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Honai
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Honai are very important to us,
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the people of Wamena, especially
in the Wamena valley.
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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.
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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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(conversation)
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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.
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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.
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