The Singsing (part 2)

 

(Bilas made from fresh flowers)

    Kaikai (food) and  bilas (decorations) are the two biggest things that have to be prepared for a singsing. The headdress is just the tip of the iceberg as far as decorations go but I will touch a little more on bilas at a later time. right now I want to talk about food.

    It is essential that there is an abundance of food for everyone  that has come to the singsing. And since singsings are very popular events lots of food has to be prepared. As I have said in past posts abus (meat) is a very prized food. So it is essential that you provide abus to your guests. Our waspapa provided two different kinds of meat at our singsing: kakaruk (chicken) and meme (goat). The goat belonged to our waspapa and was one of two goats in the whole area. So it was a particularly nice meal.

(Silas and Isaac helping clean the goat)

In addition to the great meat we also had heaps and heaps of of garden vegetables. A group of women, headed up by Tiffany’s friend Beti, set out a piece of plastic in the clear spot in front of our house and other women brought giant bags of kaukau (sweet potatoes), taro, corn, pitpit, kumu, bananas and other things and poured them out on the plastic. This mound of food was probably 5 feet across and 2 feet tall. The women made quick work of the pile and it was all peeled and put into giant pots in less than an hour. The women made several fires around the houses and began to cook all of this food. In addition to this food, people who came to watch the singsing also brought pots of food to contribute. I guess it goes without saying but Papua New Guineans can eat an incredible amount of food.

Next time bilas !!!

 

matt