.
Everyone danced together for a while, first pretending that they were enemies, and trying to chase each other away, before moving to the dancing ground together.
The dancers from Torembi 3 were beautifully dressed, with darkened skins and matching headdresses made from the feathers of the muruk or cassowary.
The curved teeth worn as decoration by many of the men were pigs’ tusks and the dancing continued throughout the night.
More visitors bring entertainment
5_entertainment
The event most looked forward to was the coming of the dancers from Torembi 1. Being the biggest village, it was supposed to provide the best show.
As their performance was expected to attract a large crowd, a fence was built around the dancing ground.
Traditionally, men built fences to guard secrets from the eyes of women, but this fence had a practical purpose — it made it possible for the organisers of the event to charge an admission fee of around 20 cents from those who came to watch rather than participate.
The fence was made from the leaves of the sago palm.
Unfortunately, when the day came, it was pouring with rain. This was sad for the women who continued to dance outside, not being allowed to enter a haus tambaran.
Eventually the rain eased up and the men ventured out doors to join the women in their celebrations.
The group from Torembi 1 included two imaginary characters from the swamp — an old man and an old woman — both played by men.
From time to time the instructions of the spirits were relayed by long flutes and, when they had finished speaking, the drums would be sounded and dancing would begin all over again.
During the celebrations, food was available on the sidelines. Torembi 2 provided a banquet of pork and rice as payment to the dancers from Torembi 1.
Many brought their own food, mostly pancakes made from sago.
All members of the Torembi community were involved in this important event, from the very young to the very old. Since they are built to last, the opening of a new spirit house is something seen only once in a lifetime — and then only if you’re lucky.