Asmat
Saturday, December 10, 2022
Asmat
Yesterday was completely at sea, headed towards the Asmat
area. We had three lectures, one on
flying fish, one on photography looking at photos taken by the travelers (we
were each invited to submit two), and one on how to tell a story with
photography. All extremely well
done. We had an ice cream social in the
afternoon preceding the cocktail hour preceding dinner.
Today was unforgettable. Classic National Geographic, as we visited one village of the Asmat people. The Asmat are an ethnic group of New Guinea who live in a region on the island’s southwestern coast bordering the Arafura Sea:
The coast is challenging, consisting of mangrove and enormous tidal swamps. The mud flats extend out so far from the coast and are so gradual, that the distance from the high tide line to the low tide line is two kilometers! Of mud! There is no place near the shore for ships to go, and we anchored more than a mile off of the coast by the tiny town of Agats. Here’s what the shoreline looks like:
Months ago, in preparation for two National Geographic visits, the local guide/tour leader, named Leks, visited a number of villages and chose Per for the group to visit. He spent four days and nights in the village, gaining the trust of the villagers and preparing them for us. Six weeks ago, the first visit of this itinerary occurred, and ours was the second, the first contact with Westerners the village has had in many years. They were ready for us!
We set out in Zodiacs, and traveled east from offshore Agats for 15 miles, about 45 minutes. We then gathered all the Zodiacs together at the mouth of a river emptying into the Arafura Sea:
Some sort of signal was given, and out came the Per Asmat men in dugout canoes, four or five standing in each canoe:
We were escorted up the river:
We arrived at the village where the women and children were waiting for us:
We were welcomed with drumming:
The women moved/danced to the drumming:
The longhouse had a covered porch in front of the
individual rooms:
The women kept separate from the men, and we realized later that, despite seeing many children, we saw no pregnant women:
The people seemed genuinely interested in us, as much as we were interested in them:
A war canoe was launched and recovered:
The women and children watched from the shore:
The formal presentations were then finished, and we took a walk through the village on the boardwalks:
We came across a fresh grave in between homes:
Homes are simple; rainwater is collected in containers:
We came across a surprising sight:
The vendors appeared and we bought one of the drums used during the ceremony:
And our visit ended with exhaustion and exhilaration. We’ve never had a day like this one and it
will take some time to process.
I am speechless!! What an amazing adventure!! There is a little part of me thinking, "They must have been putting on a show for you. There can't really be people who live like that in the 21st century!" But I know better. I can entirely see why you would say that you have never had a day like this one!!!! What an incredible opportunity!!! Question -- It appears that they have individual homes. What are the rooms in the longhouse for? Also, of what use is the money paid to the vendors? I assume that there must be some interaction with the modern world? Are there items or services that the tribe purchases?
ReplyDeleteVictor and Joyce: I really am looking forward to your reply to Liz's querries. I hope you can get straight answers regarding the last of her questions.
ReplyDeleteClearly a venture into a society from a time before. I guess time travel exists in distant parts of the world. So glad you got to experience it. It almost feels like a shame to expose these people to modern society.
ReplyDeleteAs best as we could figure out, the rooms in the longhouse were like an apartment building compared to separate homes. It did not seem to be a large communal space. And there is evidence of things which could be bought with money--we saw one boat with an outboard motor, and there was some sort of office with a sign on it and a satellite dish, although we saw no source of electricity near it; perhaps they purchase batteries. There was no evidence of any other use of electricity and nothing bought with money other than some clothes on some of the people who had not participated in the ceremony. But yes, they were indeed putting on a show for us, showing us the pre-war ceremonies and the launching of a new war canoe ceremony. This was not an ordinary day for them.
ReplyDeleteTotally mind bending! Such a total contrast to our world. It's just hard to believe this culture exists in our times. But that's our perspective, what do they think of us? That would be very interesting to hear.
ReplyDeleteI am astounded. Yes, this group is far more isolated than even the one you visited in the previous post. The drumming sounds very "basic" to me, quite unlike the great sophistication of much Indonesian (including Balinese) music.
ReplyDelete--But I notice that the whole community participates, putting the white makeup on their face and bodies and moving, however simply, to the drumbeats.
--Perhaps there's more nuance than I'm able to pick up, though.
--I wonder what these people would think if they could see someone like me dance (pretty limited!).
--Thanks for the explanations, as you gradually gather them, Victor. The diversity of human culture is quite extraordinary (I say, after having listened to Kevin Puts's new opera, "The Hours" from the Met yesterday on the radio).