pot pourri culture

In PNG people are rich because they are rich. Not by selling their land but leasing it out even to the Govt. for either 49 or 99 years. If they have planted just one tree that area belongs to that person. There are no written documents, just a man’s and his clan’s word of honour. If anybody contests one man’s claim, then clan fights start; sometimes in front of a court of justice, in full regalia. Then after a heart’s content fight, with a few killed, and many slashed away, they agree to compromise and exchange pigs. Some of them slaughtered then & there, a merry feast follows and everything forgotten till the next disagreement.

This is an Agro-based country and anthropologically speaking , it is mix of race from all over the world; there are curly haired fair skinned people with Afro features; Thick long faces reminiscent of Dravidians; a few flat faces like the Far-east Asians – quite a pot-pourri.

The Parliament is built in the late 80 s in the architectural style of their spirit houses called Haus Tambaran. The pidgin language has taken words mostly from English but one can also find words like Haus – a fall out of the German occupation. Only men are allowed to enter the Haus Tambarans where the spirits of the ancestors reside and the living draw strength from these spirits. The exterior is decorated with beautiful carvings in wood of animals, flora and fauna of the land.