Antoni Judit: „Ablakok Pápua Új-Guineára" (Távoli világok emberközelben II. Gödöllői Városi Múzeum, 2008)

peoples most strongly represented by the collection are the Mendi and the Huli (Tari). However variegated the islanders' culture, they share some fundamental common features. The population has, until recently, lived primarily in villages, and maintained a self-sustaining economy. Along the coasts, people traditionally obtain protein by fishing, while in the inner parts and most of the Highlands, pig-farming meets this need. Yam, sweet potato and sago are grown in every area, and all the edible plant and animal species provided by the natural environment are gathered. Village life is determined by the belief in spirits spirits of the dead, of ancestors, of animals and of natural phenomena. This belief manifests itself in the course of different rituals and the calling of spirits is performed during rituals to initiate the young, to validate marriages and to exchange gifts. These rituals enhance fertility and increase the social standing of the participants, and the funerals give due respect both to the spirits of the deceased and to the ancestors. The rituals, including all the details of the ceremony, the dramatic plays and the dances, are characterized by a detailed elaboration and by a protocol of performance corresponding to traditions. This ensures that the desired objectives are attained. Such rituals generally take place in the main square of the village and in special buildings. In these buildings, the roof is often supported by carved columns, and the walls are decorated on the outside. The ancestors' carved statues. the instruments, and all the accessories of the rituals are kept in these special buildings. The population of each village is traditionally an independent unit functioning in an autonomous way, with no institutionalized political organisation above the village level. In the past, there was hardly any contact between villages apart from the traditional commercial exchanges: this relative isolation further increased already-existing cultural differences. Men and women generally have different tasks. Men go hunting, build houses, boats and bridges and perform work like felling trees, preparation of boards and fences, and the making of stone and bone tools. In addition, the community leaders will also be elected from their ranks. Women create the home, the background to all this. As well as being responsible for childrearing and the household, they cultivate the gardens, which includes planting and harvesting as well as the collection of edible plants, fruits and animals. They are more proficient in a number of crafts: they typically make nets, aprons, looped string bags (bilums) and baskets, while clay pots are sometimes manufactured by men, sometimes by women and sometimes by both together. Women have no direct influence in the affairs of the village, but they very often advise on decision-making from behind the scenes. The settlements are adapted to the local environment: villages must be defensible, and the nature of the terrain always has a bearing on architecture. In the marshy, wet, and at times flooded lands of the Sepik region, buildings are generally supported by stilts, whereas in the mountain region it is possible to build straight upon the ground. The middle reaches of the Sepik is the region of New Guinea most renowned world-wide for its arts: almost every village has its individal style. Their public houses for rituals („haus tambaran"), built in the centre of villages, are of enormous size, and very often symbolize a clan. Apart from being scenes of celebrations and the place where men usually discuss their affairs, recently some of them have been rebuilt as exhibition places for articles intended for sale to tourists. In the areas where traditions are still kept alive, only the initiated may enter the spirithouse, and their behaviour is governed by taboos. Only they can see the sacred objects, masks and instruments kept upstairs in the two-storey building. Downstairs, in the middle of the floor, stands the garamut (slit drum), and the „throne" used during councils, believed to be the abode of the ancestor spirit. It is never used for sitting on, but rather as a means to maintain contact with the spirits. There is a network of traditional commercial relations among the neighbouring villages and neighbouring peoples that has long worked efficiently. Unlike the Austronese, who are among the best seafaring peoples of the world, the Papua are a land-locked people: they have never been interested in navigation, and do not have a ship-building tradition. Nevertheless, those living along the Sepik spend most of their lives afloat. The rivers, lakes and bogs, by far less harsh than the sea, are both sources of food and traffic routes. The Papua's bigger canoes and dugouts, carved from a single log, are used for the transportation of people and commercial goods. Carved canoe prows generally represent a local totem ancestor - often a crocodile -which protects them from danger. The river plays a less important role in the upper reaches of the region, which border the mountains. The local culture has been exposed to outside influences to 133