Trobriand Islands - Milne Bay Province

Trobriand Milamala

The Trobriand Islands are the fabled, “Islands of Love”, one of the few matrilineal societies left on earth where women own the land.

The Milamala Yam festival is usually held in the middle of each year, between June and August, depending on the harvesting of the yams. When it is held, the Milamala may culminate in a week or two of canoe racing, cricket matches, ribald dancing and of course yam harvesting. It is a celebration about the yams and a bountiful crop

Trobriand men carry yams from the garden to the village during the Milamala festival.

While carrying the yams they dance the Mweki, this is sometimes better known as the tapioca dance by people outsid the Trobriands.

 
Model Bwema / Yam house

The yams are neatly stacked in a pile before being loaded into the Yam House (Bwema).

The loading of the yams is called Dadodiga.

Read more -- http://www.sacred-texts.com/pac/baloma/bal04.htm

Traditional Motu Tattoos - Sagali

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