Ngaing

The Ngaing are an indigenous people in Papua New Guinea with around 2000 members (as of 2000). The Ngaing settle on the southeastern foothills of the Finisterre Mountains in the provinces of Madang and Morobe . In the south-east of the island they mainly settle between the Nankina and Mot rivers and thus partly in the rugged mountains that flatten towards the coast. Their language is also called Ngaing (Mailang, Sor) and belongs to the language family of the Finisterre-Huon languages ( Trans-New Guinea language area ). The Gusap – Mot language branches are derived from the Finisterre-Huon language , which includes Ngaing, Madi (Gira) , Iyo (Nahu) , Neko, Nekgini, Rawa and Ufim. The anthropologist Peter Lawrence researched the ngaing extensively in the 1960s.

Social organization

The Ngaing follow a two-line, bilinear rule of descent , from father and mother. In the village comprising fathers side lineages (patrician lineages ) 3 to 5 generations and form larger hong (patrician clans ) which make up the basic units of development. The rules of exogamous marriage (between the clans), land rights (important for horticulture and hunting) and ritual rights (important for men's cult ceremonies ) are passed on and inherited through these clans . Similarly organized are the parentage groups on the mother's side ( Matri- Lineages), which are entitled in parallel to the men , who combine the totem right and thus exercise animistic protective spirit functions. In most cases, the person concerned is assigned a plant or animal species that has a certain meaning for society and to which they have to show special respect.

The individual groups live scattered in the settlement area and follow the marital follow-up rule of the patriotic locality: The residence of a married couple is set up with the husband who lives with his father. Both groups do not meet for joint activities.

economy

The Ngaing live in subsistence crops such as taro , yams and sweet potatoes . They keep pigs and chickens and hunt wild boars, marsupials and birds. The fruits of various crops such as coffee and cocoa as well as betel nuts are intended for sale .

literature

Peter Lawrence : The Ngaing of the Rai Coast. In: Peter Lawrence, Mervyn John Meggitt (Eds.): Gods Ghosts and Men in Melanesia. Some Religions of Australian New Guinea and the New Hebrides. Oxford University Press, Melbourne 1965 (English).
Wolfgang Kempf: Yong. The circumcision ritual among the Ngaing and neighboring groups in the Finisterre Mountains. In: Jürg Wassmann (Ed.): Farewell to the past. Ethnological reports from the Finisterre Mountains in Papua New Guinea. Reimer, Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-496-00496-7 .
Wolfgang Kempf, Elfriede Hermann: Dreamscapes. Transcending the Lokal in Initiation Rites among the Ngaing of Papua New Guinea. In: Roger Ivar Lohmann (Ed.): Dream Travelers. Sleep Experiences and Culture in the Western Pacific. Palgrave Macmillan, New York et al. a. 2003, ISBN 1-4039-6330-4 , pp. 61–86: Chapter 4 (English; page views in the Google book search).

Individual evidence

^ Ethnologue entry: Ngaing: A language of Papua New Guinea. In: Ethnologue: Languages of the World . 17th Edition, SIL International, Texas, 2013, accessed October 16, 2013 .
^ Compare Wolfgang Kempf, Elfriede Hermann: Dreamscapes. Transcending the Lokal in Initiation Rites among the Ngaing of Papua New Guinea. In: Roger Ivar Lohmann (Ed.): Dream Travelers. Sleep Experiences and Culture in the Western Pacific. Palgrave Macmillan, New York et al. a. 2003, pp. 61–86: Chapter 4 (English; page views in the Google book search).
↑ ^a ^b Wolfgang Kempf: Yong. The circumcision ritual among the Ngaing and neighboring groups in the Finisterre Mountains. In: Jürg Wassmann (Ed.): Farewell to the past. Ethnological reports from the Finisterre Mountains in Papua New Guinea. Reimer, Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-496-00496-7 , here pp. 77-78.
↑ Compare Peter Lawrence : The Ngaing of the Rai Coast. In: Peter Lawrence, Mervyn John Meggitt (Eds.): Gods Ghosts and Men in Melanesia. Some Religions of Australian New Guinea and the New Hebrides. Oxford University Press, Melbourne 1965 (English).

[ethnologue_2013-Ngaing-1] Ethnologue entry: Ngaing: A language of Papua New Guinea. In: Ethnologue: Languages of the World . 17th Edition, SIL International, Texas, 2013, accessed October 16, 2013 .

[Kempf_2003-2] Compare Wolfgang Kempf, Elfriede Hermann: Dreamscapes. Transcending the Lokal in Initiation Rites among the Ngaing of Papua New Guinea. In: Roger Ivar Lohmann (Ed.): Dream Travelers. Sleep Experiences and Culture in the Western Pacific. Palgrave Macmillan, New York et al. a. 2003, pp. 61–86: Chapter 4 (English; page views in the Google book search).

[Kempf_1992-77-78-3] Wolfgang Kempf: Yong. The circumcision ritual among the Ngaing and neighboring groups in the Finisterre Mountains. In: Jürg Wassmann (Ed.): Farewell to the past. Ethnological reports from the Finisterre Mountains in Papua New Guinea. Reimer, Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-496-00496-7 , here pp. 77-78.

[Lawrence_1965-4] Compare Peter Lawrence : The Ngaing of the Rai Coast. In: Peter Lawrence, Mervyn John Meggitt (Eds.): Gods Ghosts and Men in Melanesia. Some Religions of Australian New Guinea and the New Hebrides. Oxford University Press, Melbourne 1965 (English).