This Little Pig Didn't Make It to Market
This is not a video for those who dislike meat, or who love farm animals and would like us all to be vegans. Papua New Guineas that do not live near the water have a diet that is lacking in protein. Pigs are the meat of the choice and most families raise pigs for special occasions.
Opening a new home is a special occasion and it is important to "bless the house" before you take up long term residence. When we arrived at Bobiufa we purcahsed a pig and waited till our friends arrived the following weekend. We had a large group who were ready to help out and friends worked until midnight preparing the mumu and waiting for the arrival of our nephews, Tony and Danny from the US. Tony and Danny missed this part of the meal, but as you can hear from the "chatter" everyone is talking about the best way this task should be executed. Pig killing rituals vary and the Bena-Bena who live near Bobiufa had a method I had not seen before. They take a long piece of bamboo and try to get the pig to wrap himself around the tree to which one leg is tied. The pig is sizeable and not easily fooled and the handlers were given a lot of advice as to how to do this. If you recognize a word or two, the people are speaking Pidgin not Mesem or English. Pidgin is English based with German, Tolai, Portugese and some other languages mixed in.
This is not a video for the faint hearted, hence it has been moved from here but can be found on youtube!
The venue is our yard and the women are all standing on the veranda to ensure that we are not near the pig should he break free!<
