The Pomio Kivung movement ("Meeting") is a millenarian movement sometimes called a cargo
cult
In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...
practiced among the villagers in the Baining and Pomio areas in
East New Britain
East New Britain is a province of Papua New Guinea, consisting of the north-eastern part of the island of New Britain and the Duke of York Islands. The capital of the province is Kokopo, not far from the old capital of Rabaul, which was largely des ...
,
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
.
History
The movement merged two millenarian influences, one belonging to Michael Korima Urekit who had tried to start a movement in the Arawe area, and the other by Bernard Balatape who began a local movement feeding the dead at the Pomio of Kaiton. The movement was instrumental in electing Koriam to the House of Assembly as member for Kandrian-Pomio Open. Later the movement encompassed the Baining people when the electorate was redrawn to remove the Kandrian area and to include the Baining in the south Gazelle Peninsula. In the Baining area, around this time (prior to 1974 when he returned to Pomio), Kolman Kintape who was originally from Pomio was managing Warwick Plantation (near the villages of Sunam and Dadul). He was developing magic for making money multiply and ritual
knowledge for feeding the dead. Kolman was visited at Warwick Plantation by Koriam and Alois Koki.
The history of the Baining peoples is strongly influenced by the seventeenth-century migration of the
Tolai, an
Melanesian
Melanesian is the adjectival form of Melanesia. It may refer to:
* Melanesians
* Melanesian mythology
* Melanesian languages In linguistics, Melanesian is an obsolete term referring to the Austronesian languages of Melanesia: that is, the Oceani ...
people who drove the Papuan Baining from the fertile volcanic regions of the north-east of New Britain. Following the arrival of European colonists, Tolai people had favourable access to Western education and government, enabling further exploitation of the neighbouring Baining. The emulation of Western government and the sense of ethnic unity produced by the rivalry with the Tolai provided the bases of Baining culture that resulted in Pomio Kivung.
The movement itself was founded by the Kandrian politician and MP
Koriam Urekit
Koriam Michael Urekit (c. 1916 – 3 December 1978) was a Papua New Guinean cargo cult leader and politician. He served as a member of the House of Assembly and National Parliament of Papua New Guinea, National Parliament from 1964 until his dea ...
('Koriam') upon his election in 1964, following a prophecy made by the Pomio cult leader Bernard Balatape ('Bernard') the year before. During Koriam's parliamentary career he, Bernard, and his successor Kolman Kintape Molu ('Kolman') were all
accorded a divine stature by Pomio Kivung devotees, as intermediaries between the physical and spiritual worlds. Koriam held the Pomio-Kandrian seat until his death in 1978, and successive Pomio Kivung representatives occupied it continuously until 2002.
Beliefs
The Pomio Kivung movement incorporates narratives of
sovereignty
Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...
and
economic development
In the economics study of the public sector, economic and social development is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and o ...
,
syncretic Christianity, and traditional Papuan
ancestor worship into a single religious system. Its adherents believe in a coming
millennium
A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting point (ini ...
, during which the ancestors of Pomio-Baining people will return as "Western scientists and industrialists" to transform East New Britain into a vast urban metropolis, politically and economically independent from Papua New Guinea. During this period - referred to as the 'Period of the Companies' (
Tok Pisin
Tok Pisin (,Laurie Bauer, 2007, ''The Linguistics Student’s Handbook'', Edinburgh ; Tok Pisin ), often referred to by English speakers as "New Guinea Pidgin" or simply Pidgin, is a creole language spoken throughout Papua New Guinea. It is an ...
''Taim bilong Kampani''), every material need will be provided for. However, those who do not indulge themselves in this time and instead devote themselves to the movement will enter a second millennium, the paradisaical 'Period of Government' (''Taim bilong Gavman)'' free of death, disease, reproduction, work and warfare. During the Period of Government, the living Baining will be able to remove their brown skin to find healthy white skin underneath. Those who give into hedonism during the Period of the Companies will instead find themselves in
Hell
In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...
or 'jail' (''kalibus'').
This millenarian vision is accompanied by a
mystical belief in the present existence of 'government' (''Gavman'') on a spiritual plane. God and virtuous ancestors reside on this plane, referred to as the 'Ancestral Council' (''Kaunsel Tumbuna'') or 'Village Government' (''Vilij Gavman''), and devotees look forward to joining it after death. Ancestors on this plane also take part in voting during elections, providing success to Pomio Kivung candidates over their opponents.
Unlike the Christian
Heaven
Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...
, this plane is conceptually located underground, as part of a web of metaphors contrasting the material surface or 'skin' (''patuna'') with underlying spiritual reality or 'food' (''kaikai''). Devotion to this spiritual plane is described in the language of government (a request for ancestral intercession, for example, is often called a 'report', and its recipients are called 'secretaries'), partly as a kind of
anti-language to disguise its meaning from Melanesian authorities and partly as a real spiritual expression of material needs.
Pomio Kivung is also characterised by a strong reverence for an altered version of the
Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...
(''Tenpela Lo''), which are represented by a decorative pole inscribed with the Roman numerals I to X placed in every Pomio Kivung village. These Commandments, followers believe, were taught to Koriam by a white man named 'brother' (''Brata''). Those who break the Commandments are required to perform penance in the form of silent contemplation, called a 'Check' (''Sek''), in front of a money jar called 'Television'. The spiritual essence of money raised through 'Televisions' is believed to go to the ''Gavman'' under the earth, while its 'skin' (material existence) is sent to 'buy government' (''Baim gavman'') around the world to hasten the arrival of the millennium.
References
Further reading
*
*
*
* {{Cite book, title=Inside the Cult, last=Whitehouse, first=Harvey, publisher=Clarendon Press, year=1995, isbn=0-19-827981-7, location=Oxford, url={{Google Books URL, id=8QGBAAAAMAAJ
* Lattas, Andrew. "Re‐analysing the Baining: The Mytho‐Poetics of Race, Gender and Art". ''Oceania'', vol. 90, issue 2 (2020):98–150
Cargo cults
New religious movements
Millenarianism