Pictures and videos

Location and Climate

Eastern Highlands with Asaro

Indonesia's side of papua new guinea

In Asia on a island called large island  called Papua new Guinea, there lives a small and rural tribe called the Asaro Mudmen tribe. Their living place o is in the Daulo District of which the Capitol is Asaro. The LLG name for this area is Asaro-Watabung Rural. Goroka, the capitol of the province of which asaro is in, is the closest village to Asaro.

Climate:
The temperature in Asaro at it's maximum is 26°C and at it's lowest it it 24°C. Humidity varies from87% at 9 o'clock to 57% at 15 o'clock. Also during the day fog comes down from the mountains. 

Lifestyle

Traditional Housing
Traditional housing is built in a circular or rectangular shape and are weaved from pit canes or bamboo. the building is very low so that the inside kept warm  during the cold times. However the roof is very high so that smoke is kept away from the inhabitants. IN this communal and open-spaced arrangement , cooking and sleeping are both done though usually cooking can be done outside. Unfortunatley due to all the torism and ever growing cities, these traditional home have taken more modern appliences such as windows and such.

Cooking
the Asaro mudmen tribe cook using bamboo, pit open fires or in the ground oven style of cooking which is called "mumu".
Tending to livestock and vegetables are important parts of the Asaro tribe which are shown as a identify and sign of wealth. Also their crops and livestock can be given away as special occasion gifts, or payment.


Weddings
In the small village the Asaro Mudmen, the traditional wedding ceremonies are very different to most other people. Such as, the grooms family has to pay the bride-brice which in frugal terms is the groom paying to take the bride. These payments can be made with money, food, livestock and other gifts. Unfortunately now that the bride is off the family's hands, the bride's family now has the responsibility of taking care of the groom's family. Today, as many other parts of their culture have been, weddings have now also a wist of modernisation. Such as instead of a family wedding in the village they would go to a traditional church.

A traditional wedding

Mumu cooker

A traditional wedding between a foreigner and a PNG native

Another traditional house

A traditional house

Traditional cooking

Pit Canes

Introduction

The Asaro Mudmen Tribe are people that live just outside the village of Goroka in the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea.
A legend there tells that these "mudmen, were defeated by an enemy tribe and had no other choice than than to flee and escape into the Asaro River. Once it was dusk, the Asaro mudmen attempted and escape. The enemy however saw them rise up, covered in mud and thought that they were spirits. Thankfully mostly all tribes are fearful of these "spirits", including the enemy tribe who in turn fled, giving the Mudmen their easy conquer. Heading back into the village, still caked in mud the mudmen felt victorious although... The enemy had fled back to their village! At seeing the thought-to-be spirits, for a final time the enemy fled. For ceremonies now-days instead of covering their faces with the poisonous mud, the Asaro Mudmen make masks  with frightening faces to thank and honour the spirits.