January 2010    Download the Entire Issue (PDF)

Vol. 25, No. 1   What's this?

One of PNG’s Last Great Cultural Events

from the January, 2010 issue of Undercurrent  

Subscriber Content Preview
Only active subscribers can view the whole article

The annual Mt. Hagen Cultural Show was first organized by the Australians in 1964 as a way of furthering contacts among the remote clans and hopefully getting them to stop slaughtering each other for a few days. Times have changed. Now, cash prizes are awarded and competition is a matter of both pride and profit. Last year, the festival was billed as “The 2009 Coca-Cola Mt. Hagen Show.” This sad fact aside, it was three days of sensory overload at 5,500 feet under a crystal sky, like Woodstock for Wig-Men. In 2008, 68 clans attended. When I attended last August, 107 clans arrived at the soccer field just outside the airport, where they burned off the surrounding fields and camped overnight. At daybreak, the 2,000 performers began applying make-up and adorning themselves with feathers, shells, cus-cus fur, flower, grass, you name it. ...