Religion Realm

I feel incredibly grateful to have Wamena on this adventure program's itinerary. I'm not an anthropology major, but my childhood love of Indiana Jones movies has made me determined to one day meet the tribes of the Amazon interior. The first people to inhabit the 60-kilometer-long Baliem Valley were the ancestors of the Dani people. The Dani are known for their openness, but their belief in their ancestors is a stubborn one. While trekking in Kurima, I encountered a group of Yali people. This tribe, who live at the peak of the Jayawijaya mountains, is indeed very closed to new civilizations. Seven minutes later, the torrential rain stopped, and the sky cleared. It's worth noting that the Yali have lived on their ancestral land, freely and peacefully, since God placed their ancestors there. Before the arrival of the Bible, the Yali people practiced animism, like most Papuans. The Dokwi vam is used as a museum for worship because they still adhere to animist beliefs, while th...

I felt incredibly grateful to have Wamena on this adventure program's itinerary. I'm not an anthropology major, but my childhood love of Indiana Jones movies made me determined to one day meet the tribes of the Amazon interior. While trekking in Kurima, I encountered a group of Yali people. The first inhabitants of the 60-kilometer Baliem Valley were the ancestors of the Dani people. The Dani are known as open-minded people, but their belief in their ancestors is very persistent. The Lani are indigenous to Ilaga, Puncak, Central Papua, and Lanny Jaya, Highland Papua. The names of these people vary: in Bokondini, they are woda and weja, although they are no longer strictly exogamous, while in Panaga, they are wenda and woja. Seven minutes later, the torrential rain stopped, and the sky cleared. The 1920 expedition by Van Overeem and Kremer successfully discovered the Swart Valley and the Lani people who lived there. Denise O'Brien's research in Kondaga from 1961 to 1963 ...