Hiri Moale Festival in Papua New Guinea.

Waiting for the trading ship to return from its long journey. Each dancer has a unique object from their village.

14 responses to “Welcoming Party”

  1. I love the decorations on the women’s skin. Are they painted on?

    Great pictures, thanks for sharing them!

  2. Oh… spooky! A welcoming party. The only difference is that I am listening to "Papua New Guinea". Nothing´s perfect, but isn´t it a Cool World? |-)

  3. Was your trip to Papua New Guinea related to this story , by chance? They say the natives believe their soul is captured by photography. In this case, I think you just captured their blouses!

  4. Nell: Formerly, the women accumulated tattoos during each long sea voyage of their loved ones, until their whole bodies were covered. In today’s ceremonies, they use black pens.

    Alieness: Yeah! That is my favorite FSOL song.

    Rocketeer: you crack me up.

  5. Thanks, Steve!

    Heh Rocketeer. I was gonna comment "Nice set!", but didn’t want to be misunderstood 😉

  6. This is such an awesome capture!

  7. thanks y’all.

    I am reading Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs and Steel. His motivation for researching the fate of societies came from the time he spent in Papua New Guinea.

    He also has a number of interesting observations about the place, e.g.: "of the modern world’s 6000 languages, 1000 are confined to New Guinea."

  8. now thatz a welcum party!

    @ Alien Gi Yeaaah Future Sound of London is da bOmb!

  9. black pens? omg. I could go on endlessly but won’t (please tell me you jest or at least they are permanent markers). lol

  10. oh, I used to have a couple of washable markers for when I went clubbing. They were Staedtler. Let me see…

    No no… Edding! =)

  11. nice shot!
    from scientist photographers theme contest.
    do u mind spending sometime to cast your vote for the selection 🙂

  12. Tourism — the ideal industry for culturally rich societies!! This lovely image is invited to "FIRST – THE EARTH!" Photo-ART Competition, CAT. #11 – TRADITIONAL CRAFTS & DEVELOPING NATIONS INDUSTRIES’, via link – http://www.flickr.com/groups/348618@N21/discuss/72157600036071990/ . For details and a glimpse [& do send me this in 75×75 html], of the ‘Invite Only’ Competition Group see EXHIBITION page – http://www.flickr.com/people/melcir-selfportraits-2006/ . – Mel

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