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Honai
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Honai is 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 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 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: that's wrong.
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There are two different kinds of Honai. There's an 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's 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 (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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All the economic progress and development has made us 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 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 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 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 look like children's toys to me.
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The Honai is important to me.
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As the son of the chieftain and adat, and as a practitioner of adat (indigenous ceremony) itself
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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 and live in the village
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From 1970 to 1990, the government implemented "Healthy Houses" program,
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which had limited acceptance as it did not fit 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 for “Healthy Honai”
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allowing communities to maintain their way of living in addition to providing appropriate weather protection.
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