Of course any celebration in PNG must include a "mumu." It just wouldn't be a celebration without a mumu. So what is a mumu, glad you asked. It starts with a whole lot of food (you saw that in the last blog article pictures). This mumu was the biggest one I have ever seen or been a part of, it took 6 mumu pits to cook all the food! That is amazing! Those who were preparing the food were up most of the night killing, cleaning, chopping, peeling an preparing the food. The top picture is not of a grave site but the actual mumu pit before it is stuffed full of food, heated rocks and banana leaves. Once the mumu pit is dug it will be lined with banana leaves and then they will layer it with kaukau (sweet potatoe), greens, plantains, pig and chicken and the rocks that are heated in a very large fire. Depending, there could be other vegetable included also. Once that is all layered and laid in the pit it is covered with banana leaves and left for several hours to cook. It is some good eating! The picture to the immediate right is the little piggies who gave their all for us to enjoy!
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Getting the fire ready to heat up the rocks for cooking. They use large branches/sticks
split on the end to handle the rocks as they put them into the mumu pit. |
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on the right in the middle of the picture is a bucket of plantains ready to go into the mumu
pit. These guys are getting the banana leaves ready. |
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First, let me say that at a mumu everything is eaten of the pig but the oink!
So, what would you think these ladies are handling? In the bottom left of the picture is
Kauaku ready for the mumu pit. |
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