[Mihalic] bilum

[Terry Gilsenan]

Hi,

"Limbum" is the name give to almost all products fromt he black palm. Strips of the outer timber are used as floorint in houses or bench seats and they are called limbum also.

Regards,
T
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Bryant Allen 
  To: mihalic at anu.edu.au 
  Sent: Monday, March 15, 2004 1:21 PM
  Subject: [Mihalic] bilum


  In East Sepik, west of the Abelam (who are bilum makers par excellence) many groups of people did not make bilums (and if they do now, make pretty awful ones). 

  Urat women (and I think Wapei and people around Lumi) make capacious carriers out of the spathe of a species of black palm (?Grulubia costata), carried off the forehead by a strip of beaten bark. In Pidgin these are called "limbum". Men also make smaller containers for carrying things like yams, that are a different shape to the women's carriers and are slung off the shoulder. They are also called "limbum". The Urat word for "limbum" is pundenge and I think the carriers are also just called that.

  It was suggested some time back that photos are acceptable. The attached jpg file is a photo of a woman's "limbum" made for a small girl (little girls commonly carry a "limbum" to the gardens with their mother), which is otherwise almost identical to the full scale thing. The two additional pieces of bark are used to increase the capacity of the "limbum". They are put in the front and the back to support loads which go above the edge of the "limbum itself. Children are not carried in a "limbum" but in a beaten bark strip called a "mal" in Pidgin (tehtalpe in Urat - teh=child, talpe=beaten bark strip). The tehtalpe has been universally replaced with a cotton laplap but the "limbum" is still used by all women.
  Bryant

  Dr Bryant Allen
  Senior Fellow
  Land Management Group
  Department of Human Geography
  Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
  The Australian National University
  ACT 0200 Australia

  ANU CRICOS Provider Number is 00120C





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