Yali is a small indigenous community residing in the autonomous Papua province of Indonesia. The Yali people mostly live in the hilly areas and their main towns of concentration are Anggurak and Kosarek. The total population of the Yali tribe ranges from 25,000 to 30,000 and members of this tribe speak a local language called Yali which is a part of the Ngali-Nduga languages family. The Papua province is a site to many such tribes which are similar to each other in many ways but still, there are so many unique differences between them that are worthy of being discussed in detail in the upcoming articles.
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Sub-tribes
The yali tribe is normally divided into the below-mentioned two sub-groups.
Highland Yalis
The highland Yalis live in the mountains of the Papuan region. Though both the sub-tribes are very similar in their cultures and traditions yet there are some of the differences which I am going to mention here.
The highland Yalis are very hard to approach since they live in the mountains at a height of about 2000-2500meters above the sea level. Their main staple food is sweet potato. Their clothes also differ from the lowland Yali tribe which we will discuss in the “clothes section”.
Lowland yalis
These people live in the plain regions mostly and their main staple food is sogo palm. The lowland Yalis are less affected by the outside influences compared to the highland Yalis due to their isolation from the modern world.
Origin
There is no authentic written history about the origin of the Yali people but according to historians, they are one of the indigenous communities living in the Papuan region for centuries. The Tribe had no contact with outside world till the 1960s and is still living in a more or less autonomous region under the control of Indonesia. This autonomous region is not only home to the Yali community but is also to other unique and isolated tribes and this area in which these tribes are living is collectively named as Yalimo.
Religion
Before their contact with the world, the Yali tribe believed in animism. However, in the 1960s when missionaries entered the region under the protection of Dutch colonial forces, the majority of Yalis converted to Christianity. Nowadays most of the Yali people follow Christianity with some still holding onto their beliefs of animism in which they believe that there are spirits in jungles and mountains in which they live.
Ceremonies
The main ceremony of the Yali people is their participation in the Baliem Valley celebrations. The festival which coincides with the independence of the Republic of Indonesia become a major meeting for all the tribes living in Papuan region. Pig racing, cooking, mock battles, rattan spear throwing, and other games are an important part of the festivals in which people from different tribes compete with each other. The main food offered at the ceremony is pig roast. Music and dance also play an important part in glamorizing the occasion further.
Clothes
There is a great similarity between the clothes of the both Yali sub-tribes but still, we would describe their clothes separately which would make it easy to identify the differences. People of both tribes wear sheaths around the male genitals for protection.
In Highland Yalis, the men wear Rattan skirts along with Kotekas (Pensis sheaths) around their body to cover their genitals. The Rattan skirt covers their body from the breast down to their knees and it is holed up by the koteka which is connected to it on the front end. The Highland Yali women wear a shorter skirt which covers only the female genitals and the breast is left bare. The skirt consists of front and rear parts. The front part covers the waist whereas the rear end covers the backs of the females. A big bouncing ball is also used which hangs from the bodies of the females and covers the backs too. When a girl reaches four years of age, she is asked to wear clothes which consist of only one layer. A layer is added after each successive four years and thus when the number of layers becomes four, it means the girl has reached the age of marriage.
In the lowland Yalis, the men don’t wear any skirts in contrast to the highland Yalis. The only thing that lowland Yali men wear is Koteka or penis sheath. The women in lowland Yalis wear a single layer of grass clothes which are much longer and almost covers the whole body.
Music
The Yali tribe along with other Papuan tribes use different musical instruments during their celebrations and festivities such as Pikon, Tifa, Krombi, Yi, Triton and Guoto etc. The Pikon, Yi and Krombi are made up of the bamboo plant and vibrations are produced in these musical instruments by pulling the string attached to it. Tifa is a drum which is made up of wood with deer skin on top of it to produce sounds. Triton is made up of shells whereas Guoto from the skin of the fox.
The members of the Yali tribe dance on the tunes of these instruments at the time of celebrations.
Code of conduct
- Polygamy
The Yali tribe generally practice polygamy i-e a man can have multiple wives at a time.
- Very friendly people
Though in the past they used to be cannibals yet they are very friendly and loving people nowadays. They give a warm welcome to any person visiting their areas.
- Isolated
The hallmark of the tribe is its isolation from the outside and modern ways of life. They are preserving their culture and any outside influence is highly discouraged.
Tribal Traits
- Extreme less height
The Yali people are also known as “pygmies” because of their extremely low heights. The normal height of a man ranges from 140 to 150cm which is very low compared to the normal human beings.
- Cannibalism
Yali is one of the rarest tribes some members of which still eat the flesh of human beings. Though this practice has declined significantly over the years yet still their enemy fear them because of this dangerous custom. The yali tribe would attack their enemy tribes and take away people of that tribe. The prisoners would then be chopped and eaten in a festivities. The bones of the humans would grinded and mixed with the dust and thrown into the valley of the enemy to terrify them.
- Penis Sheath
The men in the Yali Tribe wear a sheath to cover and protect their genitals and this sheath is called “Koteka”. The Koteka is normally made from dried-out Gourd and can be straight or rounded in structure. The koteka is attached to the body of the men by a loop of wire at the lower end.
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- Living in shelters
The yali people live in huts made up of palm leaves.
Food
The main staple food of the lowland Yali tribe is Sogo which is made up of Sogo Palm and sweet potato in case of highland Yalis. The favorite fruit of Yali tribe is Pandan fruit. The As already discussed, in the past they used to be cannibals but that practice has declined over the years after their contact with the modern world. Nowadays they eat flesh but not of humans.