PNG showcase
All set for the Goroka Show
Papua New Guinea’s longestrunning annual cultural festival, the Goroka Show, now in its 61st year, takes place in all its technicolour glory in Goroka in the Eastern Highlands on the weekend of September 15–17. Dubbed the most colourful show on earth, it is one of the key events of PNG’s Independence Day celebrations.
Started in the 1950s as a means of gathering together different tribes and clans, today it has evolved into one of the country’s major tourist attractions. The show attracts spectators from all over PNG, as well as hundreds of international travellers. More than 100 tribes perform extraordinary
sing-sings, traditional songs and dances in spectacular tribal regalia, to the beat of distinctive kundu drums. In a country renowned for its brightly coloured birds and butterflies, there is no surprise that this festival is so creative and flamboyant.
The three-day event starts with the Pikinini Festival, which focuses on educating children about their cultural heritage. Some of the cutest kids on the planet showcase their dance moves with painted faces and traditional dress.
This is followed by two days of performances by a wide diversity of tribal groups showing off their vibrant cultural costumes, many with brightly coloured feathers and striking face paint.
Some of the most distinctive groups include the Simbai Beetle Dancers whose headdresses are made of hundreds of tiny green beetles
assembled to form the shape of giant beetles on the wearers’ heads. The Huli Wigmen sport wigs, which take fellow tribesmen 18 months to grow, dotted with feathers and shells. Their faces are painted red and butter yellow and each has a cassowary feather through the nose. Their grass skirts are adorned with belts of dangling pig tails.
The Mudmen from the Asaro Valley wear distinctive masks made from a cream clay baked in the sun. Their bodies are also painted with clay and they creep around with bows and arrows.
The Oro Butterfly Dancers (from the southeast coast where the world’s largest butterfly, the Queen Alexandra’s birdwing butterfly, is found) are renowned for their tapa cloth and tattoos, while the Whip dancers from New Britain feature heavily painted, coiffed young men who are whipped as part of an initiation ceremony.
Popular events for local show goers include flower displays, a greasy pig competition where people line up to try and catch a grease-covered pig (the winner gets the pig), target shooting, wood chopping, pony rides, magicians, pillow fights and fireworks.
A wide range of art and craft is on sale, including hand-woven bilums (baskets), masks, bows and arrows, kina shell necklaces, beads and much more.
There is also a tantalising array of local foods including kaukau (sweet potato), lamb flaps,
bambu (meat and greens cooked inside a tube of bamboo over a fire) and wan maus, Pidgin for ‘want more’, which in this case means bite-size mouthfuls of meat wrapped in greens.