dead birds

Dead Birds

This movie is about a tribe on the island of Papa New Guinea. They are called the Dani. This tribe lives in the middle of the island. Near their enemy, another near by tribe. They live in little huts made from mud and wood. There tribe consists of about twenty to thirty people. If you are a man your day starts out by going to your tower, checking to see if the enemy is going to attack today then, signaling with smoke from a fire if it is ok for the others to start working in there gardens. While these men watch for their enemy they will keep busy by weaving bands decorated with shells and fur for the decoration of the dead. Another job that men do is they break up the soil and help out with the gardening. The young men are also the front line in battles. Women are responsible for most of the gardening. They also gather banana leaves for soaking up the brine to make salt and preparing food. Children have jobs also, they tend their pigs on the frontier and frequently gather with other children there size and play fight and grow pretend gardens.

The Dani, greatly believe in magic and practice it daily. For instance, no one will come out after dark because they are afraid of the unhappy ghosts will bring them bad luck. They also believe that when you die, you just die and become a ghost.

This is explained by a story they tell about a race between a bird and a snake. Because of these unlucky ghosts, the Dani and other surrounding tribes are at a constant state o...