FEATURE sprigs of wild ginger placed through the mouth and eyes of “mask” garra, which also had orange 100 fruit pushed onto the points of the upper hooks. Several ritual events involving masked performers took place in an enclosure by the men’s house, culminating in the performers holding the garra between their legs and the initiates crouching and chewing the attached ginger. In the Bekapeki area in 1972, Craig recorded that at the end of an initiation event, the men would be ceremonially washed in the river and afterward there would be a feast of sago grubs. The revelation of the cult objects, garra, and bamboo fl utes meant the young man had now become eligible to marry.22 This is some of the last information on the subject available. By the early 1970s, initiation rites were becoming a thing of the past. This was partly due to the changes brought about through wider contact and engagement with the Australian administration. Men could travel and work as laborers elsewhere in New Guinea, which led to the neglect of traditional customs.23 FIG. 12 (left): Elder man left in charge of a men’s house near the April River poses holding a “mask” garra upside down. It is unknown if there is intentional symbolism in doing so. Photo courtesy of James O. Hunter. FIG. 13 (above): Garra. Hunstein Range, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea. Collected May 1971 possibly at Inaro village but bearing stylistic traits more familiar in Gahom village to the west. Wood, pigment (carved with metal tools). H: 95 cm. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, inv.2016.33, gift of David Attenborough. FIG. 14 (right): Garra. Probably from one of the three Bahinemo villages on the Salumei River, Hunstein Range, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea. Collected by Wayne Heathcote; ex Philip Goldman, c. 1969–1970. Wood, pigment (carved with metal tools). H: 105 cm. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, inv. 2011.954.
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