Back in the Land of Smoking Mountains

Good to be back!! I even missed the volcano ......

although that sentiment may last only a day or two!!!!


BTW - Have a new photo on Through My Glass Eye

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We have been called back suddenly to Australia, and fly out this morning.
The "tyranny of distance" we feel as expats is no more intense as it is today.
I do not know when I will be back in PNG, but hopefully in a few weeks.
Jules

Singsing

Just on dark yesterday we heard a hell of a commotion outside the house. Looking out the window I saw a large group of people chanting with drums and following this figure down the road to the beach. I grabbed my camera and did another of my "mad dashes". I asked if I could take their photo and with much glee they arranged themselves around the masked man. They told me they were going to a singsing down the beach. I took a quick shot and then nothing ....my battery died. I was so annoyed. The group was calling out "Take more, take more..." and all I could do was mumble and stump on back up to the house.

The figure seems to be in the form of a dukduk but is not the real deal. Can you see what is sticking out the top of his mask?

This is what a dukduk looks like, courtesy of this site.

The Dukduk is a spirit, which assumes a visible and presumably tangible form, and makes its appearance at certain fixed times. Its arrival is invariably fixed for the day the new moon becomes visible. It is announced a month beforehand by the old men, and is always said to belong to one of them
It is a conical-shaped erection, about five feet high, made of very fine basket work, and gummed all over to give a surface on which the diabolical countenance is depicted. No arms or hands are visible, and the dress extends down to the knees. The old men, doubtless, are in the secret, but by the alarmed look on the faces of the others it is easy to see that they imagine that there is nothing human about these alarming visitors.

This information came from here where more fascinating details can be found.