Maybe not many people know the Papua mummies. This heritage from the ancestors is one of the proofs of the richness of Papua’s culture.
There are five tribes in Papua that have the tradition of mummifying the deceased, which are the Mek tribe in the Bintang Mountains, the Dani tribe in the Baliem Valley, the Moni tribe in Intan Jaya, the Yali tribe in Kurima and the Mee tribe in Dogiyai.
Unlike the popular mummies in Egypt, these Papua mummies are not kept in coffins and wrapped in bandages, but they are still intact and have dark color.
Usually, those who are mummified are individuals who are considered important to their tribe, such as tribal leaders, war commanders or highly respected individuals.
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Typically, males are the ones who are mummified. However, there are also female mummies in Papua that apparently formed accidentally due to cold weather and were found in caves. These female mummies are located in Yamen Silok in the Kurima District.
There are several stages to transform a body into a mummy. It involves selecting tribe members to perform the mummification process, collecting firewood and preparing a honai (papua traditional house) as the place to carry out the mummification process. Before starting, a newly born pig is prepared to mark the time.
Then the body of the deceased is smoked with firewood. The mummification process is considered complete when the pig’s teeth have grown long. After the smoking process, several ceremonies are conducted. Then the mummy is released by cutting the pig that was used to mark the time and wrapping the pig’s tail around the mummy’s neck. After everything is done, it is concluded with a stone-burning feast or barapen.
Interestingly, there is another different mummification process in Papua. The Mek tribe places the body on a tree for a year until it naturally becomes a mummy. The cold weather on the tree naturally preserves the body. Only after that, the mummy is taken down and placed in a cave.
When you look at the mummies in Papua, they are in a sitting position. The reason is that in the prehistoric concept, the sitting position is like a baby in the womb.
So far, six mummies have been documented in Papua, four from the Dani tribe, one from the Yali tribe, and one from the Moni tribe. Each tribe has its own name for their mummies. For example, in the Dani tribe in Wamena, the mummies there are called Kurulu mummies, Pumo mummies, Araboda mummies and Jiwika mummies.
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The mummies of the Dani tribe in Wamena are the most frequently visited by tourists. Especially during the Baliem Valley Festival, many tour operators offer travel packages to see the mummies.
The Papua mummies are believed to bring blessings to the local community. Tourists who want to take pictures or have direct contact with the mummies are usually charged according to the group size. If the group is large, the fee can reach up to 2.5 million rupiahs, but if it’s just two people or an individual, the fee is usually around 1 to 1.5 million rupiahs. However, wealth is not the main goal for the Papua tribes that perform this mummification process. They do it to preserve their traditions and show respect to those who are valuable and have contributed to.
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