Introducing The Dani

The fertile Baliem Valley is about 75 km long by 15-30 km wide. The Valley is inhabited by tribes of Neolithic farmers, the Dani tribe. The Baliem River, which has its source in the Trikora Mountains, runs like a snake through the valley of riverbeds, ravines, jungles, villages

with round houses and stone walls and green cultivated fields. The river provides water for the Danis drainage and irrigation systems. Practicing pig raising and horticulture for thousands of year, the Danis are some of the most skilled gardeners. They are friendly and welcoming people.

Irian Jaya's Famous Highlanders

Since explorer Richard Archbold's first glimpse of this beautiful oasis of green, dotted with smoking huts and laced with tidy mounds of purple-green sweet potato vines, the Grand valley Dani have captivated writers, photographers and anthropologists who have had the good fortune to visit the highland of Irian Jaya. The Dani are most famous for their glorious battles, where hundreds of warriors, shining with the pig grease and determination,

faced off in a very dangerous "sport". But more important than warfare in their success-the Dani and Western Dani taken together are Irian's largest ethnic group by far-are the Dani skills at farming.

Although large-scale warfare has ended, the Dani retain a very strong sense of cultural identity. Despite missionary and government efforts to change the belief structure and lifestyle of the highlands-Christian doctrine instead of traditional beliefs based on ancestors and spirits, pants instead of penis gourds, concrete block houses instead of straw and wood honai-the majority of the Dani, particularly in the Grand Valley, have yet to be convinced that their ways are not those best suited to life in the Baliem Valley.

The First Whites Arrive

The Grand Valley went unnoticed during the early phases of Irian's explorations, but encounters between Dutch teams and the Dani had occurred six times, beginning with the 1909-1910 Lorenz expedition. J.H.G. Kremer crossed the Baliem River's headwater in 1921 en route to Mt. Willhelmina (Gunung Trikora), but missed the valley several kilometers. The sight and news of fair -skinned men begot a legend among the Dani people. Whites and Dani used to live together in the cave called Huwainmo.The whites, with clothes

and guns, emerged first, but went far away. The Dani left the cave later, wore penis gourds, and settled nearby. During World War II, Allied planes flew over the Baliem, looking for possible airfield sites. American pilot Major Myron J. Grimes American pilot first glimpsed the Baliem (he did not know about archbold), which he called "Hidden Valley". He noted the watchtowers and sweet potato mounds, which he later described as "laid out in checkerboard squares as perfectly formed as farmlands of the Snake Valley in Indaho".

As Hollandia grew, as the staging area for the Pacific was pleasure flights over the Baliem Valley became common activity for pilot and servicemen. Two war correspondents, George Lait and Harry Patterson, dubbed the valley "Shangri-La: after being flown over it in 1944, and the name stuck. In May 1945, one of these flights, with 24 people aboard, crashed in the valley. Sergeant Kenneth Decker, Lieutenant John McCollom, 20-year-old W.A.C Corporal Margaret Hastings survived the crash and an air patrol eventually spotted them near the wreck. Since there was as yet no way to land, a funeral service for the victim was conducted in an aircraft circling overhead, and Roman Catholic priest, a Rabbi and a Protestant minister read funerary rites over the radio. Supplies were dropped to the survivors, and paratroopers landed. They built a glider strip and 47 days after the crash, whisked everybody out in the gliders hooked back into the air by snatch plane.

Mandate from Heaven

The next white face seen by the Dani belonged to Lloyd Van Stone, a tall young Texan missionary from the U.S. - based Christian and missionary Alliance, who was dropped off by hydroplane on April 20, 1954. After the war ended, the CMA had begun vigorously pursuing its evangelical work in the highlands, claiming "a mandate from heaven to invade the Baliem". The first missions station, established at Hetegima, and were built to American standard using flow-in materials. In the words of one author, the station was "a transplant of American comfort in Cannibal Valley". It took seven months to build the first airstrip. Later, missionaries discovered an ideal site for a landing field next to what was become the Dutch government post of Wamena in 1958.

Evangelical work among the Dani proved slow going. One of the missionaries, with experience in other highland tribes, called them the "toughest nuts to crack". Among the many difficulties was the Dani's strong distaste for the white's body odor. When walking with the Dani, the missionaries were always asked to keep downwind. The Dani were a proud and confident group, and numerous petty insults by the missionaries, and more serious grievances-such as the two man killed by the Archbold expedition, for which the white "tribes" as a whole was held responsible-made converting them harder still. Linguist Myron Bromly arrived in the valley shortly after Van Stone. His work advanced slowly, but he eventually determined that the Baliem Dani could be divided into three dialect groups: north, central and south. While the central speakers could understand the two others, the north and south languages were mutually unintelligible. A high point of early evangelical work was reached on February 14, 1960. Thanks to sermons by "witness men" who were converted Christian from the Ilaga area of the highlands, a huge fetish burning took place a pyramid, at the northern end of the valley.

A pyre of fethises over 200 meters long, more then a meter wide and 60 centimeters high went up in a tremendous blaze. According to missionary account, 5,000 Dani participated in that particular burn-in. Many obstacles to the whole-hearted acceptance of Christianity remained. Some Dani groups saw the missions as a threat to their political power, Sunday services occasionally faced attacks. And another challenge to the America Protestants was the arrival in the valley in 1958 of Catholic missionaries of the Franciscan order, Ancestral beliefs remain strong among the Grand Valley Dani. Conversation to a poorly understood Christianity when it did take place was largely pro forma. The missions as well as the government schools and economic projects continue to be much more successful among the western Dani.

The Dani practice of polygamy, which is still widespread, illustrates the quandary religious leaders find themselves in. One Catholic missionary had no objection to this practice, saying that this way every woman, no matter how old or crippled, is part of a household. Dynamic, hard-working men, who can raise the $500 bride price, take extra brides. The Priest also says that, according to Catholic hospital birth records, girls outnumber boys three to two. Arguments against the practice state that many young men can't find spouses because the girls are "bought" by older men with plenty of pigs available for the bridge price. Since the men can't always sexually satisfy all their wives, this leads to extramarital relations. A man caught in an illicit affair, he has to pay a pig-fine to the woman's husband-who uses the animals to by still more wives.

Harvard-Peabody Expedition

Modern anthropological work in the valley began only in 1961, with the arrival of the Harvard-Peabody Expedition, including a film crew led by Robert Gardner, still photographers (among whom was Michael Clark Rockefeller), anthropologist, Carl G. Heider, and novelist-explorer Peter Matthiessen. The expedition spent half a year among the Kurelu Dani, named for the war chief of kain kurelu, who lived on the easternmost part of the valley, near Wuperainma and Dukum. The crew shot a beautiful documentary film of the Dani entitles Dead Birds, and produced a superb book of the photographs, Gardens of war. Matthiessen's account, under the mountain wall, is the poignant and informative blend of novel and ethnography.

Anthropologist Carl Heider stayed on after the rest of the expedition left, spending a total of 21 months completing research for what would become the Dugum Dani, his careful and well-written description of Grand Valley Dani. It was a culture "trembling the edge of change" he writes. At the time Harvard-Peabody expedition arrived, the only signs of outside influence among the Kurelu Dani a few stills in August of 1961, the Dutch colonial government "pacified" the southern Kurelu.

Ritual Warfare

The Dani of the valley are divided into some 30 clans (or sibs) organized into political units that header term "confederation". The Dani believe that men and birds one lived together in harmony, not realizing they were different. As result of this former relationship, each clan has developed an affinity with a particular species of birds, which are themselves considered clan members. Leadership, of a highly informal variety, was traditionally provided by so-called "Big Men" or kains-charismatic individuals who rose to a position of power trough strength and success in war, the pigs and shells they gave away, and the number of wives they could afford. Kains acquired their position through their skill in manipulating the economic system, but the emerged and faded with changing circumstances. The Dani's ritual warfare, well depicted in the film Dead Birds, was a far cry from our usual definition of war. Conflicts, according to Heider, were mostly over pigs and women, with land rights coming in a distant third. On a metaphysical level, warfare was waged to placate ghosts who lived nearby and who controlled death, human illness and pig diseases. Some ghosts were associated with geographical features, others were ancestors or tribesmen recently fallen in battle. These latter in particularly had to be quickly avenged or they would create great mischief. Thus in individual's woman or pig problem-usually theft-was reinforced by the need to stay on the good side of the local spirits. To win back their favor, kills had to be made in battle.

Once a confederation decided to wage war, it would seek support from its allies. These confederation-based alliances (of which there were six in the Baliem in 1961) were unstable and subject to kaleidoscopic shift in composition. Hostilities usually persisted for long periods, but were characterized by the sporadic fighting. A major battle every 10 to 20 years usually led to new alliances to be formed, with warfare continuing along new frontiers. Usually persisted for long periods, but were characterized by the sporadic fighting. A major battle every 10 to 20 years usually led to new alliances to be formed, with warfare continuing along new frontiers. Warfare consisted of formal battles in designated areas as well as surprise raids. Tall watchtowers, constructed of strong poles lashed together with vines, dotted the valley to guard against sneak attacks. Most encounters were bloody, but fatalities were rare. The sense of Victor and vanquished was at best ambiguous. A handful of wounded warriors was the typical result of a day's fighting.

To the Dani, " a day of war is dangerous and splendid " writes Peter Mattheissen. Formal battles had many of the elements of a pleasure outing. The man rubbed their hair and bones with pig grease and wore fancy headdresses of cuscus or tree kangaroo fur and feathers of all kinds, necklaces and bibs of cowrie shells or large, spoon-shaped mikak, pieces from baler shells. The weapons employed were long pears, measuring up to 4.5 meters, bows and arrows. Women watched from a safe distance, bringing food whenever the men wanted to take a break the fighting. Before the action started, insults were traded. These were often humorous, highlighting the opponent's sexual or other inadequacy. Clashes brought the enemy within arrow range, sometimes spear range. Actual fighting seldom lasted more then 10 or 15 minutes and the battle usually involved fewer than 200 men on each side, though many spectators were always present. Retreating groups were pursued only a short distance, as reinforcements would stand by. Some 10 to 20 of these clashes made up a full day's battle-which could always be postponed when it rained. (The warriors were very loath to spoil their fine feathers and furs).

Dani warfare emphasized competence and what Heider calls "exuberant exhibitionism". There was always the possibilities of being killed or wounded, but an alert warrior dodged incoming spears and arrows. Maximum arrow range was 90 meters, but to reach further that 10 or 20 meters the arrows had to be lobbed in a high arc. Except when launched from very short distances, the arrows wobbled and were easy to see. There was no firing of coordinated valleys. Heider characterized Dani battle as aggressive behavior without aggressive emotions. Antagonists were seldom mad at each other. They just wanted to show off. Friends carried the wounded that could not walk behind the line of battle, there to have the arrows painfully dug out of their flesh. The shaft of the arrows was weakened bout 10 centimeters back off in the victim.

Deaths usually came later from infection. When a battlefield death did occur, the body was carried back to the warrior's home compound amid much wailing. A kill touched off two days of dancing, not so much to celebrate the victory but to call forth the spirits. A kill also triggered a cycle of revenge. The enemy now plotted to even the score. If deaths could not be avenged in formal battle, sneak raids would be conducted, without the fun and glory. Children and women were fair sticks carried both a blunt point for wedding and sharp one for defense. Even after ritual warfare ceased under government pressure these secret raids continue to be used to even scores between feuding communities.

Spirits and Death Rites

Dani religion, like warfare, is based on spirit placation. These spirits are either associated with particular features of the landscape or ancestors. Staying on the good side of the spirits was crucial for survival and prosperity. All ceremonies and pig killings were directed a winning their favor. Sacred objects, called ganekhe, which included stones, can be manipulated to prevent the approach of spirits. Enclosures for ghosts, with bundles of grass representing the deceased, are located far from the villages. Funerals once were the most important Dani rite. They lasted several years, starting with a cremation to drive the ghost from living area. Elaborate rituals were held for important men those killed by the enemy. The ghosts of these men were especially powerful and dangerous. They could be induced to "pre-kill" an enemy, after which his actual death was then sure to occur in battle.

Sometimes the desiccated corpses of important Big Men were not cremated but kept for supernatural reasons. These are today's "mummies", the Dani show little interest in genealogy. Decent is patrilineal and includes generally unimportant when compared to wider kinship relations. One of the adjuncts to the cremation ceremony was the cutting off of a girl's fingers. Anesthetic was crude at best. The fingers (usually the outer two of the left hand) were tied off with string a half-hour before the ceremony, and just before the ax fell, the girls were slapped hard in the upper arm to kill the leaves. The fingers were left to dry, burned and the ashes were buried in a special place. In Heider's time, every female older than 10 had lost four to six fingers to impress the spirits. Although this is no longer practiced, one can still see many middle-aged or older women with missing finger. During funerals, Big Men distributed pigs and shell bands among their relatives, reinforcing ties.

Occasionally every four or five years-the most important man of an alliance would initiate the Ebe Akho. This alliance-wide bash was principally at the spirits of the deceased. Formal mass marriages, sometimes more than 200 at once, also took place at this time. The main event was huge pig killing and feasts. The more pigs, the more prestige for the Big Men.

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