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<i>Honai</i>

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Honai are very important to us,

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the people of Wamena, especially 
in the Wamena valley.

4
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Because whenever we want to talk 
about anything, according to the 


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culture of Wamena, it has to be 
discussed in a honai.

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There are many types of honai.

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There's a honai for tribal celebrations 
and for war preparation, then there's

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also Hakonaila, Ebeaila, Oma, Oo, 
Siraila, Sawula.

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There is a variety of Honai.

10
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Outsiders consider them all the 
same, but that's incorrect.

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Two different kinds of honai

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are the adat honai to prepare 
for battle

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and a honai for all celebrations 
of the tribe.

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It is said that it is sacred

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because we didn't eat anything 
else a long time ago.

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We didn't eat tapioca.

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We ate humans.

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It was said that the honai was 
sacred because we ate humans.

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And because it's sacred, women lived 
in the Ewe Oma

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(the honai where women live)

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and men lived in the honai.

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If our plants are less fertile and 
produce a low yield

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we need to go to the honai and 
talk about how to fix it.

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<i>(conversation)</i>

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All the economic progress and 
development has made us

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less and less aware of our honai 
tradition.

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In the old days, our system of working 
together in this Baliem Valley


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was very strong.

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But now they give money instead 
of working together.

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That wasn't the case in the past, but 
people are too ready to give money now.

31
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I don't want to stay in a modern house.

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If we had an authentic honai with a 
grass roof, that'd be better.

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It's much better living in a honai than 
these modern houses.

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These modern houses, they are just like 
children’s toys for me.

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If the honai was damaged, I would rather 
build a new honai because

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I don’t like modern houses.

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Even if there was no wood or grass, I 
would ask my husband to tell his friends

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to build a honai together.

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It’s not good if there are no honai and 
only modern houses.

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If we have honai, it’s good. I don’t like 
modern houses because they

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look like toys to me.

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Honai are important to me.

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As the son of the chieftain, and as a 
practitioner of adat (indigenous ceremony)

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even though I live in a modern house, 
or I'm a local official

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I will still return to live in the village.

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From 1970 to 1990, the government 
implemented the "Healthy Houses" program

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which had limited uptake as it did not
fit with the communal way of living

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and the new design wasn't suitable 
for the cold climate of Papua.

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Recently, the government has adopted 
traditional and modern building methods

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for “Healthy Honai”

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allowing communities to maintain their 
way of living in addition to providing

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appropriate weather protection.