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Yams are the most important crop in the Trobriand islands
In fact, they are a symbol of wealth, both personal and of the clan.
Every man must build a yam house for each one of his wives.
This is where the tubers are stored after the harvest.
They are constructions which can quickly be taken down then rebuilt,
and protect the yams from the humidity during the rainy season.
Between June and July the harvest rites take place.
The largest yams are put on display before being stored.
No one can begin harvesting until the crop of the Paramon Chif has been gathered in.
This is when the most important ritual celebrations on these islands are held.
Each family has to give part of their crop to the Paramon Chif.
This is a tax, which varies from year to year,
depending on the results of the harvest.
While they are storing the yams, the families ask the magic man to carry out a small ceremony,
so the yams will be under the protection of the spirits,
who will make sure they do not rot.
The yam houses are administered by the brothers-in-law of the owners,
or by someone from the woman's clan,
further evidence of the matrilineal nature of this society.
The houses of the Paramon Chif are richly decorated with wood carvings which symbolise his power.
The importance of these carvings is such that those who make them, occupy a very high position in society.
Magic occupies a central position in the lives of these people.
No one does anything without first consulting the witch doctors,
who will prescribe, according to the case, the actions and ceremonies
that will have to be performed in order to ensure success.
Illness and misfortune have their origins in magic,
either because you have offended a spirit, or because someone else has cast a spell against you.
When they are ill, or when they believe they are the victims of a spell because things are going badly,
they turn to the magic men to cure them or solve their problems.
The world of the dead is just as real as that of the living.
It exists at the same time, but in a parallel, hermetic sphere,
only accessible through the rituals and knowledge of magic of the witch doctors and medicine men.
As in all animist societies, nothing happens by chance.
Everything, good and bad, is the result of the intervention of beings from the other world.
On the island of Kiriwina we attend a purifying ceremony.
The participants, under the protection of the medicine man,
invoke their ancestors to fight and drive out the evil spirits which have caused a bad harvest.
When the medicine man senses that the protective spirits have arrived,
he orders the participants to move away,
to the edge of the forest, to exorcise the evil they have inside them.
Then, they receive his blessing, which will protect them form malign influences.
In the dead of night, on the island of New Britain,
the Tumbuan mask dances to the beat of the canes.
They invoke it to ask it to intervene between men and the gods.
It is a messenger spirit who brings and takes communications from the other world.
Each village has its own masks.
The initiated gather together in the forest with the carver and tell him what the mask should look like,
and how it should be decorated.
Then, they have to bless it, through a complicated liturgical process
which lasts for around three months.
During this time, only those in authority can see it.
When it is completed, one night without warning,
the mask suddenly appears in the village
for the women and the non-initiated it was created by the spirit of the forest itself.
Pigs are very important in Papua.
They are a symbol of wealth.
The more pigs a family has, the higher their social level.
There is no celebration at which pigs are not sacrificed.
Among the majority of the island peoples,
the dowry consists of a certain number of pigs.
They are also used as compensation for any possible wrong a clan may have committed against another.