Mount Hagen Show

Mount Hagen Show

Late August

This gathering, known as a sing-sing, in Papua New Guinea provides an opportunity for outsiders to experience the ceremonial drumming, dancing, and other displays of tribal culture of hundreds of Western Highland clans. Performers wear their traditional tribal garb, often with body paint and an elaborate headdress made of feathers. The annual Mount Hagen show, staged more for tourists than for the locals, includes a competition that encourages decorative costumes and wild dancing to the accompaniment of nonstop drumming. Ritualistic sing-sings performed by individual tribes are also held throughout the highlands, but these are more private ceremonies.

CONTACTS:
Papua New Guinea Tourism Promotion Authority in USA
5000 Birch St., Ste. 3000
Newport Beach, CA 92660
949-752-5440; fax: 949-476-3741
www.pngtourism.org.pg

SOURCES:
WildPlanet-1995, p. 438