Interview about burials

Speaker: Ulumo

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1: 0:00:00 (our ancestors used to leave people topless on benches until they decomposed is what I'm told. He says something about spirits and washing. Our fathers left that, they were told to put people in graves by Michael Somare. They'd get limbum or sul, wrap the body in it and bury it. We left the tumbuna pasin. Now we get planks and make coffins or we use sul and we bury people. ) 2: 0:02:44 (if the person stayed good they can be buried 2 days later, someone who has sores will get buried the same day, they became bad and they get buried. Wagis had sores and was bad so she was wrapped in sul and buried straight away.) 3: 0:03:25 (we all do, for you white people I don't know but we all bury people. ) 4: 0:04:02 (women don't bury people, they just wail.) teme om muma teleb igugund 5: 0:04:17 (yes we get planks and put them. Today we do both coffins or wrap the bodies) 6: 0:05:09 (in hogumam, there's a small place to bury and a big place to bury in the bsh.) 7: 0:05:32 (mumasi is the enclitic for wail) hiyol ogoo hum ogoo ogol heleb igung hiyol ogoo muma teleb igugund hiyol ogoo mohis yom om unim ogoo ogot agab heb igung mohis agabi nom unim ogoo tagab igung aga unim om mu amb igung uminn omboo noonn unim ogoo ogot agab heb igung om muma teleb heb igung sangool agabi isig inda ii heb igugund ina ii heb igugund endeteeng muma teleb igugund. muma teleb igugund. mumumb igung hobol nom ombul. ig mohis nom uma mumumb igung (if our parents die we'll wail and we'll hear and know. Mogam's child died and they buried him today. If someone from Kavaluku's family died we'd go there and wail, if one of us died they'd come wail here, Ingis too, Kobumbua, we all do it.) 8: 0:07:38 (long ago Sibil did that, now we just bury them. Long ago they called the name as they buried them, but we just bury them) 9: 0:08:26 (once we bury them we go and do other things like planting gardens.)

Speaker: Gusubonn and Alus

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1: 0:00:00 (we bury them) 2: 0:00:15 (if the person was bad, today others 1 day or 2. hwagis was buried quickly because of her sore) 3: 0:01:09 (all the men. If you see a body you bury it? yep, we all get it and put it in a grave. If you see a stranger on the road would you bury him? We'd all bury him yes) 4: 0:02:56 (men do it) 5: 0:03:11 (yeah we get planks and nails and make a coffin. If we have planks and nails we make a coffin, otherwise we use tree skin and wrap them.) 6: 0:03:57 (in hogumam, hogmam hulum. We don't put them all over, there are a few places we bury. Long ago they put people all over, now we have special places.) 7: 0:05:08 (If someone dies we won't know, but if we hear the wail we know. Does everyone wail? We all wail. If our parents or friend die we wail. For some non family members we wail. If we're in the place and we hear wailing we get food, tobacco and buai and go and give it and wail) 8: 0:06:51 (we put them in the grave we talk. We talk about the hevi and commit to good behaviour. Do you do that at the graveside or at home? At home. If a big landslide comes and buries someone and you can't bury them are you upset by that? It happened long ago, if someone was buried they'd just leave them.)

Speaker: Soso

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1: 0:00:00 (someone gets sick and dies we take them and leave them. We see them, wail and then we bury them. We get planks and build a coffin and bury them and scatter. Some people give food, eat and then bury.) 2: 0:01:11 (if someone died today and they were good we'd bury them at dawn, but if they were bad we'd bury them straight away.) 3: 0:01:38 (we all bury people) 4: 0:01:52 (not women, men do it) 5: 0:02:02 (yes sometimes, and sometimes we wrap them in sul. When you have planks you make a coffin and when you don't you use sul hoogu? yes) 6: 0:02:31 (in a burial place, we don't leave them just anywhere.) 7: 0:03:05 (When someone dies we wail. If someone from our place dies we'll all wail. Some will just leave their sorry. For some people we wail, for others we put sorry.) 8: 0:04:09 (if there's a leader he'll say something, if there isn't we'll just put them) 9: 0:04:32 (once they're buried we do other work. If someone dies in a landslide and they can't be buried is that a problem? We wouldn't bury them. Some white people bury a emtpy coffin if a body is lost at sea. We don't do that, we'd just wail.)