Visitors catch a glimpse of mask festival
The National, Tuesday July 22nd, 2014
ABOUT 200 tourists flocked into East New Britain last week to watch the National Mask Festival.
The visitors came from countries Switzerland, Malaysia, Germany and other parts of Europe.
Dr Iris Wiltraud, 73, from Germany, was among those to visit PNG and ENB for the first time.
Wiltraud, who has a doctorate in the history of Latin/American Art Archaeology, said Germany was interested to learn about PNG’s culture. She said she read about PNG in books and wanted to see for herself. She took many pictures of the mask performances during the festival.
“Just from the pictures, it was very interesting. The Tolai Kinavai was very impressive for me as the Tumbuans started dancing far away out on the sea for at least an hour and I was amazed at the energy they had to dance,” she said.
She was excited to see the different performances.