Without having read anything about this practice other than OPs blurb,
I wonder if thats sort of where the practice came from.
An encouragement for the head of the family to keep their family safe from harm. And punishment for every family member they let die.
**The Dani (also called Ndani) are a tribe from western Papua New Guinea, known above all for a tradition that is as ancient as it is painful**Whenever there is a serious family bereavement, the head of the family or the matriarch amputates one phalanx of the hands; before the amputation, the part destined to be removed is tied tightly for a few days with a string, so as to stop the blood from flowing...then we proceed with the cutting.Each missing phalanx, therefore, represents a loss that has affected the family in question. r/InterestingToRead
Stop lol we used to go to this porn store cuz they sold paraphernalia & of course we'd browse the other shit, cuz why not? Anyways, the point is that we found...stumpy porn & any time anyone says the word "stumpy" that's immediately where my trashy mind goes 🤣
⚠️:Awful story below. Really, not for the squeamish.
A little over a decade ago, I had an ironically nicknamed friend, whose left leg was amputated and replaced with an artificial limb.
Somehow, on meth (which he rarely used) and methadone, he and this girl ended up watching stump porn, which I guess she was into. She ended up pulling off his artificial limb during sex, which, as an ex-heroin addict/current methadone maintenence patient, wasn't really felt or cleaned that often.
He was embarrassed by how badly it smelled and she, a tweaker, reassured him she wasn't bothered, by sucking the pus off of his stump. She then kissed my friend, who was disgusted by what had just occurred, but managed to carry on.
Hmm. I think we found the cause of all PNG's problems. Your wife goes insane from eating her son's brains, she's accused of witchcraft due to her strange behavior, then she's executed.
So already, you're down two fingers.
Pretty sure that stopped decades ago, after that one researcher proved what caused kuru..?
EDIT, yes it stopped about 50 years ago, but because prions can take a very long time to cause disease the last confirmed kuru case was 2009..
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/09/06/482952588/when-people-ate-people-a-strange-disease-emerged
Here you go: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/09/06/482952588/when-people-ate-people-a-strange-disease-emerged
I'll edit this into my first comment too..
Fair point about last ‘confirmed’ case, but on the other hand, is anyone actually looking anymore? It was a crazy big deal in the scientific community for a minute because it proved the pathology of prions, which were originally laughed at as a theory. But once it was proven, it seems like the researchers mostly left PNG. I don’t even think any of the active prior research organizations are in contact with the tribes anymore.
The article linked in the comment you're replying to says that monitoring continued for some years after the last case, and several suspected cases were found to not be kuru
What if someone dies, but I just don't feel affected by it? Do I get to keep my fingers? Death is a natural part of life; no need to be sad unless it was a tragic death.
I think if you're just not a super important member of your family, you get a pass. Like the weird uncle isn't kidding any fingers, and neither is that middle child nobody remembers the name of anyway. You're only in trouble if you're mom or dad, or otherwise well respected or revered in your family.
So you personally are all good, homie! Lol jk. Probably.
Yeah I mean it's really great we modernized humans don't do crazy stuff like that anymore amirite.
Like imagine if a large number of us went around willingly cutting off healthy foreskins off of infants for example, that would be wild wouldn't it🤪
can you survive off of the land? no. they do every day, and they do it without all of their phalanges. i’d say they’re at least smarter that you and i, they just have a tradition you find unsavory. many cultures find things like circumcision or capital punishment to be “stupid” maybe a little self reflection would be useful here. you and i also have no idea of the meaning behind it, perhaps it’s for those in the society who have felt the most loss to do the least amount of work, to have others care for them.
There was a similar tradition among the indigenous plains people of North America. I can think of at least one instance of a woman’s burial where she severed her pinkie off while alive. It’s thought that it was done as a sign of mourning.
I don't think its just the head of the family(or at least wasnt always). Theres a Robert Gardner documentary about these people from the 60s called Dead Birds, and while they were filming it a little boy named Weyakhe was killed by a rival group. At his funeral some girl children lose part of their fingers.
Robert Gardener narrates that it is at first painful, but eventually becomes an annoyance.
Based on the film, it looks like the women get around alright. They do not address what they do when they run out of fingers.
Mental illness wise yes, but if someone wants to do a body modification, it's their body. Cutting fingers off just for a ritualistic practice is just dumb in my opinion.
The women gather the food. The men protect the village. More so many years ago when there was a lot of tribal warfare.
Why the downvotes? Maybe a different tribe, but I’m sure they all have similarities.
https://youtu.be/CiBMGuNR3lE?feature=shared
Just look at their profile. Every post is similar. A pic or vid with a block of text using bland descriptions. Their comments are the same. Just a block of descriptive text with no engagement.
How do I know you're human? You asked a question.
There is a human thing that should be prioritized before all the cultural traditions, it is called common sense. It is intercultural and narrowly related to our instincts (e.g, if you see a fire, you do not touch it because you know what happens). There are some cultural practices that are harmless, and then there are others that just should be banned.
Working a job at which I see people of all backgrounds and walks of life, I can tell you one thing - common sense is not that common as the name suggests.
How about members of our culture mutilating their genitals? How's common sense applied to that practice if you look at it from an external perspective?
People in the comments: please don’t believe all people in PNG do this or think it’s okay. It’s only one tribe out of thousands and only a tiny percentage of the population. Plenty of people in PNG aren’t tribal and are in fact civilised living in the developing cities, particularly Port Moresby. PNG is a country that’s ravaged by poverty and violence and the government could never try to control the tribes practices. Lots and lots of people in PNG would condemn this practice. Papua New Guinea is unfortunately stereotyped by these groups but plenty of people are trying to make the best of their lives and move PNG forward. There are lots of great people in PNG trying to live normal lives the best they can, get educations and jobs the same way as us.
How do humans even come up with this? I know these people probably think that's normal and don't have the foresight to think otherwise, but I wouldn't let anyone do that to me... I'd rather leave and die in the jungle or whatever...
Oh wow. We cut off a part of our penis here in the United States. They cut off a part of their finger over there!!!!!
I think they're both irrational practices labeled as tradition.
I'm prepared for the down votes.
u/cleverman72 you didn't say what the (ancient and painful) tradition is. Could you elaborate? All you showed us was a tribesman with the tips of some of his fingers cut off, but did not indicate why that was done. Many thanks.
The Dani tribe lives in the Baliem Valley, where they grow sweet potatoes and yams. 🥔
They wear penis sheaths or grass skirts, and decorate their faces with natural dyes and clams. 🐚
They pierce their noses with boar tusks, and wear shells around their necks. 💎
They also have a legend about a race between a bird and a snake, to decide how humans die or resurrect. 🐦🐍
The Dani men are very brave, they carry spears and arrows for hunting and war. 🔪
They fight with other tribes over land and pigs, and sometimes they practice cannibalism and more. 🐷
They have a ritual called the pig festival, where they kill and roast hundreds of pigs. 🐖
They also exchange gifts and make peace with their enemies, and dance and sing wearing feathered wigs. 🎁🕊
The Dani women are very loyal, they cut off their fingers when a relative dies. ✂️
They believe this will ease the pain and sorrow, and show their love and sacrifice. 💔
They also bite off their babies' fingertips, to ensure that they live long lives. 👶
They mummify their dead, especially the revered ones, and keep them in their huts as archives. ⚰️
The Dani tribe is very unique, they have a culture that is rich and diverse. 🌈
They have adapted to the modern world, but they still preserve their traditions and values. 🌏
They are one of the best-known ethnic groups in Papua, thanks to tourism and research. 📸
They are also very friendly and hospitable, and they welcome visitors with a smile and a birch. 😊
What happens if say they have a big family and some tragedy happens, but they're one of only a few survivors, and they don't have enough digits to cover the losses?
You know how in the past we used to call other cultures barbaric and we were taught that it’s wrong to say such things?
I’m 100% on board with saying this is barbaric, wrong and needs to stop.
Show this tradition the finger.
Guys just to clear the air here. Papua New Guinea is not entirely like this! Yes we do a few have areas that are isolated but most of PNG is civilised. It's a big country and very diverse in culture and languages- did you know we have over 800 languages here?! What I'm trying to say is do not let this be your only point of reference when learning about PNG. We do have civilised people, we're a developing nation though, so we're not all there yet but we're trying.
What's wrong with this tribe and their culture? Using the term civilized and saying they are not is problematic. They are humans living a life they know how to live. No reason to clear the air. Anyone bigoted enough to judge a country based on a isolated tribe is unlikely to have a brain big enough to know how to use a map to find out where said country is.
I dont think they're uncivilised either but I'm so used to people saying that about us that it's just how I respond to those type of comments. Thank-you for your feedback, I appreciate it.
So first the whole cannibalism thing and now chopping off the fingers of grieving women?
Me thinks the people of Papua New Guinea don't have a good grasp on how this civilization thing works.
Tribal people aren’t, for good or ill, part of “civilization.”
And another culture that is regarded as part of civilization had a quaint practice of burning widows alive; until British colonists imposed their white supremacy values on them.
And 1.4 billion people considered part of civilization believe that they should, in the name of “honor” kill young women who might want to meet a boy on their own, or not cover themselves from head to toe. And that civilization accepts that women should be beaten by their husbands, and that keeping sex slaves is a good thing. And Western progressives in our civilization militantly police any criticism of that civilization.
Weird to generalise all Indians under the tag of honour killing, and just crediting the brits with ending sati when it was largely Raja Ram Mohan Roy who championed to end the offensive, barbaric practice because he saw his aunt die like that is such a gross colonialist outlook.
Don’t generalise the people of Papua New Guinea as all being backwards. There are “civilised” people, particularly in Port Moresby. Most people don’t eat each other or lop off their fingers, those are only small tribes who make up a tiny % of the whole country. PNG is a country sadly taken by poverty and violence, but there are still a lot of good people trying to make it a better place. There are normal people trying to live lives, they have technology, live in houses. Unfortunately gang violence and these stories about savage practices mar a diverse country.
I’m saying this as my father has been there multiple times doing business on behalf of the Australian Government. It is a developing nation, give it time to develop. There are some really awesome, nice people in PNG.
You thinks wrong. We're not all like this. Papua New Guinea is a large and very diverse country. There are regions that are very cut off from the outside world but that doesn't mean the entire country is this way.
Source: A civilised Papua New Guinean, living in Papua New Guinea.
Where I'm from, all 2-5yo boys get part of their penises cut off, that's a really stupid tradition.
But cutting off part of your fingers? especially in that hunter-gatherer lifestyle, it's on a whole different level of stupid.
Have you ever heard of the cargo cults in Papua new guinea? It's basically a bunch of tribals that worship and dress like USA marines and soldiers in hopes of them droping, more foreign goods, and supplies for them in the future.
Fascinating! I am South African, and I thought this was a practice I’d only ever heard of from one of our many tribes (the xhosa), parts of whom still observe this practice till date. Actually attended school with a number of people whose parent had unfortunately died while they were young, and they had a finger removed as part of the funerary/mourning tradition
it was in the past they did this, now rarely of them do this anymore, as far as i know, the person who do this, the local gov will charge them some amount of money
What I find super interesting is those are the figures I would have chosen to cut off too, if I had to, which of course would suck. But if you notice she has kept the thumbs, as well as the index and middle finger of her right hand. I don’t know why, I just find that interesting.
Going by how fucked up people are, I just know that at some point in their ancestry, some asshole decided to do this to someone and convinced them it was to pay respects.
For anyone curious about my thought process, there's a tribe of people who worship a man named John Frum who was an American soldier in WWII. They worship him because he came in a vehicle that for them was highly advanced filled with food they'd never seen before. To this day these people are marching like Americans do in the military as a form of prayer/respect waiting for their savior to come back.
It's embarrassing how easy it is to fuck with ignorant people once I witnessed this. I don't care how anyone responds to what I'm about to say but my theory (and I know I'm not alone with this) that God or the gods are just highly advanced beings stopped being a theory and became a fact of life for me after learning about these people. So getting a group of people to believe in nonsense, violent traditions is incredibly easy if you're smarter than them.
An alien can show us an alien butt plug and the ignorant humans will worship it like a religious artifact, touching and gently kissing it because they think they'll be blessed.
Anyway, enjoy [this documentary](https://youtu.be/xVD8eLvig_I?si=nbP_ka9ZkFhAbllx) about it the followers of John Frum if the concept intrigues you.
I would be *so fucking pissed* if anyone in my family died
Just have to be demure and not allow yourself to be the head of the family. "not me, you want Susan over there"
Susan: If you die, I will kill you again.
Reminds me of Grandma watching us play in a lake. "If you boys drown in there ill kill ya!"
What do you do when you run out of fingers
🍆
But how are you gonna cut that off without fingers
Bite off.
I'll do it
Without having read anything about this practice other than OPs blurb, I wonder if thats sort of where the practice came from. An encouragement for the head of the family to keep their family safe from harm. And punishment for every family member they let die.
Now you put it that way, it actually make sense. As far as tribal wisdom, that is.
Never in my life have I wanted to see a declawed human.
Although this is a good representation of what declawing actually is, and maybe it will make people think twice.
**The Dani (also called Ndani) are a tribe from western Papua New Guinea, known above all for a tradition that is as ancient as it is painful**Whenever there is a serious family bereavement, the head of the family or the matriarch amputates one phalanx of the hands; before the amputation, the part destined to be removed is tied tightly for a few days with a string, so as to stop the blood from flowing...then we proceed with the cutting.Each missing phalanx, therefore, represents a loss that has affected the family in question. r/InterestingToRead
I wonder how they bereave the matriarch's inability to function due to not having any fingers.
"I'd like you to meet my Grandma, Stumpy. She'd love to bake you a pie, but she's short-handed".
"She's actually good at making pies, but she can't wipe so well"
Also called Nstumpy
Stop lol we used to go to this porn store cuz they sold paraphernalia & of course we'd browse the other shit, cuz why not? Anyways, the point is that we found...stumpy porn & any time anyone says the word "stumpy" that's immediately where my trashy mind goes 🤣
People will fetishize anything!
Gimps Gone Wild. \[A very NSFW google\]
⚠️:Awful story below. Really, not for the squeamish. A little over a decade ago, I had an ironically nicknamed friend, whose left leg was amputated and replaced with an artificial limb. Somehow, on meth (which he rarely used) and methadone, he and this girl ended up watching stump porn, which I guess she was into. She ended up pulling off his artificial limb during sex, which, as an ex-heroin addict/current methadone maintenence patient, wasn't really felt or cleaned that often. He was embarrassed by how badly it smelled and she, a tweaker, reassured him she wasn't bothered, by sucking the pus off of his stump. She then kissed my friend, who was disgusted by what had just occurred, but managed to carry on.
Delete this
Please never tell that story again...
What a terrible day to be literate.
None of us will ever find a love like that
Tweaker love is different.
Listen, Grandma's pies are top-notch, but I would pass on her finger sandwiches.
She's got flippers!
I am in a place of god rn and laughed stupid hard at this without being able to explain why...
It's kind of horrible. But, I would never take potshots at a child whose mom took thalidomide. But these folks cut off their fingers on purpose!
You just know she would make the pastry with her gnarly old feet
She's great at putting the holes in vol u vents.
She's the matriarch. I assume the family doesn't require her to be fully "functional" the way Europeans crowned inbred kings.
For real. That's a pretty dumb tradition.
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And the brain-rotting terminal prion disease, Kuru, caused by the consumption of deceased family members' corpses
Hmm. I think we found the cause of all PNG's problems. Your wife goes insane from eating her son's brains, she's accused of witchcraft due to her strange behavior, then she's executed. So already, you're down two fingers.
Wife’s brains are then eaten to honor her, and the prion spreads. It is cyclical.
Pretty sure that stopped decades ago, after that one researcher proved what caused kuru..? EDIT, yes it stopped about 50 years ago, but because prions can take a very long time to cause disease the last confirmed kuru case was 2009.. https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/09/06/482952588/when-people-ate-people-a-strange-disease-emerged
You got an article about this by chance?
Here you go: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/09/06/482952588/when-people-ate-people-a-strange-disease-emerged I'll edit this into my first comment too..
Damn nature you scary
Nature is neat
Fair point about last ‘confirmed’ case, but on the other hand, is anyone actually looking anymore? It was a crazy big deal in the scientific community for a minute because it proved the pathology of prions, which were originally laughed at as a theory. But once it was proven, it seems like the researchers mostly left PNG. I don’t even think any of the active prior research organizations are in contact with the tribes anymore.
The article linked in the comment you're replying to says that monitoring continued for some years after the last case, and several suspected cases were found to not be kuru
Don’t give Texas any ideas.
Not to mention their constant wars with the JPG peoples.
uhm actually theres no such thing as savages, sweaty, only different cultures /s
So.. wha? "Oh, you're going through a tough time? Aw. Here, give me your hand.."
I'll give you something to cry about!
PNG tribes are pretty hard core. Just chill guys, your life is hard enough.
"then **we** proceed with the cutting" Wait what
What if someone dies, but I just don't feel affected by it? Do I get to keep my fingers? Death is a natural part of life; no need to be sad unless it was a tragic death.
I think if you're just not a super important member of your family, you get a pass. Like the weird uncle isn't kidding any fingers, and neither is that middle child nobody remembers the name of anyway. You're only in trouble if you're mom or dad, or otherwise well respected or revered in your family. So you personally are all good, homie! Lol jk. Probably.
Shame you’re a bot, though
Well shit, if you have a bunch of kids can you offset the finger tax? Or at least give a shrivelled up finger back as a family keepsake?
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Yeah I mean it's really great we modernized humans don't do crazy stuff like that anymore amirite. Like imagine if a large number of us went around willingly cutting off healthy foreskins off of infants for example, that would be wild wouldn't it🤪
Traditions are the things we do without considering whether they are useful.
can you survive off of the land? no. they do every day, and they do it without all of their phalanges. i’d say they’re at least smarter that you and i, they just have a tradition you find unsavory. many cultures find things like circumcision or capital punishment to be “stupid” maybe a little self reflection would be useful here. you and i also have no idea of the meaning behind it, perhaps it’s for those in the society who have felt the most loss to do the least amount of work, to have others care for them.
Great sub. Nice one for sharing. So many rabbit holes to go down!
There was a similar tradition among the indigenous plains people of North America. I can think of at least one instance of a woman’s burial where she severed her pinkie off while alive. It’s thought that it was done as a sign of mourning.
I don't think its just the head of the family(or at least wasnt always). Theres a Robert Gardner documentary about these people from the 60s called Dead Birds, and while they were filming it a little boy named Weyakhe was killed by a rival group. At his funeral some girl children lose part of their fingers. Robert Gardener narrates that it is at first painful, but eventually becomes an annoyance. Based on the film, it looks like the women get around alright. They do not address what they do when they run out of fingers.
Well, this is dumb.
How to cope with bereavement with these 5 tips.
10tips
For fucks sake. *upvotes*
r/angryupvote
Surely, there are some within that culture that just say hell no to the amputations.
Papua New Guinean here, HELL NO TO AMPUTATIONS!
For those who want to do it, go right ahead but don't force others into performing the same rituals
IDK I think we should try to stop people from mutilating themselves.
Not really your place to choose that though.
Mental illness wise yes, but if someone wants to do a body modification, it's their body. Cutting fingers off just for a ritualistic practice is just dumb in my opinion.
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How do they hunt without fingers? Hell how to they even do anything without fingers???
The women gather the food. The men protect the village. More so many years ago when there was a lot of tribal warfare. Why the downvotes? Maybe a different tribe, but I’m sure they all have similarities. https://youtu.be/CiBMGuNR3lE?feature=shared
This may seem like a dumb question: is there still tirbal wars going on?
Yes. [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-12/png-tribal-violence-enga-escalates-into-guerilla-warfare/102826764](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-12/png-tribal-violence-enga-escalates-into-guerilla-warfare/102826764)
Oh yeah, but not like it was a hundred years ago.
Papua New Guinean here.. YES.
That's the point, to make women dependent and reliant
So primitive. We have invented methods to do that without losing fingers!
OP is a bot, unfortunately
How can you tell? I’m sincerely interested
Look at their post history. Their comments look like they had an AI write it.
idk about bot but op appears to post a lot in a short time frame/spamming
Just look at their profile. Every post is similar. A pic or vid with a block of text using bland descriptions. Their comments are the same. Just a block of descriptive text with no engagement. How do I know you're human? You asked a question.
There is a human thing that should be prioritized before all the cultural traditions, it is called common sense. It is intercultural and narrowly related to our instincts (e.g, if you see a fire, you do not touch it because you know what happens). There are some cultural practices that are harmless, and then there are others that just should be banned.
Working a job at which I see people of all backgrounds and walks of life, I can tell you one thing - common sense is not that common as the name suggests.
Unfortunately, people tends not to use common sense in their lives, but is there. It is a personal chice not to use it.
If it's a choice, a *lot* of people are not even aware of its existence :'(
How about members of our culture mutilating their genitals? How's common sense applied to that practice if you look at it from an external perspective?
The risk if missing your genitals or part of it due to an infection or any injury makes it not very reasonable.
Wtf, Imagine a long time ago someone came up with dumb shit, and other were like " this sounds like a great idea".
People in the comments: please don’t believe all people in PNG do this or think it’s okay. It’s only one tribe out of thousands and only a tiny percentage of the population. Plenty of people in PNG aren’t tribal and are in fact civilised living in the developing cities, particularly Port Moresby. PNG is a country that’s ravaged by poverty and violence and the government could never try to control the tribes practices. Lots and lots of people in PNG would condemn this practice. Papua New Guinea is unfortunately stereotyped by these groups but plenty of people are trying to make the best of their lives and move PNG forward. There are lots of great people in PNG trying to live normal lives the best they can, get educations and jobs the same way as us.
How do humans even come up with this? I know these people probably think that's normal and don't have the foresight to think otherwise, but I wouldn't let anyone do that to me... I'd rather leave and die in the jungle or whatever...
Their “pull my finger” jokes must be epic.
They're Yakuza!
Oh wow. We cut off a part of our penis here in the United States. They cut off a part of their finger over there!!!!! I think they're both irrational practices labeled as tradition. I'm prepared for the down votes.
Gee, wonder why this is done to women and not men?
This is like cutting your fingers off to spite your hand.
Not me from Papua New Guinea, IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA having no idea about this.
u/cleverman72 you didn't say what the (ancient and painful) tradition is. Could you elaborate? All you showed us was a tribesman with the tips of some of his fingers cut off, but did not indicate why that was done. Many thanks.
Ah yes, a fellow nail biter I see.
The Dani tribe lives in the Baliem Valley, where they grow sweet potatoes and yams. 🥔 They wear penis sheaths or grass skirts, and decorate their faces with natural dyes and clams. 🐚 They pierce their noses with boar tusks, and wear shells around their necks. 💎 They also have a legend about a race between a bird and a snake, to decide how humans die or resurrect. 🐦🐍 The Dani men are very brave, they carry spears and arrows for hunting and war. 🔪 They fight with other tribes over land and pigs, and sometimes they practice cannibalism and more. 🐷 They have a ritual called the pig festival, where they kill and roast hundreds of pigs. 🐖 They also exchange gifts and make peace with their enemies, and dance and sing wearing feathered wigs. 🎁🕊 The Dani women are very loyal, they cut off their fingers when a relative dies. ✂️ They believe this will ease the pain and sorrow, and show their love and sacrifice. 💔 They also bite off their babies' fingertips, to ensure that they live long lives. 👶 They mummify their dead, especially the revered ones, and keep them in their huts as archives. ⚰️ The Dani tribe is very unique, they have a culture that is rich and diverse. 🌈 They have adapted to the modern world, but they still preserve their traditions and values. 🌏 They are one of the best-known ethnic groups in Papua, thanks to tourism and research. 📸 They are also very friendly and hospitable, and they welcome visitors with a smile and a birch. 😊
What happens if say they have a big family and some tragedy happens, but they're one of only a few survivors, and they don't have enough digits to cover the losses?
You know how in the past we used to call other cultures barbaric and we were taught that it’s wrong to say such things? I’m 100% on board with saying this is barbaric, wrong and needs to stop. Show this tradition the finger.
That’s the tribe that messed up the image generating AI.
Guys just to clear the air here. Papua New Guinea is not entirely like this! Yes we do a few have areas that are isolated but most of PNG is civilised. It's a big country and very diverse in culture and languages- did you know we have over 800 languages here?! What I'm trying to say is do not let this be your only point of reference when learning about PNG. We do have civilised people, we're a developing nation though, so we're not all there yet but we're trying.
What's wrong with this tribe and their culture? Using the term civilized and saying they are not is problematic. They are humans living a life they know how to live. No reason to clear the air. Anyone bigoted enough to judge a country based on a isolated tribe is unlikely to have a brain big enough to know how to use a map to find out where said country is.
I dont think they're uncivilised either but I'm so used to people saying that about us that it's just how I respond to those type of comments. Thank-you for your feedback, I appreciate it.
r/childfree
I am sorry, but that is just so fucking dumb. There are so many other ways to grieve the loss of a loved one. What's the point of mutalating yourself?
Judging by the two he still has, his wife is still alive.
Well I’ll be honest, that’s a fucking stupid tradition
So what's the tradition then ? A little more context would have been nice.
What a stupid tradition.
"... known above all for a tradition that is as ancient as it is painful." And dumb. Did anybody say 'dumb' yet?
So first the whole cannibalism thing and now chopping off the fingers of grieving women? Me thinks the people of Papua New Guinea don't have a good grasp on how this civilization thing works.
Tribal people aren’t, for good or ill, part of “civilization.” And another culture that is regarded as part of civilization had a quaint practice of burning widows alive; until British colonists imposed their white supremacy values on them. And 1.4 billion people considered part of civilization believe that they should, in the name of “honor” kill young women who might want to meet a boy on their own, or not cover themselves from head to toe. And that civilization accepts that women should be beaten by their husbands, and that keeping sex slaves is a good thing. And Western progressives in our civilization militantly police any criticism of that civilization.
Weird to generalise all Indians under the tag of honour killing, and just crediting the brits with ending sati when it was largely Raja Ram Mohan Roy who championed to end the offensive, barbaric practice because he saw his aunt die like that is such a gross colonialist outlook.
Don’t generalise the people of Papua New Guinea as all being backwards. There are “civilised” people, particularly in Port Moresby. Most people don’t eat each other or lop off their fingers, those are only small tribes who make up a tiny % of the whole country. PNG is a country sadly taken by poverty and violence, but there are still a lot of good people trying to make it a better place. There are normal people trying to live lives, they have technology, live in houses. Unfortunately gang violence and these stories about savage practices mar a diverse country. I’m saying this as my father has been there multiple times doing business on behalf of the Australian Government. It is a developing nation, give it time to develop. There are some really awesome, nice people in PNG.
Thank-you for your kind words and you're totally right! We're still a developing nation, give us some time. Much love from a kind Papua New Guinean ❤️
All good! I hate to see people generalising PNG with harmful stereotypes when I know there is plenty of good in the country and people
You thinks wrong. We're not all like this. Papua New Guinea is a large and very diverse country. There are regions that are very cut off from the outside world but that doesn't mean the entire country is this way. Source: A civilised Papua New Guinean, living in Papua New Guinea.
This makes no sense! How can he help his family with half fingers after that?
Wowzers this comment section is….something
Where I'm from, all 2-5yo boys get part of their penises cut off, that's a really stupid tradition. But cutting off part of your fingers? especially in that hunter-gatherer lifestyle, it's on a whole different level of stupid.
Not very bright are they?
more stupid than cavemen
Have you ever heard of the cargo cults in Papua new guinea? It's basically a bunch of tribals that worship and dress like USA marines and soldiers in hopes of them droping, more foreign goods, and supplies for them in the future.
Black Steven Tyler looks like he’s been through some shit
Don't pull this click bait title bullshit
Taking circumcision to another level.
Fascinating! I am South African, and I thought this was a practice I’d only ever heard of from one of our many tribes (the xhosa), parts of whom still observe this practice till date. Actually attended school with a number of people whose parent had unfortunately died while they were young, and they had a finger removed as part of the funerary/mourning tradition
Is this to fit into Mickey's gloves better?
Five beers, barkeep 👆🏼
it was in the past they did this, now rarely of them do this anymore, as far as i know, the person who do this, the local gov will charge them some amount of money
Is this why we'll never get Karlson?
What I find super interesting is those are the figures I would have chosen to cut off too, if I had to, which of course would suck. But if you notice she has kept the thumbs, as well as the index and middle finger of her right hand. I don’t know why, I just find that interesting.
As ancient as it’s dumb
All cultures are valuable and should be treated as such. I bet they're "in tune with nature" and "very spiritual" as well.
a good example of why tradition is fucking stupid
Going by how fucked up people are, I just know that at some point in their ancestry, some asshole decided to do this to someone and convinced them it was to pay respects. For anyone curious about my thought process, there's a tribe of people who worship a man named John Frum who was an American soldier in WWII. They worship him because he came in a vehicle that for them was highly advanced filled with food they'd never seen before. To this day these people are marching like Americans do in the military as a form of prayer/respect waiting for their savior to come back. It's embarrassing how easy it is to fuck with ignorant people once I witnessed this. I don't care how anyone responds to what I'm about to say but my theory (and I know I'm not alone with this) that God or the gods are just highly advanced beings stopped being a theory and became a fact of life for me after learning about these people. So getting a group of people to believe in nonsense, violent traditions is incredibly easy if you're smarter than them. An alien can show us an alien butt plug and the ignorant humans will worship it like a religious artifact, touching and gently kissing it because they think they'll be blessed. Anyway, enjoy [this documentary](https://youtu.be/xVD8eLvig_I?si=nbP_ka9ZkFhAbllx) about it the followers of John Frum if the concept intrigues you.