A man performing as a Nokondi half man, Goroka area, Eastern Higlands Province, Papua New Guinea
Long ago, there was a ghost man. His name was Nokondi. This ghost lived with his nokondi ghost wife, and his nokondi childs. They lived in a boulder at the base of Mount Kefeya. This ghost man had a half body: half a head, half a nose, half a mouth, one ear, one eye, one leg and one arm. In the language of Kopera village, nokondi means "half body". In their boulder house, there were two rooms. One room was where the nokondi man slept. The other room was where the nokondi woman and child slept. The boulder was divided into two rooms, and in between them was a hole that was like a window. The nokondi woman and child cooked food in their room and gave it to the nokondi man. After he finished eating, he would give his plate of food back to them. The nokondi man never entered their room, and they never entered his room. The nokondi woman and child never went outside, they just lived inside. There was no door to exit their room, nor was there one to go into the nokondi man's room. Only the nokondi man had a door in his room. So, only he went outside. At night, the nokondi man often went out to hunt for food in the forest. Sometimes, the nokondi man came down to the village and cut the people's bananas. After he finished cutting, he would whistle on his way back to his stone house. When he came close to his house, he whistled loudly. The woman and child would hear this, and they would know that their food was coming. He would carry the bananas inside and give the bananas to them. They would take these and quickly cook them for a big meal. After they cooked the bananas, the nokondi man would sleep awkwardky in his bed. This is because he only had half of a body and carrying the bananas hurt him. If he had had a full good body, then he would have been able to carry heavy things. After they cooked the food, they would call for him to eat. He would eat and be satiated, the would go back and have a good sleep. This people still live in a boulder at the base of Mount Keseya.
Size: 4016px × 6016px
Location: Geremiaka Village, Goroka area, Eastern Higlands Province, Papua New Guinea
Photo credit: © Roberto Cornacchia / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: body, boy, clan, clans, commonwealth, communities, community, cultural, culturally, culture, customary, diverse, eastern, geremiaka, ghost, goroka, group, guinea, highlands, indigenous, land, languages, legend, man, men, minorities, mountain, mountainous, myth, nails, nokondi, oceania, oceanian, oral, painting, papua, papuan, people, performance, pisin, portrait, ruggy, show, tok, tribal
