Papua New Guinea barely has 7 million inhabitants, however, it is one of the territories with the greatest cultural diversity. Only in that region located on an island in Oceania north of Australia, at least 312 indigenous peoples coexist; the greatest expression of multiculturalism that exists in the world, perhaps on par with the traditional peoples of the Amazon. Each of the peoples that live in this region of the world have their very well-marked traditions, one of which has drawn the most attention of anthropologists is that of the Simbu dancing skeletons.
Cultural wealth in Papua New Guinea
The Simbu or Chimbu tribe has won over the world because its customs completely escape modernist life. They are used to living in the most inaccessible areas for most people, at an altitude of between 1,400 and 2,600 meters in the Papuan mountains located in the region that gave them their name (Simbu). It is known that they speak mainly Kuman, which is one of the more than 800 languages spoken in that Oceanian nation.
Previously this area of Papua New Guinea was highly populated by other traditional peoples. Therefore, the battle for natural resources used to be present in the lives of those who, to guarantee their survival, developed their own methods of struggle. The Simbu, like many other indigenous people in the world, found methods to psychologically terrorize their opponents and, in that sense, keep themselves safe.
Using only the resources that Mother Earth provides them, they paint their bodies black and white to simulate a skeleton. They make the strokes almost perfectly and full body so that they look like living skulls. And although very little is known about the Simbu, it is known that they used this tactic to make other surrounding towns believe that they were supernatural phenomena. In addition to painting themselves, they also did a kind of dance that later became sacred to them, and in this way they managed to avoid fighting and keep their territory safe.
From defense mechanism to cultural identity
Today the Simbu mountains are no longer scenes of war between peoples who, in some cases, have achieved interculturality. That is why the simbu no longer paint themselves as skeletons in order to scare away all those invaders. But over the years, beyond the protection that this custom gave them, it gradually became part of their cultural construction and, therefore, of their very identity.
Thanks to this, the Simbu today continue this tradition. They continue to paint themselves as skeletons and practice their sacred dance in front of other villages in an event called Sing Sing, where nearby clans gather to celebrate their sacred customs and rituals.
Knowing traditions like that of the Simbu is essential to keep multiculturalism alive. It is necessary to open the panorama to learn more about the necessary coexistence of different beliefs on the same planet. The true richness of the human being is found in difference and otherness. By understanding it, interculturality will emerge.