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Papua to hold Baliem Valley Festival
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Traditional houses in Baliem Valley, Wamena, Papua. (Shutterstock/-)
Papua is set to hold the Baliem Valley Festival from August 8 to 11 in Baliem Valley, Jayawijaya Mountains.
With the theme 'Art of Dance & War', the festival will showcase the Papuan war tradition and traditional dances including the War Dance.
“The War Dance is a hundred years old dance, visitors can take part in the dance if they want to,” said Tourism Minister Arief Yahya.
Read also: Garuda Indonesia opens new routes in West Papua
Some of the Papuan tribes such as Dani, Yali and Yani will take part in the festival where they will perform a mock tribal war battle.
The traditional festival that was first held in 1989 is very popular among travel photographers from abroad.
“Visitors can also directly interact with the indigenous people of Papua and there are plenty of beautiful sceneries that you can enjoy there,” added the Ministry's Archipelago Marketing Development deputy, Esthy Reko Astuti.
Other activities that will be presented at the festival include traditional music performance using Pikon, karapan babi (pig races), theater performance, arrow and spear competition, Sikiki and Puradaan game, cooking demo and handicraft exhibition.
Read also: Guide to visiting Raja Ampat for first-timers
Not only famous for its beautiful scenery and interesting tradition, Baliem Valley is also the place where visitors can see mummies. Three mummies are preserved in Kurulu District, another three are preserved in Assologaima District and one is preserved in Kurima District.
These mummies are the bodies of previous tribal chiefs and commanders of the Dani tribe, the majority tribe in Wamena. They are being preserved using a traditional method and can last up to hundreds of years. (asw)
