A KAIVAKUKU, RORO TRIBE, CENTRAL DIVISION, BRITISH NEW GUINEA
Owing no doubt to the missionaries disliking certain dances, the natives are now very shy about permitting a white man to witness them; some, however, can still be seen, and these I will try {49} to describe. There are several different dances in New Guinea, all distinct in their movements, in the costumes worn at them, and the music accompanying them; there are the war dances, the marriage dances, the fishing, festival and agricultural dances, and for all these the costumes vary, some of them being unique, for there is no island in the world which can rival its assortment of ceremonial regalia. In some of the dances the women are most strangely attired, whilst in others the grotesque costumes of the men are startling.
When the fish dance, or any other semi-religious dance is to be held the men wear masks, for the making of which they are famous, and then the performance is indeed weird. In the Mekko district, south-east of Port Moresby, most elaborate masks of hideous design cover the heads of the dancers, whilst their bodies are concealed by capes which are nearly two feet thick and cover the wearer completely, leaving only the lower part of the legs visible, and these, in contrast to the bulk above, look strangely thin and out of place. The heat and weight of these costumes must be enormous, but the natives would undergo any discomfort rather than be without them.
The masks, which vary in shape and size, are {50} generally not shorter than three or four feet, and occasionally they run to six or seven. They are held in position on the man’s head by a cross-bar which he grips between his teeth, and they are constructed on canework frames, and shaped like an enormous hock bottle. A thin bark covering is stretched over the frame, which is then completely smeared with white lime, and a hideous face is generally worked or painted on the front of it, with the mouth and eyes enormously big and distorted. When one considers that these masks and their attendant costumes are also used for blackmailing dances their thorough ugliness is warranted.
Blackmailing is a favourite pastime, and when they are intent on it they don their ugliest masks and steal round to the hut of the man or woman from whom they wish to extort money, or frighten, and in the dim moonlight begin a weird and unearthly dance accompanied by horrible noises, which they continue until the desired effect has been obtained, and the man is frightened out of his wits and ready to agree to his assailant’s proposals. This dance is closely allied to the dook-dook dance of New Britain. In New Guinea when the mask and cape are worn the steps of the dance are slow, and the movements are supposed to be majestic and {51} awe-inspiring, making the performances more like stately processions than dances. One of the most interesting of these is the festival dance for a successful agricultural season. It is considered a kind of prayer to the gods of agriculture, and it generally takes place once a year and is conducted by different tribes on each anniversary.
HARVEST DANCE, NEW GUINEA
When the yams and bananas are ripe, the natives hold a celebration, in which as a rule men dance in close formation with the girls on the flanks. Occasionally a girl edges her way in and takes the arm of a man, as is seen in the illustration, where the red head-dresses are those of women. The white plumes of the men denote that they have slain an enemy in single combat. The streamers down the back of the man on the left are those of his head fillet. Behind the dancers are the bananas suspended on a scaffold. The celebration takes place in the summer.
The dancing ground having been picked, the villagers squat by their huts, or form a large ring on the ground, and then when all is ready a troop of men strangely dressed, each carrying his drum, comes prancing on to the ground.