Bakar Batu

We woke up this morning pagi, pagi.(Very early) We could hear a bustle of activity going on outside. The villagers were busy preparing for the feast. Ladies were coming from gardens and villages all over. They had large nokins (hand-sewn bags) full of vegetables. Each lady is responsible to clean all of the veggies they bring. So they were busy washing it all up. The men were busy bringing the last of the wood and rocks to the pits. We brought in 90 chickens for this event and they slaughtered two hefty pigs. Everyone had a job to do. It was amazing to watch. 

The way they set up the pits is in layers. A layer of hot rocks, veggies, greens, hot rocks, veggies, greens and somewhere in there they layer the meat. There are big pots of marinade and they use these leafy greens to brush the sauce on. Layering everything took a long, long time. There were several pits and each hot rock had to be hand carried over with special tongs that they made from logs.

Once all the food was in the pits they covered it all and tied it all together. Then the celebration ceremony began. Lots of dancing, and clapping and singing. They were so thankful that we came and lived with them for two weeks. They presented our two male leaders with hand-made headdresses and they made one for Wyatt. That is a HUGE honor. It shows that he is one of them. He belongs.

This culture is Wyatt. He lives and breathes Papua. 

This was one of my favorite days!  Sitting with the people, having the kids come up and grab my hand, having the ladies put their arms around me, singing and dancing with them... it was amazing. During the ceremony, they called all of us girls up front, then all the young village girls came up and presented us each with a nokin. Inside each nokin was a piece of paper with the girls name and a request to please remember them. Oh, it was so moving. The whole ceremony took several hours.

After that, it was time to eat! They unwrapped the pits and carried off the hot rocks. We all sat down in circles with large banana leaves on the ground and they started bringing us food. It is such a beautiful thing to watch. I just sat there looking around at all of the different kinds of people together. Kids from all over the world, together at this one place, enjoying this experience and I get to be a part of it. WOW!

Here are some pictures: