The festival of feathers

You would have walked past Soge Dilambe on the streets of Madang and not taken a second glance at him. Barefooted and slender built, he blends in with the crowd as he moves around with his small backpack doing business for his Dugu Ruts Resources Cooperative Society.
It is only when you ask him about his business that you realize how passionate and determined this Umboldi villager is about what he is doing. His eyes light up as he tells you about his projects which include the Rai Coast Kangal festival, the cultural museum and the new orchid farm he is building in his area.
Like many Papua New Guineans today, Soge and his people are reviving and practicing aspects of their traditional cultures in the hope of preserving them.
Having a visible ‘traditional’ culture is important in PNG, especially when ethnic groups want to maintain their history and identity in a nation of diversity. There are obvious economic benefits to be gained by this. However, many people also have noble intentions. They realize the importance of the values and wisdom that had been part of their cultures for thousands of years which had ensured the survival of their people. These cultural practices of old were important and helped to maintain social order, ensured sufficient food production, protected the environment and resources that supported their livelihood, and protected the people from external threats.
Umboldi is one of the areas along the coast of Rai Coast in Madang that has lost much of its traditional cultural practices. However, efforts are being made today by Soge and his people to revive some of the practices associated with the initiation ceremonies.
As the director of the three-year-old Rai Coast Kangal Festival, he is rallying his people and motivating them to revive the rich cultural practices that have almost died out. Kangal is the word for feather in many of Madang’s 164 languages and can also refer to a headdress made of feathers.
“My culture is dying away and I had to do something,” he said in an interview recently. He blames the Pentecostal churches who he says are responsible for banning the cultural practices and destroying the artifacts. He says the Lutherans and the Catholics who came earlier were more tolerant and did not indiscriminately ban all their cultural practices. The early churches had recognized the value in keeping the cultural practices in order to maintain social order in the society that was being destabilized by western influences.
He says that the Kangal ceremonies were related to the initiation of the youth in his area.
“While the coastal villages practiced circumcision in their initiation, we who lived in the inland areas initiated the youths and gave them the emblem of their clans”.
He says the kangal which have several emblems are part of the initiation and before the initiates exited from their ceremonial huts, their hair is groomed so that they can wear the kangals and dance.
He says unfortunately the practice has died out and the festival is trying to revive it.
The Kangal Festival is also part of a bigger project which involves the conservation of the forest areas under the Environment and Conservation Act. With the continuing destruction of forests in parts of Madang, the Umboldi people want to protect their natural environment and control the clearing of forests for subsistence and commercial farming.
He explains that there are generally three types of Kangal dances, one for the day and two for the night time. The singsing during the day is also associated with the practice of piercing of the nose and its kangals are shorter. The feathers are fixed to a comb which is thrust into the dancer’s hair. The style of song and dance is also different.
At midnight, the people dance the kongkap and the dancers paint their legs black. This is the moment when the magnificent kangal which is intricately woven into a circular shape with radiating colours of red, black and white is displayed. The large kangal is usually fixed to a pole that is carried on the back of the dancer. Only special people wear the kangal and have to prepare themselves by observing certain taboos.
The dances are also performed to celebrate new harvest from gardens and modern festive occasions such as Christmas. Those organizing the ceremonies must kill a pig for the dancers and visitors as is the custom.
He said the initiation ceremony in his area is for both boys and girls who are taught by their elders the cultural norms and values and practices of marriage and community life. He said one of the main values that have been taught traditionally is humility which he said was sadly missing today in young people.
The Kangal festival was officially launched in 2008 by the director of the National Cultural Council Dr Jacob Simet.
Last year, Madang Governor Sir Arnold Amet and his party visited the festival. Sir Arnold commended the people for their initiative and supported the festival with a contribution of K10, 000.
The festival was also attended by a tourist family all the way from Iceland who arrived in their yacht in Port Moresby and flew over to Madang. Soge said the family members were overwhelmed with the experience observing both the day and night dances.
Other local tourists from Madang town also attended after a two hour boat ride to the village.
The latest development in the Dugu Ruts project is an orchid farm. The native orchids of the area are being cultivated on a farm and will be part of the attraction for visitors in a few years time.
Again Soge’s eyes light up as he says that they are growing a specimen of orchid which the local people believe ‘sings’ in the forest. He hopes visitors can come from all over the world to view these jewels of the forest.
A cultural museum has also been built which today houses cultural artifacts such as the bird of paradise head dresses, the unique giant kundu drums made in the area that use wallaby skins and other rare artifacts.
The next Kangal Festival is scheduled to be held in May this year and those wishing to attend can contact the Madang Visitors and Cultural Bureau for more information.