Asaro Mud Men Continue Legacy

[@hudson.5940]

so cool

[@joehillary6981]

Asaro mudmen can be categorized as contemporary art - so please do not believe the history literally - just take in the entertainment value it provides. The prevailing story follows the theme that a group of warriors fortuitously fell into a pool of mud during a tribal fight, emerged out and by accident, the enemy, believing them to be spirits, bolted for their lives - this never took place in real life, hence it’s just a fable! The particular Asaro tribe (Komunive village, Gavina clan) began making masks probably in the late 50’s purely to perform for tourists, and years later, for commercial gain. Nevertheless, for the last 63 years or so the Asaro mudmen phenomenon has become popular worldwide and that is good for PNG. For e.g. in 1972 Pink Floyd recorded a track called Mudmen and included a photograph of them on the back cover of their “Obscured by Clouds” record. They were also featured in the 1972 movie La Vallée.

[@Paradox3627505]

Thanks for providing more background information to the topic.

[@asamiyashin444]

World Heroes 2 has brought me here. If they are doing this for money it's very sad.

[@Lucas43434]

The more performative aspect with big heavy masks began in the 50s, but it comes from an older practice in the 1800s called girituwai which involved creating masks out of mud over a frame of bamboo and looped string. These masks were inspired by an earlier practice from Watabung of covering the face with tree sap. The purpose was to hide one's identity from enemies.

[@joehillary6981]

​@@Lucas43434 I'm afraid that is a far-fetched theory. Watabung is 22km from Asaro but there is a +2400m mountain range in between. There is no way Asaro Mudmen would have been influenced by the Watabung who smeared their faces with sap so as not to be recognized hence avoid being attacked in retaliation thereafter. If that was true then it wouldn't have been a secret anymore and the identity of the particular tribe from Watabung would have been revealed! A 'conman' by the name of Ruipo Okoroho concocted these fables.