Divine Word University Cultural Day

Divine Word University (DWU) Cultural Day 

September Update, 2014

Wow! I am truly in a different world. Friday my friend Kathy took me to the “parade” for the student cultural day. It was held in the auditorium at DWU and it was amazing! You haven’t lived until you have had a young man painted in his tribal face paint jump literally 4 feet off the floor while he comes screaming into the room! I was so taken aback that it never even entered my mind to take a picture, ha! But I sure wish that I had!!

I got these pictures of Mud Man as he moved ever-so-slowly up the aisle toward me (and others). It was pretty freaky to tell you the truth. There were some that made Kathy say “can you imagine going through a jungle and meeting them for warfare?!” Some were a little intimidating. On Saturday we went back so we could see them in all their glory. They meet in a big field by the school.

This guy whose profile I thought was really cool was in line with the rest them. They marched around the grounds (a lot!) making their presence known. It was really cool. These are men in their cultural attire. They have grass skirts dyed pink and their headdresses stick out really far with all of their bilas (decorations). They are holding a drum called a kundu. These guys were pretty bold. Their “dance” was loud and almost aggressive. It was really neat. These are the Hela people group. Each of the groups seemed to have a bunch of their wantoks (people from their village) following them with water bottles, like these guys. I can still hear them yelling Hela Hela Hela!!! I heard it in my sleep that night. and saw this yellow face! (below) I found this rather ironic, ha! He was going to get food! by the way; can you imagine a place with not one drive through restaurant?? That’s where I live. I just thought I would share that little tidbit. How’s this for another ironic picture? I love it! Isn’t she beautiful?! I love all the colors These ladies are from Bougainville; they kept saying “black is beautiful! black is beautiful” they are really dark, and beautiful! The Mud Men were phenomenal!! I nearly got run over by one as I was trying to catch a cool photo of another. This group was very interesting! Their dancing was “wrong” But they were part of the activities so here’s their picture ~ and honestly I took the photo because I like the little guy with the yellow nose behind them, ha-ha!

This guy stopped so I could take his photo. He had all sorts of shells all over his body. We learned about the value of shells. It is what they used (I believe that some still do) as currency. These Meri’s are sporting some pretty bilums with their attire.  Here are some relaxing! what a nice looking couple, huh? I believe that these are from the Solomon Islands. Aren’t they pretty? Some of you might have seen this photo on face book. I laughed because I got photo bombed by a Papua New Guinean man!! Look at this doll baby!! This group was actually carrying these huge banana leaves. They make excellent umbrellas. My Mawan mama had one cut down for me on one of our walks. Excellent idea! Somebody’s papa got in on the activities! He was adorable. These students are from Madang. Look! A white man!! I told Kathy this was the most white people I have seen in 8 months. We probably saw like 20 or so! This is the drum that they were beating; It’s a garamut, like the one I showed you in Mawan. Next time I will tell you how I became acquainted with our friendly neighborhood “rockin” police man.   I have no new news on P & K. I will let you know when I do, please continue to pray for them.