Eastern Highlands Province - Lifestyle

Lifestyle

Eastern Highlanders are regarded as the friendliest people in the Highlands and have fewer tribal fights compared to other Highlands provinces. The villagers are hard-working people attending to their food gardens and livestock while the educated individuals find work in the cities or towns to earn a living. Intermarriage by Eastern Highlanders to people of other provinces and cultures is a common trend today. There are many people from all over the country and expatriates who have made this province their home either because of work or marriage.

Traditional housing is built in a circular or rectangular shape and the walls weaved from pit pit canes or bamboo. It is built low to keep the interior warm from the cold climate and the high thatched roof, keeps the smoke away from the inhabitants. Cooking and sleeping is done in this communal, open-spaced living arrangement. Traditional homes today use a touch of modern influence and style, with the inclusion of windows and moreover, rooms.

There are various ways in which traditional cooking is done, either by using bamboos, roasting sweet potatoes in the open fire or the ground oven style of cooking called "mumu". Vegetable gardening and tending to livestock is very important to the village people as this is their source of wealth and identity. Vegetables and livestock are given as contribution during funerals, marriages and other festivities.

At traditional wedding ceremonies, the groom's relatives give money, food and other gifts to the bride's relatives. This is commonly known as a "bride-price" and this is an act of buying the bride from her family, who now has responsibilities in looking after her husband's relatives. Today's weddings have a combination of both modern and traditional styles of marriage, a church wedding and payment of bride-price before or after the wedding.

As with any other transitional society, moving from traditional times to suddenly be competing in the 21st century, on the free market - the Eastern Highlands has witnessed its fair share of law and order problems. Most problems stem from the fact that the majority of the youth are not engaged in gainful employment or some other productive activity. Most problems relate to petty theft and pick-pocketing - visitors are therefore advised to leave all valuables in their hotel deposit safe And further carry minimal valuables on person whilst moving about. When traveling on PMV's or to unknown areas, all visitors should speak to officers at the nearest police station to obtain a current status report of their destination.

Tribal fighting in the region of Gimi has been going on since 1986, many of the clashes arising over claims of sorcery. In November 2008, it was reported that in Agibu and Amosa villages women had agreed that if they stopped producing males, allowing only female babies to survive, their tribe's stock of boys would go down and there would be no men in future to fight. They agreed to have all newborn male babies killed. It is not known how many male babies were killed by being smothered, but it had reportedly happened to all males over a 10-year period and probably was still happening.

Goroka has the J.K. McCarthy Museum that specialises in historical Highlands artifacts and information, The Raun Raun Theatre who are the national traditional performing arts troupe, National Sports Institute, the Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research, who research into health related diseases and experiment to find new vaccines for these diseases.