The Singsing (part 1)

     The day before we left Songum was one of the best days there for me and that is saying a lot. This was the day that the village had a singsing for us. The first thing that you should know is that a singsing is an all day thing.

      Right after breakfast (7 am or so) people started showing up at Waspapa’s house. They brought all sorts of stuff with them (card board boxes, old batteries, paints, knives, feathers, and lots of other stuff). We would be performing a singsing that my Waspapa had made up called “Kating Daik”. It was all about the life of a particular sea bird that is called a Daik in tok pisin. This singsing required a special set of headdresses so we started working on them right away that morning. (people working on their headdresses)

Every one made one for themselves and some people made some for our family. The cardboard boxes became the wings for the head dresses. The old batteries were broken open and the acid inside was mixed with water to make a black paint. White paint was liberally applied to give the birds their color. Everyone brought their own special feathers on springs that they applied to their headdresses to make them distinct. One  chicken also gave his feathers for the headdresses and his meat for the meal that followed.(the chicken who gave it all for the singsing)

By late morning the headdresses were finished and we were moving on to other aspects of the sing sing that needed to be taken care of. Part two to follow soon!!!

matt

 

(silas trying on his headdress for size)