PAPUA NEW

GUINEAN
LITERATURE

Diverse
Papua New Guinea has
more languages than any other country,
with over 820 indigenous languages,
representing 12% of the world's total,
but most have fewer than 1,000
speakers.
Pre-Written Literature(Oral Literature)
Written Literature

Pre-written Literature
Myths And Legends
- Many myths deal with two fundamental
issues: where people came from and what
happens after death. Certain characters
such as snakes, monsters, and twinscan
be found in legends from numerous
islands.

Myth Of Mans Origins

Belief about man's origins were many and varied. Some myths say he came into
the world fully grown either from the sky or from underground or was released
from a tree. Other myths say he was created from clay or sand or that he was
carved from wood. These mythical beings who acted as creators were not the
sole creators, for each clan or sub-clan within the group had its own view. For
example, some Kiwaians believed that their "father" was the crocodile and a
modern account of the story had been written by Mea Idei from Boze near the
Binaturi River. He tells how a being called Ipila carved a human figure out of
wood and brought it to life by painting the face with sago milk. First the eyes
open, then the nostrils quivered and the "man" made a noise like a crocodile.
His name was Nugu but he was not satisfied until Ipila made three more men as
companions for him. These men refused to learn the things Ipila wanted to teach
them and turned their backs on him. After a while, two of them became tired of
only eating sago and started to kill animals for food. Almost at once, they turned
into half-crocodiles. Neither the animals nor Nugu and the other man wanted any
more to do with them so they tried to make some of their own kind. But they
found that they could only make men because Ipala sequently altered their work.
From these new men are descended the people who claim the crocodile as their
father. Ipala was so angry with his first creation, Nugu, that he condemned him
to hold the earth on his shoulders for ever. The narrator concludes that these
events explain why his people only know what they know - not why they are
alive, nor what is happening beyond their part of the world.

In some places these beings descended from the sky. The

Ayom people of Papua New Guinea, for example, say that
Tumbrenjak climbed down to earth on a rope to hunt and
fish. When he tried to return to the sky, he found the rope
cut. His wife threw down fruits and vegetables, including
cucumbers that became women. The offspring of
Tumbrenjak and these women became the ancestors of
different cultural groups

In other places, the first beings came from the sea or

emerged from underground. Among the Trobriand
islanders, the ancestors of each clan emerged from a
particular spot in a grove of trees, or from a piece of coral
or a rock. The Keraki of Papua New Guinea believe that
the first humans emerged from a tree, while others say
that they came from clay or sand, blood, or pieces of wood

The Kaluli creation myth is a traditional creation story of the Kaluli people
of Papua New Guinea. In the version as was recorded by anthropologist and
ethnographer Edward L. Shieffelin whose first contact with them took place in the
late 1960s. The story begins in a time the Kaluli call hena madaliaki, which
translates "when the land came into form." During the time of hena
madaliaki people covered the earth but there was nothing else: no trees or plants,
no animals, and no streams. With nothing to use for food or shelter, the people
became cold and hungry. Then one man among them (alternative accounts give
two) gathered everyone together and delegated different tasks. He directed one
group to become trees and they did. He directed another to become sago, yet
another to be fish, another banana and so forth until the world was brimming with
animals, food, streams, mountains and all other natural features. There were only
a few people left and they became the ancestors of present day human beings.
The Kaluli describe this story as "the time when everything al bano ane" which
means roughly "the time when everything divided". This concept of all world
phenomena as a result of a "splitting" has many echos in Kaluli thought and
cultural practices. In the Kaluli world view, all of existence is made from people
who differentiated into different forms. Animals, plants, streams and people are all
the same except in the form they have assumed following this great split. Death is
another splitting. The Kaluli have no concept of a transcendent, sacred domain
that is spiritual or in any fundamental way distinct from the natural, material world;
instead death is another event that divides beings through the acquisition of new
forms which are unrecognizable to the living.

The Kaluli are an indigenous people whose

first contact with contemporary western
civilization began in the 1940s. Following
extensive Christian missionary efforts in the
region, variants of the traditional creation story
have adopted a few Christian elements. Prior
to contact, the Kaluli story described creation
as a pragmatic solution to problems of cold
and hunger, and the efforts were initiated by
one or two ordinary and unnamed men rather
than any deity or deities. The Kaluli have
since tended to identify one or both of them as
"Godeyo" (God) and "Yesu" (Jesus Christ).

The Birth of the Sea

explain the creation of the sea, an important

feature in the lives of island peoples. A myth
from Dobu Island in New Guinea says that
when the sea was released, all the beautiful
women were swept to the Trobriand Islands
and the ugly women were carried inland on
Dobu. People in southern Vanuatu have a myth
in which a woman became angry with her son
because he disobeyed her. In her fury she
knocked down a wall that surrounded the water
of the sea. The water broke free, scattering
people and coconuts to other islands.

Afterlife

Among the Kiwai of Papua New Guinea, the land of the dead is known
as Adiri; in Vanuatu one of its names is Banoi. The god of the dead also
has various names; in parts of New Guinea he is called Tumudurere.

In Vanuatu people say that humans have two soulsone goes to an

afterlife while the other takes the form of an animal, plant, or object.
The route taken by souls to the land of the dead is often well defined.
The people of the Fiji Islands believe that this path is dangerous and
only the greatest warriors can complete the journey. In other places,
the success of the journey depends on whether the proper funeral rites
have been carried out.

Souls that go to the afterlife often visit the land of the living as ghosts
by taking on human or animal form. Ghosts sometimes help the living,
but they can also frighten them and interfere with certain activities.
Some places have special types of ghosts, such as beheaded men with
wounds that glow in the dark or the ghosts of unborn children.

Some deity and Mythic Heroes

and Characters

Abeguwo is a goddess of Melanesian

mythology in the area
of Melanesia and New Guinea. She
resides in the sky, and when she feels
the urge to urinate, does so onto the
Earth in the form of rain.

Papare is the lunar deity.

Afek is a mythic heroine in the religion of the Min peoples

living in the Sandaun Province of Papua New Guinea

Humans were believed created in a multiple birth of the

cultural heroine Afek, emerging immediately after the first
dog. 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 the "older brother" of

man), Urapmin do not kill or eat them (unlike some
neighboring tribes), nor do they let dogs breathe on their
food. (This contrasts with humansthe Urapmin
previously had no cannibalism taboo, but they can share
food with them.) In fact, the taboo on eating dogs is one of
the few still widely observed

Malara, in the mythology of the Orokolo*, of the south

coast of Papua New Guinea, is the god of the
planet Venus. The myths indicates that Malara was
looking for wives. He found the Eau and Havoa, the
daughters of the sun-god Maelare, and married them.

According to the Kiwai people of New Guinea, the

trickster Sido could change his skin like a snake. He
was killed by a powerful magician and then wandered
the world seducing women and children. After losing
his human wife, Sido transformed himself into a
gigantic pig. Finally, he split himself open so that the
pig's backbone and sides formed the house of death,
the place where people go when they die.

Another mythological figure of New Guinea is

Dudugera, known as the "leg child" because
he sprang from a cut in his mother's leg. The
people of his village mocked and bullied
Dudugera, who one day told his mother to
hide under a rock because he was going to
become the sun. Dudugera soared into the
sky and shot fire spears, which burned
vegetation and killed many living things. To
stop Dudugera from destroying everything, his
mother threw mud or lime juice at his face,
and it turned into clouds that hid the sun.

Written Literature

The emergence of written literature (as distinct from oral

literature) is comparatively recent in Papua New Guinea. It
was given its first major stimulus with the setting up
of creative writing courses by Ulli Beier at the University of
Papua New Guinea (established in 1966). Beier also
founded a Papua Pocket Poets series, as well as the literary
magazine Kovave, the first of its kind in the country. Some of
Papua New Guinea's first noted writers, including John
Kasaipwalova, Kumalau Tawali, Apisai Enos and Kama
Kerpi, were first published in Kovave.
In 1968, Albert Maori Kikis autobiography
Ten Thousand Years in a Lifetime was the first major work of
Papua New Guinean literature published outside a
magazine. In 1970, Vincent Eri published the first Papua
New Guinean novel, The Crocodile.

Kovave

Kovave is a ceremony to
initiate Papua New
Guinea boys into adult
society. It involves
dressing up in a conical
hat which has long
strands of leaves hanging
from the edge, down to
below the waist. The
name Kovave is also
used to describe the
head-dress.

Kovave Mask

There is a problem
FRANCIS NII

A-a yes, that afternoon

People waiting for the only transport, the urban PMV Bus.
Small, big, fat, thin, tall, short.
Mostly teenage boys and girls.
All in uniforms of one kind or another.
Blue, green, red, yellow
And the combination of orange and white,
Pen, pencils, rubber, rulers, bags, books held in hands.

Not very long and there it came.

A beautiful 25-seat Coaster.
Clean comfortable cushion seats.
Stylish, dusty bearded man at the wheel.
And next to him a man named Tarangu.
Of the drivers identity and nature.
Maybe from one mama or papa.
Who knows.

Tarangu counted everyone so as not to miss a toea.

The card-board said Gerehu.
And all the uniformed boys and girls rushed in.
Ge-e-ed-n-n Ge-e-e-ed roared the engine proudly.

The driver drove literally 60

Whistling the typical drivers tune:
The Highlands Highway tune
Of the Coffee Buyers.

Driver driver givim 60 way nambiriwa

Biriwona Biriwa Biriwona Biriwa
Driver driver givim 60 way nambiriwa
Ha-ha driver driver givim 60 way nambiriwa.

Hey! Stop driver, two red uniformed girls called.

Off they got at Waigani, the Roots bingo marketing centre
Twenty toea each to Tarangu
Ten toea more pilis, said Tarangu
Mipela students, said the girls.
You students? You tupelo meri!
You no look to me to belong students.
You look to me marit 20 years before.

My meri no school.
Stayin in the house. No like olsem you.
My meri no putim uniform.
Holim book in hand.
My meri pay 30 toea for bus repair and fuel.
You wastim time for marit
And karim pikinni
You mas pay me 10 toea more.

Oi, wire lose or lasi?

Mipela i no work for money. Mipela
students.
Sorry Tarangu, you keep insisting for 10
toea.
Mipela sing out long police.

Poor Tarangu, poor uniformed people

The food price is shooting high
Great sympathy for you.

Long Tom
LOUJAYA M KOUZA

A Morobean
Of stock and breed
He stood at 10 feet tall

And those he met

From day to day
Were made to feel so small

Long Tom
They called him
And rightly so
For when they lined men all in a row
Long Tom stood out
Like so and so

He was a farmer by trade and knew

Just where the peanut butter grew
And every lunch
When time to munch
Long Tom had Peanut Butter Crunch.

His wife
Marie was slim and small
Like Morobeans most arent
Her speciality
Was Sweet Cup Tea
Not Peanut Butter Crunch

So come on home
To Long Toms farm
For a drink or two and a yarn

The specialty
No doubt youll see
Is Peanut Butter on Sweet Cupt Tea.

Kiki: Ten Thousand Years in a

Lifetime

is the autobiography of Albert Maori Kiki,

the Papua New Guinea pathologist and
politician.
The book, first published in 1968,
describes the author's childhood as a
member of a semi-nomadic tribe, with
vivid descriptions of rituals and customs.
It recounts his first contact with western
civilization, his further education, and his
political awakening.
According to the preface, the book was
dictated onto a tape recorder, and was
later transcribed and edited by Ulli Beier.

Growing up in Papua
Orokolo
Initiation
Entering the White Man's World
Fiji
Fighting Years
The Buka Affair
Growing Tensions
Pangu Pati
Elections

The Crocodile

First published in 1970. Novel, set in Papua in the 1940s. Hoiri

Sevese knows he must avenge himself on the sorcerers who have
caused his wife to be eaten by a crocodile. He must also come to
terms with colonial rule, with himself and with the crocodile.

Published in 1970, The Crocodile was the first novel written by a New
Guinean. A simple, fast-paced, and surprisingly affecting story, it is
set in PNG in the colonial era during WWII. The book follows the life
of young Hoiri as he attempts to navigate the transition to adulthood
and understand the new world of the white man

True marriage enabled the two partners to stand upright as properly

formed human beings. Through the union, each partner acquired his
missing leg. For anyone who had the experience of using two legs,
life wasn't worth living if one had to manage on a single one.