Urapmin people
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The Urapmin people are an ethnic group numbering about 375 people in the
Telefomin District Telefomin District is a district of Sandaun Province of Papua New Guinea. Its capital is Telefomin. Its inhabitants include the Mountain Ok people, a cultural group with numerous sub-groups including the Telefol, the Urapmin, and the Wopkaimin ...
of the
West Sepik Province Sandaun Province (formerly West Sepik Province) is the northwesternmost mainland province of Papua New Guinea. It covers an area of 35,920 km2 (13868 m2) and has a population of 248,411 (2011 census). The capital is Vanimo. In July 1998 the a ...
of
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 ...
. One of the
Min peoples Min people may refer to: *Speakers of Min Chinese, a variety of Chinese originating in Fujian province *The people of Minyue, an ancient Baiyue kingdom in present-day Fujian from which Min Chinese gets its name *Mountain Ok people The Min peoples o ...
who inhabit this area, the Urapmin share the common Min practices of
hunter-gatherer A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...
subsistence,
taro Taro () (''Colocasia esculenta)'' is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, and petioles. Taro corms are a food staple in Africa ...
cultivation, and formerly, an elaborate secret cult available only to initiated men. The Urapmin used to ally with the Telefolmin in war against other Min peoples, practicing
cannibalism Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, b ...
against the enemy dead, but warfare ceased by the 1960s with the arrival of
colonialism Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...
. A
Christian revival Christian revivalism is increased spiritual interest or renewal in the life of a church congregation or society, with a local, national or global effect. This should be distinguished from the use of the term "revival" to refer to an evangelis ...
in the 1970s led to the near-complete abandonment of traditional beliefs and the adoption of a form of
Charismatic Christianity Charismatic Christianity (also known as Spirit-filled Christianity by its supporters) is a form of Christianity that emphasizes the work of the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, and modern-day miracles as an everyday part of a believer's life. Practi ...
originally derived from
Baptist Christianity Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christianity, Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe ...
. The Urapmin vigorously use their native
Urap language Tifal is an Ok language spoken in Papua New Guinea. Dialects are (1) Tifal (Tifalmin) and Urap (Urapmin) and (2) Atbal (Atbalmin). Geography The Tifal language is bounded by Papuan and Irian Jaya speakers to the south and west, the Telefomin ...
, and their small community maintains the practice of
endogamy Endogamy is the practice of marrying within a specific social group, religious denomination, caste, or ethnic group, rejecting those from others as unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relationships. Endogamy is common in many cultu ...
.


Classification

The Urapmin are one of the Min peoples, a group of related peoples in
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 ...
who number about thirty thousand in total. Min peoples are mainly found in the
Telefomin District Telefomin District is a district of Sandaun Province of Papua New Guinea. Its capital is Telefomin. Its inhabitants include the Mountain Ok people, a cultural group with numerous sub-groups including the Telefol, the Urapmin, and the Wopkaimin ...
, spread from the mountains of the
Strickland River The Strickland River is a major river in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea. It is the longest and largest tributary of the Fly River with a total length of including the Lagaip River the farthest distance river source of the Strickland R ...
to
West Papua Province West Papua ( id, Papua Barat), formerly Irian Jaya Barat (West Irian), is a province of Indonesia. It covers the two western peninsulas of the island of New Guinea, the eastern half of the Bird's Head Peninsula (or Doberai Peninsula) and the ...
. The name ''Min'' derives from the suffix ''-min'', meaning 'peoples', which is present in their names (e.g. Telefolmin, Wopkaimin, etc.). Min peoples may also be known as Mountain Ok peoples, from the word ''ok'' meaning 'river' or 'water'. The latter name contrasts them with the Lowland Ok people to the south who speak related languages but differ greatly culturally and in the environment that they live in. The Urapmin speak a Mountain Ok language. Although this language family is tied to the Min ethnic grouping, it does not absolutely define the group, since the
Oksapmin Oksapmin is a Trans–New Guinea language spoken in Oksapmin Rural LLG, Telefomin District, Sandaun, Papua New Guinea. The two principal dialects are distinct enough to cause some problems with mutual intelligibility. Oksapmin has dyadic kins ...
to the east and the Om river groups speak non-Mountain Ok languages. The Urapmin kinship system is
cognatic Cognatic kinship is a mode of descent calculated from an ancestor counted through any combination of male and female links, or a system of bilateral kinship where relations are traced through both a father and mother. Such relatives may be known ...
; in general the western Min groups have
bilateral kinship Bilateral descent is a system of family lineage in which the relatives on the mother's side and father's side are equally important for emotional ties or for transfer of property or wealth. It is a family arrangement where descent and inheritan ...
systems, while the eastern Min groups have
patrilineal kinship Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritanc ...
systems. The Min peoples are fairly homogeneous in technology, economy, and subsistence. This includes hunting and gathering from forests and stream-beds, shifting
taro Taro () (''Colocasia esculenta)'' is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, and petioles. Taro corms are a food staple in Africa ...
cultivation, and raising small numbers of domestic pigs. Min material culture is also fairly uniform; Telefol women describe
bilum ''Noken'' (from Biak: ) is a traditional Indonesian multifunctional knotted or woven bag native to the Western New Guinea region, Indonesia. Its distinctive usage, which involves being hung from the head, is traditionally used to carry various ...
s throughout the Min region as being of "one kind", though there is some stylistic variation. A salient shared feature of Min culture is a common origin myth and initiation into a secret male religious cult. Traditionally, the Min believed that all Min peoples other than the Baktaman are children of Afek, the "Primal Mother" and originator of all Min culture and religion. The types and number of cult initiation ceremonies differed among different Min groups. The Telefol in particular were viewed as being guardians of Afek's legacy since they were her lastborn, and the Urapmin were close to the Telefol in the Min ritual hierarchy.


History

Historically, the
Min peoples Min people may refer to: *Speakers of Min Chinese, a variety of Chinese originating in Fujian province *The people of Minyue, an ancient Baiyue kingdom in present-day Fujian from which Min Chinese gets its name *Mountain Ok people The Min peoples o ...
were in a constant state of warfare with one another. Each Min tribe was a unified group whose component groups did not wage war among each other, with the exception of the Tifalmin people who were split into four mutually hostile groups. The primary weapon used in war was a bow of black
palm wood The Arecaceae is a family of perennial flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are called palm trees. ...
, usually using arrows with barbed wooden heads. Spears were unknown, though some tribes (e.g. the Telefolmin, but not the Tifalmin) used wooden clubs. Warfare might consist either of small ambush parties, which would surprise people on paths and in gardens and kill and
eat Eating (also known as consuming) is the ingestion of food, typically to provide a heterotrophic organism with energy and to allow for growth. Animals and other heterotrophs must eat in order to survive — carnivores eat other animals, herbi ...
all of those caught, no matter their age or sex. Other times, warfare was more formal, with groups marching out to meet each other for battle with freshly-painted shields. The Urapmin divided up peoples encountered into traditional allies (
Urap ''Urap'' (sometimes spelled ''urab'' or in its plural form ''urap-urap'') is a salad dish of steamed vegetables mixed with seasoned and spiced grated coconut for dressing. It is commonly found in Indonesian cuisine, more precisely Javanese cui ...
: ''dup'') and enemies (''wasi''), along with foreigners (''ananang''). The Urapmin were allied with the Telefolmin, and engaged in trade with them, and in war joined with them to become a single unit. This was based in the belief in descent from common ancestors. The Urapmin also were friendly with their southern neighbors, the Faiwolmin. Friendly relations with foreign groups were based on
trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct excha ...
— the Urapmin practiced a custom whereby men would have ''tisol dup'' (literally "wealth friend"), trading partners from other Mountain Ok groups. The Telefol and Urapmin were traditionally enemies with the Tifalmin to the northwest and the Feranmin to the southeast. Warfare was still practiced between the Min peoples in the first half of the twentieth century.


European contact

European contact came late to Papua New Guinea, and to the
Highlands Highland is a broad term for areas of higher elevation, such as a mountain range or mountainous plateau. Highland, Highlands, or The Highlands, may also refer to: Places Albania * Dukagjin Highlands Armenia * Armenian Highlands Australia *Sou ...
in particular. While the European contact with the Telefolmin dates to 1914, the earliest European contact with the Urapmin was made by the Williams party of 1936–1937, which was searching the
Fly Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwing ...
and
Sepik The Sepik () is the longest river on the island of New Guinea, and the second largest in Oceania by discharge volume after the Fly River. The majority of the river flows through the Papua New Guinea (PNG) provinces of Sandaun (formerly West Sepi ...
areas for mineral deposits. Led by an
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
by the name of Ward Williams, the party consisted of eight (later nine) Europeans and twenty-three natives recruited from the coast. The Williams group had minimal contact with the Urapmin. Urapmin who were alive at the time attest that the Urapmin, unsure how to refer to the newcomers, learned from the Telefolmin to refer to them as the ''Wilumin'', a
portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsdemonyms A demonym (; ) or gentilic () is a word that identifies a group of people (inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place (hamlet, village, town, city, region, province, ...
among the Min peoples, ''-min''.The Urapmin later abandoned this term and began calling the whites ''dalabal'', meaning the smell of a penis gourd. Eventually the coastal natives that were hired by another patrol taught the Urapmin the term ''tabalasep'', which is the term that is currently used in the Urap language for whites. See . A trade relationship was quickly established, with
salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...
being the most desired commodity among the Urapmin. The Urapmin relate that: In 1944, the
Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...
s built up the
airstrip An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...
in
Telefomin Telefomin is a station town on the border of Sandaun and Western Provinces in Papua New Guinea. The town started during the Second World War after Mick Leahy was assigned to engineer an air-strip in 1944 for the United States for use against the ...
for use by the Allied Forces as an emergency landing strip in the
New Guinea campaign The New Guinea campaign of the Pacific War lasted from January 1942 until the end of the war in August 1945. During the initial phase in early 1942, the Empire of Japan invaded the Australian-administered Mandated Territory of New Guinea (23 Jan ...
of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. From this point until the end of the war, the
Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit The Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit (ANGAU) was a civil administration of Territory of Papua and the Mandated Territory of New Guinea formed on 21 March 1942 during World War II. The civil administration of both Papua and the Mand ...
kept a post in Telefomin, though it is unclear to what extent this affected the Urapmin at the time. In 1948, after the conclusion of the war, a patrol station was established at Telefomin, marking the beginning of Australian colonization of the region. The Urapmin refer to the subsequent colonial period as the time when "the law came and got us" (
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 ...
: ''lo i kam kisim mipela'') or when "we got the law" (Tok Pisin: ''mipela kisim lo''). What was likely the first government patrol of the Urapmin area was conducted in 1949 by Patrol Officer J. R. Rogers, accompanied by nine native policemen. Rogers convinced the Urapmin to make peace with the Tifalmin, stating that "fighting and cannibalism must cease." The Urapmin performed a ''tisol dalamin'' ("equivalent exchange ceremony"), a traditional form of dispute resolution which had not been used before by the Urapmin to make peace with enemy peoples. By the 60s the majority of the Telefomin region had been pacified. Large numbers of Urapmin converted to Christianity between the mid-1960s and the mid-1970s. The religion was brought to Urapmin by Telefol and Urapmin pastors who had studied in Telefomin at the Australian Baptist Mission. While Urapmin never hosted expatriate missionaries, by the mid-1970s there were a number of knowledgeable Christians in the community. However, the majority of conversions occurred during a
Christian revival Christian revivalism is increased spiritual interest or renewal in the life of a church congregation or society, with a local, national or global effect. This should be distinguished from the use of the term "revival" to refer to an evangelis ...
which swept the New Guinea Highlands in the late 1970s. The ''rebaibal'', as it is known in
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 ...
, had begun in the
Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...
and reached Urapmin by 1977. This movement caused all of the Urapmin to convert, and led to the rise of
Charismatic Christianity Charismatic Christianity (also known as Spirit-filled Christianity by its supporters) is a form of Christianity that emphasizes the work of the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, and modern-day miracles as an everyday part of a believer's life. Practi ...
among the Urapmin. Urapmin society has been significantly affected by the
Ok Tedi mine The Ok Tedi Mine is an open-pit copper and gold mine in Papua New Guinea located near the headwaters of the Ok Tedi River, in the Star Mountains Rural LLG of the North Fly District of the Western Province of Papua New Guinea. The mine is oper ...
. The mine is located in
Tabubil Tabubil is a town located in the Star Mountains area of the North Fly District of Western Province, Papua New Guinea. The town, including the adjoining relocated village of Wangabin and the industrial area of Laydown (where industrial equipment was ...
, built in the early 1980s, which is located two-and-a-half days by foot from Urapmin, or accessible by plane from Telefomin. By the early 1990s, many Urapmin had begun visiting Tabubil once every few years, more frequently for prominent families. For the Urapmin, Tabubil has become both a place where consumer goods are visible and a haven from sharing resources. Few Urapmin have been employed by the mine at any time, and due to the lack of a road or airstrip, the Urapmin have been unable to market vegetables to the mine as have their neighbors. As a result, the Urapmin have not experienced much of the economic development that has occurred to neighboring groups. The Kennecott company began prospecting for gold on Urapmin land in 1989, raising hopes, and while the company left Papua New Guinea in 1992, the Urapmin remain optimistic about future prospecting.


Geography

The Urapmin number about 375, living in the
Telefomin District Telefomin District is a district of Sandaun Province of Papua New Guinea. Its capital is Telefomin. Its inhabitants include the Mountain Ok people, a cultural group with numerous sub-groups including the Telefol, the Urapmin, and the Wopkaimin ...
in
West Sepik Province Sandaun Province (formerly West Sepik Province) is the northwesternmost mainland province of Papua New Guinea. It covers an area of 35,920 km2 (13868 m2) and has a population of 248,411 (2011 census). The capital is Vanimo. In July 1998 the a ...
, Papua New Guinea. Along with the more-numerous
Telefol people The Telefol people are an ethnic group in the Sandaun Province of Papua New Guinea. History Telefol history starts with the "Old Woman" ( Afek) traveling through the land that is now the Eliptaman valley. She, as told through their creation sto ...
, they are located by the headwaters of the
Sepik River The Sepik () is the longest river on the island of New Guinea, and the second largest in Oceania by discharge volume after the Fly River. The majority of the river flows through the Papua New Guinea (PNG) provinces of Sandaun (formerly West Sepi ...
, the Telefomin valley, and the nearby Elliptaman valley. They live in a remote region;
Telefomin Telefomin is a station town on the border of Sandaun and Western Provinces in Papua New Guinea. The town started during the Second World War after Mick Leahy was assigned to engineer an air-strip in 1944 for the United States for use against the ...
, the District Office, and an airstrip can only be reached by a difficult seventeen-mile walk. The total area of Urapmin territory is small, and most villages are within walking distance. Most of the Urapmin villages (Urap: ''abiip'') are located along the top of a ridge in the foothills of the Behrmann mountains. The ridge is known in Urap as ''Bimbel'', named after the earthquake spirit ''Bim'' who is believed to have flattened out the ridge.The word for "earthquake" in Urap is also ''bim''. See The villages along the Bimbel ridge are ''Danbel'' (''Muli Kona''), ''Salafaltigin'', ''Drum Tem'', ''Atemkit'', and ''Dimidubiip''. There are also two villages known as "places at the sides" (Tok Pisin: ''saitsait ples'') which are near the ridge but not directly on top of it; these are ''Makalbel'' and ''Ayendubiip''. Urapmin from the more northerly villages of Atemkit, Dimidubiip, and Ayendubiip are known as "bottom" Urapmin, while the others are known as "top" Urapmin.


Culture

As with other remote Papuan groups, the central elements of Urapmin life are subsistence agriculture, hunting, and Christianity.


Language

The native language of the Urapmin is known as the Urapmin or Urap language (Urap: ''urap weng''), a member of the Mountain Ok subfamily of the
Ok languages The Ok languages are a family of about a dozen related Trans–New Guinea languages spoken in a contiguous area of eastern Irian Jaya and western Papua New Guinea. The most numerous language is Ngalum, with some 20,000 speakers; the best known i ...
. Although Urap is linguistically intermediate between its geographic neighbors Telefol and Tifal, it is not a dialect of either. Multilingualism among the Urapmin has led many Telefolmin to believe that the Urapmin speak Telefol among themselves, but this is not the case. Although the Urapmin view the
Tifal language Tifal is an Ok language spoken in Papua New Guinea. Dialects are (1) Tifal (Tifalmin) and Urap (Urapmin) and (2) Atbal (Atbalmin). Geography The Tifal language is bounded by Papuan and Irian Jaya speakers to the south and west, the Telefomin ...
as being closer to Urap than the
Telefol language Telefol is a language spoken by the Telefol people in Papua New Guinea, notable for possessing a base-27 numeral system. History The Iligimin people also spoke Telefol, but they were defeated by the Telefol proper. Orthography Single and r ...
is, and an early account claimed that the Urapmin speak Tifal, more recent research indicates that they should not be considered the same language. Urap remains in vigorous use among the Urapmin, and is the main language that they use. One unusual feature of the Urapmin language is the use of
dyadic kinship term Dyadic kinship terms (abbreviated or ) are kinship terms in a few languages that express the relationship between individuals as they relate one to the other. In English, there are a few set phrases for such situations, such as "they are father and ...
s. These terms translate into English as reciprocal kinship or affinity relations such as "(pair of) brothers" or "father and child", and may sometimes even refer to a relations between three or more people. These terms can encode relative age, kinship or affinity, number of members, and gender. For example, a pair of siblings is ''alep'' (plural ''ningkil''), a pair of affines is ''kasamdim'' (plural ''amdimal''), a couple is ''agam'' (plural ''akmal''), a woman with a child is ''awat'' (plural ''aptil''), and a man with a child is ''alim'' (plural ''alimal'').Urapmin differs from Telefol in that it does not distinguish groups of siblings (''ningkil'') based on whether they are single or mixed sex groups. See . The plural forms are not marked for which generation is pluralized; thus ''alimal'' may either mean (a) one man and two children or (b) one man, one woman, and one child. These terms are used to address groups, but not single individuals, so for example a mother of two children would never to referred to or addressed using the term ''aptil'' (rather, one would use ''alamon'' 'mother'). However, a pastor could address his congregation — a collection of husbands and their wives and children — as ''sios alimal'' 'church alimal' or just ''alimal''. The
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 ...
language is also widely used by the Urapmin. One of the national
languages of Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, a sovereign state in Oceania, is the most linguistically diverse country in the world. According to Ethnologue, there are 839 living languages spoken in the country. In 2006, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare s ...
, Tok Pisin is an important
lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...
in rural areas. The Urapmin learn the language from older children and in school, becoming fluent around the age of twelve.The language of schooling is nominally
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
, and use of Tok Pisin is officially forbidden. However, in effect students become literate in Tok Pisin, while never getting close to becoming fluent in English. See .
Tok Pisin is regularly used in daily life, and has contributed many loan words to Urap. In particular, Tok Pisin is associated with modernity and Western institutions and is regularly used in contexts such as local governance and Christian services and discussions. Unlike some other peoples in Papua New Guinea, the Urapmin have not attempted to find native equivalents for Tok Pisin terms related to Christianity. The New Testament edition most used by the Urapmin is in Tok Pisin, the ''Nupela Testamen Ol Sam'' published by the Bible Society of Papua New Guinea.


Economic system

The Urapmin practice
slash-and-burn Slash-and-burn agriculture is a farming method that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. The downed vegeta ...
agriculture, and raise small numbers of pigs. The main source of sustenance for the Urapmin is
taro Taro () (''Colocasia esculenta)'' is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, and petioles. Taro corms are a food staple in Africa ...
(Urap: ''ima'') and
sweet potato The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the Convolvulus, bindweed or morning glory family (biology), family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a r ...
(Urap: ''wan''), grown in swidden gardens (Urap: ''lang'') in the bush. In fact the main word for "food" in Urap is formed by compounding these two nouns. These are supplemented by
banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...
,
pandanus ''Pandanus'' is a genus of monocots with some 750 accepted species. They are palm-like, dioecious trees and shrubs native to the Old World tropics and subtropics. The greatest number of species are found in Madagascar and Malaysia. Common names ...
,
sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalks t ...
, and various other
cultigen A cultigen () or cultivated plant is a plant that has been deliberately altered or selected by humans; it is the result of artificial selection. These plants, for the most part, have commercial value in horticulture, agriculture or forestry. Beca ...
s. The hunting of marsupials, wild pigs, and other game is greatly valued in Urapmin culture, but it does not contribute significantly to sustenance. Domestic pigs are raised in only small numbers and killed on special occasions. Tinned fish, rice, and frozen chicken must be brought in from Telefomin, the District Office, or Tabubil, and are considered by the Urapmin to be luxury goods. As with many other Papuan groups, the Urapmin consider the owner of an object or land to be the first person to create or work it. This is taken to the extent that every object in a household is considered to have an owner, and some households have even divided their shared gardens into individually owned plots. According to the traditional beliefs of the Urapmin, this fits into a general worldview where everything had an owner, either human or spirit.


Religion

The Urapmin stand out among "remote"
hunter-gatherer A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...
societies in how strongly they have rejected their traditional beliefs and practices (
Urap ''Urap'' (sometimes spelled ''urab'' or in its plural form ''urap-urap'') is a salad dish of steamed vegetables mixed with seasoned and spiced grated coconut for dressing. It is commonly found in Indonesian cuisine, more precisely Javanese cui ...
: ''alowal imi kukup'', literally "ways of the ancestors") and embraced those of
Protestant Christianity Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
. Unlike in other Papuan cultures, among the Urapmin there is no ongoing conflict between Christians (Tok Pisin: ''kristins'') and "heathens" (Tok Pisin: ''haidens''). Some rituals are still subjects of debate among the Urapmin as to whether they should still be practiced, in particular pig sacrifice and bridewealth exchange.


Traditional beliefs

According to traditional Urapmin belief, all beings which existed in the world before the creation of humans were spirits. Humans were created in a multiple birth of the cultural heroine Afek, emerging immediately after the first dog (Urap: ''kyam''). Afek gave the bush to the spirits right before birthing humans so that they would clear out the villages for the humans to dwell in. Since as such dogs are spirits, and as the Urapmin say the "older brother" of man, the Urapmin do not kill or eat them, unlike some neighboring tribes, nor do they let dogs breathe on their food (this contrasts with humans – the Urapmin previously had no
cannibalism Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, b ...
taboo, and they may share food with them ). In fact, the taboo on eating dogs is one of the few still widely observed. Afek was viewed both as the physical mother of all
Min peoples Min people may refer to: *Speakers of Min Chinese, a variety of Chinese originating in Fujian province *The people of Minyue, an ancient Baiyue kingdom in present-day Fujian from which Min Chinese gets its name *Mountain Ok people The Min peoples o ...
other than the Baktaman, and as the originator of all Min culture and religion. The Telefol, as the lastborn of Afek, were thus entrusted with the guardianship of her legacy (the Urapmin were at or at least quite close to the level of the Telefol in this hierarchy of religious knowledge). The Min peoples believed Afek to have left her primary relics in the cult house in the village of Telefolip (a contraction of ''Telefol abiip'' 'village of the Telefol'). Afek was believed to have married a serpent who formed the glade that only men could enter to reach Telefolip upon its death throes. Telefolip was never moved, and the buildings in Telefolip would constantly be rebuilt on the same locations. The traditional law of the Urapmin was characterized by many rules about religious behavior and an elaborate taboo system, focused especially on eating and land use, as well as regulating what could be touched and who could know what information. According to Urapmin tradition, Afek gave ownership of the wild (''sep'') to the ''motobil'' (nature spirits), who themselves gave ownership of the villages (''abiip'') to humans. Natural resources, including streams, large trees, hunting ground, and game were believed to be owned by the motobil, and humans could only use what they were given permission to respectfully. Violation of these rules was thought to cause illness. This system of taboos, known as ''awem'' in the Urapmin language, was well-developed and shaped everyday life. Those who became ill due to disrespecting the land or animals of the motobil would pray for the spirits to "unhand" them, or if this did not work they would sacrifice pigs in order to appease the spirits. Recently, the Urapmin required gold prospectors to sacrifice to these spirits before digging on their land, although this pre-emptive use of sacrifice is new to the Urapmin. ''Awem'' was abandoned in the late 1970s once the community had transitioned to Christianity, which was understood to be opposed to the practice of taboo. The Urapmin refer to the current period as "free time" (Tok Pisin: ''fri taim''), a liberating era where food and ground are freely available. However, while the Urapmin now believe that God rather than Afek created everything, they still believe in the existence of motobil, albeit as "bad spirits" (Urap: ''sinik mafak''). They now believe that Afek and the other mythical Urapmin characters arose after the generations of "Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and Abraham" and lied, claiming falsely that they had created everything and that breaking their taboos would induce illness. Since the Urapmin now believe that God gave creation to humans to use, they see taking the motobils' property to be a moral imperative. However, the Urapmin still believe in motobil-induced illness, and therefore they do occasionally sacrifice to the motobil, despite this being against Christian teachings. The Urapmin still abide by a traditional ethical code which requires mutual support (Urapmin: ''dangdagalin'') and forbidden social actions (Urapmin: ''awem'', but distinct from the other form of ''awem''), including adultery, anger, fighting, and theft. As in many other Melanesian societies, one who eats alone (Urapmin: ''feg inin'') is condemned, for a person should share his food with others (Urapmin: ''sigil''). Ethical breaches could be fixed by rituals such as "buying the anger" (Urapmin: ''aget atul sanin''), "buying the shame" (''fitom sanin''), and these are still practiced today. The Urapmin also used to ritually remove anger from the body in order to prevent disease, but this has now been replaced by prayer for God to remove one's anger. The Urapmin used to practice a type of male
initiation Initiation is a rite of passage marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components. In an extended sense, it can also signify a transformation ...
known in Urap as ''ban''. These elaborate rituals, for which the
Min peoples Min people may refer to: *Speakers of Min Chinese, a variety of Chinese originating in Fujian province *The people of Minyue, an ancient Baiyue kingdom in present-day Fujian from which Min Chinese gets its name *Mountain Ok people The Min peoples o ...
are famous, were a central part of Urapmin social life. The ''ban'' was a multistage process which involved beatings and manipulation of various objects. At each stage, the initiate was offered revelations of secret knowledge (Urap: ''weng awem''), but at the next stage these would be shown to be false (Urap: ''famoul''). These initiations have been abandoned with the adoption of Christianity, and the Urap have expressed relief at no longer having to administer the beatings which were involved.


Christianity

Due to the rise of Charismatic Christianity among the Urapmin, by the early 1990s, Urapmin Christianity was characterized by "healing, possession, constant prayer, confession, and frequent, lengthy church services." As elsewhere in Papua New Guinea, the form of Christianity among the Urapmin focuses especially on "millennial themes"—the return of Jesus and impending judgement. In particular, the central themes of Urapmin Christianity are the last days (
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 ...
: ''las de''), meaning the imminent return of Jesus to take his followers to heaven, and the need to live an ethical Christian life (Tok Pisin: ''Kristin laip'') in order to be one of those taken in the last days. Religious discourse often focuses on the need to control desires and obey the law of the Bible and the government in order to live a good Christian life. These themes were traditionally important to the Urapmin even before the advent of Christianity. Urapmin society recognizes an opposition between the character traits of willfulness ( Urapmin: ''futabemin'') and obeying the law (Urapmin: ''awem'') or the demands of others (Urapmin ''weng sankamin'', lit. "to hear speech"). Willfulness is defined as when one's will or desire (Urapmin: ''san'', Tok Pisin: ''laik'') causes one to ignore the demands of the law or other people. Both traits are considered important; for example, a woman is expected to choose her husband by exercising her own will, rather than caving to the pressure of her family or her suitors.The practice of following the woman's desire in marriage is known in Tok Pisin as ''laik bilong meri''. Among many other Papuan groups, and in particular among the neighboring
Telefomin Telefomin is a station town on the border of Sandaun and Western Provinces in Papua New Guinea. The town started during the Second World War after Mick Leahy was assigned to engineer an air-strip in 1944 for the United States for use against the ...
, ''laik bilong meri'' is a new practice associated with the colonial government. However, among Urapmin it is believed to be an old custom of theirs, as authenticated by the elaborate ritual surrounding it and in their oral genealogical records. See .
Many
Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from Indonesia's New Guinea in the west to Fiji in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Va ...
n societies recognize such an opposition; however, while in other societies balance between willfulness and respecting others' needs is achieved by community leaders or by dividing these traits between men and women, in Urapmin society each individual must balance these him or herself. However, the adoption of Christianity led to a vilification of willful behavior in general, since salvation could only be reached by following God's will; therefore, the focus of Urapmin culture became the suppression of desire. The Urapmin have replaced traditional rituals with new, Christian methods for removing sin (Tok Pisin: ''sin'', Urapmin ''yum'', lit. debt). The Urapmin have innovated an institution of
confession A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of persons – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information th ...
(Tok Pisin: ''autim sin''), which was not present in the
Baptist Church Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
which they belong to. Confessions are held at least once a month, and some Urapmin keep lists of sins in order not to forget to confess them. Pastors and other leaders regularly give haranguing lectures (Urapmin: ''weng kem'') about avoiding sin. Another sin-removal ritual that the Urapmin practice is a form of group possession known as the "spirit disco" (Tok Pisin: ''spirit disko''). Men and women gather in church buildings, dancing in circles and jumping up and down while women sing Christian songs; this is called "pulling the
oly Oly may refer to: * Oly, informal name for Olympia, Washington, United States * OLY (: ), postnominals granted to participants in the Olympics People with the name * Oly (born 1992), American singer-songwriter and musician * Oly Hicks (born 1968) ...
spirit" (Tok Pisin: ''pulim spirit'', Urap: ''Sinik dagamin''). The songs' melodies are borrowed from traditional women's songs sung at drum dances (Urap: ''wat dalamin''), and the lyrics are typically in Telefol or other
Mountain Ok languages The Ok languages are a family of about a dozen related Trans–New Guinea languages spoken in a contiguous area of eastern Irian Jaya and western Papua New Guinea. The most numerous language is Ngalum, with some 20,000 speakers; the best known i ...
. If successful, some dancers will "get the spirit" (Tok Pisin: ''kisim spirit''), flailing wildly and careening about the dance floor. After an hour or more, those possessed will collapse, the singing will end, and the spirit disco will end with a prayer and, if there is time, a Bible reading and sermon. The body is believed to normally be "heavy" (Urap: ''ilum'') with sin, and possession is the process of the Holy Spirit throwing the sins from one's body, making the person "light" (Urap: ''fong'') again. This is a completely new ritual for the Urapmin, who have no indigenous tradition of spirit-possession. The Urapmin practice frequent prayer (Tok Pisin: ''beten''), at least beginning and ending the day with prayer, and often praying a number of times throughout the day. Prayer may be both communal and individual, for such things as health, agriculture, hunting, relief from anger, bad omens in dreams, blessing meals, removal of sin, and just to offer praise to God. In addition to ritual speech during prayer, the Urapmin emphasize that a Christian life involves listening to "God's talk" (Urap: ''Gat ami weng''). The centrality of speech in modern Urapmin Christianity contrasts sharply with the mainly ritual-based traditional Urapmin culture, where sacred speech might even be blatantly false. The Urapmin have a
cliché A cliché ( or ) is an element of an artistic work, saying, or idea that has become overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, even to the point of being weird or irritating, especially when at some earlier time it was consi ...
that reflects this: "God is nothing but talk" (Urap: ''Gat ka weng katagup''; Tok Pisin: ''Gat em i tok tasol'').


Kinship

The Urapmin practice
endogamy Endogamy is the practice of marrying within a specific social group, religious denomination, caste, or ethnic group, rejecting those from others as unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relationships. Endogamy is common in many cultu ...
. Since the Urapmin community is quite small, numbering in the hundreds, and Urapmin do not marry first cousins, the result is that most Urapmin are related to each other relatively directly. The Urapmin are divided into kinship classes known as ''tanum miit'' (literally "man origin"). The five tanum miit currently in widespread use are the ''Awem Tem Kasel'', the ''Awalik'', the ''Atemkitmin'', the ''Amtanmin'', and the ''Kobrenmin''. There is also a ''Fetkiyakmin'' group which is dying out, and in the past there were other tanum miit which have already gone extinct. The tanum miit used to be related to specific ritual observances and secret mythologies. Supernatural powers were believed to be distributed among them; for example, one group controlled the wind and another the rain. Currently, they are viewed as the largest landholding units, and each village is thought to have a dominant tanum miit. Tanum miit are inherited
cognatic Cognatic kinship is a mode of descent calculated from an ancestor counted through any combination of male and female links, or a system of bilateral kinship where relations are traced through both a father and mother. Such relatives may be known ...
ly through both parents; so one person may be a member of four tanum miit at once just by considering his or her grandparents.Tanum miit do not play a role in marriage, so a person may inherit less tanum miit from his or her grandparent if they share tanum miit. See . Because of the close family connections between all of the Urapmin, any Urapmin can assert membership in every tanum miit and some can calculate how they have inherited them. The ''tanum miit'' thus do little to differentiate people in Urapmin society, and their membership is "fluid". However, the kamokim ('big men'), the more influential Urapmin, may treat these groups as more exclusive in order to organize others' actions.


Political system

The Urapmin have a group of leaders, known as ''kamokim'' (singular ''kamok'') in the Urapmin language and ''bikman'' in Tok Pisin. These leaders organize people into villages, help people pay bridewealth payments, speak at court cases, and organize work groups to carry out large-scale projects. The kamokim are held in high regard in all public spheres and are a common topic of conversation. The Urapmin make a division between the village (Urap: ''abiip'') and the bush (Urap: ''sep''). These domains are kept separate, and the Urapmin keep their villages free of plant matter. Villages are U-shaped with dirt-packed plazas, with no grass or weeds. Most Urapmin have at least one house in a village (Urap: ''am''). However, due to the importance of forest gardens for sustenance, the Urapmin spend much of their time in isolated bush houses (Urap: ''sep am''), built in elaborate fashion near gardens and hunting grounds. Villages are arranged by the kamokim, who coax people from ''sep am'' or from other villages. When the kamok dies, the village inhabitants disperse.


See also

*
Papuan people The indigenous peoples of West Papua in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, commonly called Papuans, are Melanesians. There is genetic evidence for two major historical lineages in New Guinea and neighboring islands: a first wave from the Malay Arc ...
*
Trans–New Guinea languages Trans–New Guinea (TNG) is an extensive family of Papuan languages spoken on the island of New Guinea and neighboring islands ‒ corresponding to the country Papua New Guinea as well as parts of Indonesia. Trans–New Guinea is the third-la ...
*
Joel Robbins Joel Robbins (born 1961) is an American Socio-Cultural anthropologist; he is at the University of Cambridge, where he is the Sigrid Rausing Professor of Social Anthropology and the Deputy Head of Division and REF Coordinator for Division of Socia ...


Notes


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * {{authority control Indigenous peoples of Melanesia Ethnic groups in Papua New Guinea Cannibalism in Oceania Min peoples