Festival puts colouful culture on stage

THE Pasin Tumbuna Festival was aimed at showcasing traditional knowledge and skills not often seen in Port Moresby.
Port Moresby Nature Park in partnership with Papua New Guinea Tourism and Promotion Authority hosted the third Pasin Tumbuna Festival in the city yesterday.
Manager Michelle McGeorge said that it was an opportunity for people living in the city to see and learn about the diverse traditional customs and ways that make Papua New Guinea colourful.
“Also in seeing how activities compare across the different regions,” she said.
“The idea of the Pasin Tumbuna Festival is to learn and have a go at cultural traditions that we just don’t see in modern Port Moresby.”
More than 2000 people attended, with 31 cultural groups participating.
It was an opportunity to learn and interact with the craftsmen and women from around the country.
One of the participants, Milka Cliff, 45, from Likum village, Manus, said the festival gave them the opportunity to revisit lifestyle from the past.
“Our ancestors have set the foundation for us. The baskets are our identity as people from Likum.
“With western influence, we turned that into commercialised items.
“In the past, the baskets were plainly made. Today, they have designs on and have dyes on.”
Cliff said that making and selling of the Manus baskets had increased because of the value they had.
The day’s activities included traditional food prepared in clay pots by the people of Markham, in Morobe, clay-pot making by the people from Boera, in Central, cassava cake (tamatama) from the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, traditional weaving techniques, traditional East Sepik wood carving, the famous bamboo band by Bougainvilleans, and garamut dancers from Manus.