Mt Hagen Show 2012

Saturday, August 11, 2012
Mt Hagen, Western Highlands, Papua New Guinea
We went to the Hagen show the day after I arrived in PNG. This was a bit of culture shock as I had not really got my bearings yet. PNG is definitely different to downtown Brisbane.

We went in by mini bus even though it was only 600m from the hotel . Once we were there we went to a field nearby where the participants were all getting dressed up in costume and head dress. They were having a lot of fun.

After taking a few photos,we went inside the football ground where the show was to be held. On the way in there was quite a good handicrafts market and I bought Hudson a kid sized mudman and Nat a shell necklace.

Over the next few hours the entertainers from different tribes came in until the rugby oval was almost full. We wandered around taking photos with mostly Europeans and only a few Nationals. Most of the Nationals did not pay the fee to come in and stayed outside and watched the show through the fence. I believe that this was due to the price, rather than any other reason.

The show was fantastic with a large variety of costumes, mostly authentic but with some more modern materials as well. There was less variety than I remember from the family photos from the 1960's . It was also interesting that many of the ladies who were topless were embarrassed and covered themselves up. Many wore bras or traditional dress to cover themselves. The show was great with lots of color, smells, drumming and whistling and chanting and was exciting.

A French crew were filming three local girls who had dressed up in Lido costumes the day before and were now dancing with the tribes. It was all a bit commercial and interrupted the normal proceedings.

At the end of the show, we noticed that we were parked at the Mt Hagen Primary School, so we asked a cleaner to have a look at the classrooms which was interesting. We are very lucky in Australia.

We left when the show finished and drove home. Many tourists were going home via the road and markets. In hindsight, if it was not my first day in PNG, I would have walked through the markets and back to the hotel to soak up the atmosphere and excitement.

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