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Cannibals
turn peacemakers on New Hanover
By PATRICK KARABUSPALAU KAIKU
In "Cannibalism: human aggression and
cultural form" (1976), anthropologist Eli Sagan surmised that for
"the cannibal who eats people outside his tribe, warfare and
cannibalism are inexorably connected".
This was the scenario on the island of New Hanover in the New
Ireland province during the pre-contact era. Inter-clan warfare,
instigated through intermittent ambush, raids, stalking or from
directly issued challenges was the means to procure human flesh
from dead corpses.
However, head-hunters and cannibals, or the vosaps as they were
interchangeably understood, the main instigators of warfare were a
disappearing species on New Hanover before the Germans took
control.
And much of this was attributed not only to pioneering
missionaries but to a greater extent on head-hunters and cannibals
themselves.
All over New Hanover, from Saula, Vaikeb and Meterankang in the
south to Kiting in the north-west, there are many accounts of
warriors disowning man-eating practices, head-hunting and
inter-clan warfare.
According to oral accounts, one Vosap (members of the warrior
class of ancient New Hanover) who inhabited a fort known as
Pativangang near Tiaputuk village by the name of Moingvalkirak of
the Valus clan was influential in brokering peace (fit-a-luai)
between the warring vosaps and clans of the surrounding in-land
settlements of present-day Neitalangus, Metevoe, Tiaputuk and
Meteran. He was never a perfect fighter-leader. The hill he
resided on, Pativangang was his dumping ground for the skulls of
his many victims, hence, the naming of that place Pativangang,
which could be translated as the "a place on human skulls".
In the vicinity of this site also are remains of great piles of
stones used by Moingvalkirak and his clansmen for mumus (stone
ovens) to roast his human victims.
A transitory resting place next to Pativangang used by the members
of Moingvalkirak's clan had a gigantic boulder called at firuka.
This boulder was used by the warriors to pile the carcasses of the
dead as they rested from their many duals on the beach of Falos
bay. Unfortunately, the construction of the New Hanover ring road
in the year 2000 saw heavy machineries disturb the boulder by
hauling it into a ditch off from its erstwhile elevated position.
After considerable killings, and a growing dislike for that
lifestyle, Moingvalkirak initiated a peace treaty by inviting
vosaps from surrounding forts into his rangama (men's house) for
initial consultations. He then allowed his fellow fighter-leaders
to go back to their peoples and organize for the ceremony. On the
appointed day of the peace treaty the warriors came with their
spears to plant upright in the ground, concluded with a genuine
feast over pork and taro. This symbolized the official ending of
killings and cannibalism in that area. For the first time, former
enemies were seen embracing each other. The area today where the
elaborate ceremony which ended with the exchanging of inangun (Lovongai
shell money), pigs, and piles of taro (kirim) was aptly named
Vain-tungan-ta-Luai; literally translated as "the place where the
peace was brokered".
On the north-western coast of New Hanover, in the village called
Kiting, there is also a legend of one vosap, who after seeing
unnecessary loss of life attempted to introduce peace to his
war-mongering contemporaries. Known by the name of Lakraipan, this
peace-maker on one history-defining occasion happened to witness
the preparation for war by two vosaps by the names of
Lapansinongpapalik and Tividong.
As oral history (pasa) records, before the actual fighting, he
covertly stationed himself between the two would-be warring
parties at Elemar, a known neutral ground for battles waged during
ancient times. This would-be peace-maker then incessantly sang
songs, as loudly as he could and was able to get the attention of
the two vosaps and their men. They subsequently joined Lakraipan
in his singing and forgot all about the fight. He concluded this
feat by throwing a feast and declaring his intentions for a
peaceful solution to the on-going conflicts on that part of the
island which was overwhelmingly endorsed by the warriors.
To this day, the peace-making feat of Lakraipan has been
commemorated through a series of songs and dances collectively
called lap, known to be performed during feast-making ceremonies.
On such occasions, the dancers sing the variants of the lap songs
and dance around the mumu (aparapara) from night to dawn.
According to an elder I consulted in Meteselen village, the tone
and movements of the lap are done so that the performers remember
the days of killings and the subsequent turn of events on the
plains of Elemar. These songs as tribute to Lakraipan involve
bodily movement imitating the agile warriors swaying to elude the
direction of projectiles on the battlefields as well as the happy
celebration of peace and order. It is a commemorative ritual that
is performed at most ceremonial feast and the songs that are
attributed to Lakraipan's peace-maker legacy are intoned.
 
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