A tropical concert

Another dark, cold, uninviting day. A day to head off to somewhere warmer, somewhere like New Guinea.

This is a stopper for a sacred flute and was probably collected on the Sepik River in the early 1900s. She has seen better days; once she was richly decorated with cassowary feathers, but only one survives.

Sacred flutes are up to 6 feet in length and are clan property and are kept in the men's cult house. They are invariably made of bamboo and are side blown. Each with a different but complimentary note, they are played in pairs, sometimes several pairs at once, producing a continuous melody. The sounds are believed to be the voices of certain spirits whose names are given to the flutes. When not in use the flutes are plugged with wooden stoppers carved in the form of animals, birds or humans representing clan totems or ancestors.

You can see and hear small flutes being played in the Goroka Highlands in this short video. For a much greater spectacle, with large flutes, watch the ceremony from Arontai Village in the Crater Mountains of Papua New Guinea.