Tiwini, Auwini and Lambuaka are the major tribes living on the north side of the Lagaip River to the west of Mulitaka in the Lyalama and Lyeim areas. Due to limits on time and resources in our oral history project, we were not able to cover the Lyeim and Lyalama areas as they are remote and can only be covered on lengthy foot patrols. On two separate occasions we sent out educated Engans from the Mulitaka area to collect information, but they turned back due to tribal fighting in the area after limited success. The history given here is that we collected from members of these clans who were visiting relatives in Mulitaka and Porgera. Unfortunately, it is far from complete.
Tiwini
We were unable to obtain as much information for Tiwini as for Auwini and Lambuaka, because Tiwini men sometimes come to market at Mulitaka and Tumundane. Tiwini claim their place of origin to be at Ipau near the Lagaip River between Mulitaka and Lyalama. Their origin story begins with a group of Tiwini people who are said to be descendants of the forest being Tombeama who is also mentioned in connection with the origin of other tribes around the Auguma range, Kundiki, Kisipini and Yangutini:
A long time ago there was a group of people called Tiwini. Tiwini were descendants of the forest being, Tombeama. At a time when many marsupials were feeding on kupini trees (breadfruit), a Tiwini man went out to hunt them. When he didn’t return, another went to look for him and also disappeared. One by one the other Tiwini men went out looking for their brothers and one by one they disappeared.
What had happened was that the first man who went into the forest found a Kepa possum in a kupini tree and tried to kill it. It turned out that the possum was not a possum at all, but a forest demon or boogeyman disguised as a possum. The forest demon ate the first man who came into the forest hunting as well as all of his brothers who came looking for him. Soon there was only one Tiwini man left, who will be called Tiwini in this legend.
Tiwini went into the forest to try to find out what had happened to his brothers. He came to the same tree where his brothers had seen the possum and saw that the bark of the tree had been scratched by possum claws. At the foot of the tree were remains that reeked of death, broken arrows, torn pieces of men’s aprons and chewed up belts. He knew immediately that they were from his brothers who had disappeared in the forest and that they had been devoured by the forest demons.
Tiwini went back home, armed himself with his bow and arrows and went back to the kupini tree. He hid in the bushes near the tree and watched. After some time, two forest demons appeared at the foot of the kupini tree. They could not see Tiwini and went about their business. Then, before Tiwini’s very eyes, one changed into a kepa possum, climbed the kupini tree and crawled into a hollow in the tree. The other demon stood beside the tree waiting for more prey to turn up.
This time, however, the demon was mistaken. He was the hunted and not the hunter. Tiwini fitted an arrow in his bow and pulled back the string. He let the arrow fly, and it hit its mark. The demon fell to the ground and his friend, who had turned into a possum, appeared as a demon again, climbed down the tree and collected the dead body thinking that it was another corpse from the prey they had hunted for so long. He carried the corpse to his house, laid it on the ground and only then realized that it was his own brother who lay there dead.
Tiwini did not turn back but kept following the forest demon who carried the body of his dead brother to a cave in the rocky cliffs where he had put the other corpses. He took refuge there to hide from the Tiwini man. In the rock shelter, the demon mourned the death of his brother.
Tiwini, who was pursuing the forest demon, arrived at the rockshelter and saw him mourning. He quietly approached, shot, and wounded him with an arrow. The demon fled by the Waipaka path that led into the deep forest, but the wound forced him to slow down. Exhausted and unable to go on, he built a fortress and waited for his hunter. Tiwini did not come; he had turned back. Later the forest demon made his way east to Waianda cave near Pumasa in the headwaters of the Lagaip at a place called Tupangusa. There he made his new home.
Tiwini, the sole male survivor of his group, married and had three children, a son named Kongolo and two daughters Kaipa and Wapeme. Kongolo fathered Kewasa and Apako, Kaipa gave birth to Tipula, and Wapeme to Maia. I cannot tell you the sons of Wapeme and Maia.
(Bilipa Waia of the Tiwini Kongola clan, Lauka)
This myth is one and the same as that for the origin of the Tiwini Kepele ritual, which was held at Ipau near the Lagaip River, west of Mulitaka, where the demon threw away the clothes and bones of the slain Tiwini men. With the slaying of the forest demon and overcoming the dangers of the forest, the Kepele ritual began. It is in many ways similar to the origin myth for the Yamape tribe of Kandep which also involves the slaying of a demon who was devouring its members.
Although it is difficult to give any precise interpretation of the Tiwini origin myth, it expresses both a dependence on the forest for hunting and a fear of the forest that is not found in myths of tribes such as Bipi, who, according to their oral history, were primarily dependent on hunting and gathering before the coming of the sweet potato. It is an unusual origin myth because it does not explain the origin of the tribal founder as most origin myths do, but rather the story of the first Tiwini man who overcame the demons of the forest.
The Tiwini origin myth may very well be one of shifting horticulturalists who were constantly having to clear forest for garden land and thus distinguished between hospitable cleared areas and potentially hostile forest ones. Or it could also be a myth of a people who have settled down to horticulture from hunting and gathering. Whatever interpretation is preferred, it clearly implies events associated with overcoming dangers of the forest.
We were unable to get a complete Tiwini genealogy and list of clans, but most Tiwini clans are located in the vicinity of Lyalama today.
CLANS AND LOCATIONS
Tiwini
| Clan | Location |
|---|---|
| Malataini | Yango |
| Laipyaine | Tambusa |
| Kaimuli | Wanepap |