IDNO

T.133380.MST

Description

On Strathern's listing: Oi manga [menstrual hut] (and resident) at Kelua.

Place

Oceania Melanesia; Papua New Guinea; Western Highlands Province; around Kelua

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Photographer

Strathern, Marilyn (later Prof., Dame)

Collector / Expedition

Date

September 1967

Collection Name

Strathern Collection

Source

Strathern, Marilyn (Prof., Dame)

Format

Colour Transparency

Primary Documentation

Other Information

T.133369.MST - T.133403.MST were identified by Marilyn Strathern as Set 65.

Context: oi manga = menstrual hut/house (Melpa). [Strathern's Glossary word document, JD 4/26/2017]

Facebook Publication: Image published in 'Chimbu History', 17 July 2023, and captioned: "This is not a Chimbu photo, but it relates closely to an old Chimbu custom which has now all but disappeared. Oi manga [menstrual hut] at Kelua, Western Highlands, 1967, photo by Marilyn Strathern, Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. A menstrual hut is where a girl with her first period is isolated and various rituals are carried out by older women as part of her initiation into womanhood. Such ritual initiations were carried out throughout the Highlands. My wife (from Goglme) described the similar Chimbu ceremony known as Ambai Ingugl Pangwa - "If a girl starts her first menstruation she is consigned to a small hut with a friend - all symbolic. If she has been a good girl she is released early.
Two pots are placed outside the hut - one filled with water, one not. If she has been a good girl, she will be allowed to drink from the full pot. If not she will be offered the empty pot and will be returned to the hut thirsty.
The elders will ask her questions about whether she has been a good girl or not. On successful completion of the interrogation, she will jump out the door of the hut over some sugar cane sticks. Then, in front of a big fire, the elders will further interrogate her moving her close to the fire. If her answers are good (for example, 'Yes I helped my aunties in the garden. Yes, I gave water to father when he was thirsty'), she will be offered water and mumu food and moved away from the heat.
If not - she goes back into the hut and the process is repeated. It can take several months until she learns the right answers.
After this, the relatives make a big feast, tell stories and accept the girl as a young woman. Then everyone celebrates."
88 Likes; 1 Comments; 8 Shares. [https://www.facebook.com/groups/605342030138395, JD 25/07/2023]

MAA Exhibition: Image included in a slide show entitled, 'Women in Western Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Fieldwork photos by Marilyn Strathern 1964 1995' in Pacific Currents display, Maudslay Gallery, 2018. [JD 03/04/202]

A grant from the Wenner-Gren Foundation Historical Archives Program supported the documentation and preservation of the Strathern photographic collection. [JD 6/11/2017]