Of all the tribes in the Wabag area, Yanaitini is the only one that has its origins in the east. Others either trace their origin to their current place of residence or to the west. When Yanaitini migrated some 15-20 km up the Lai valley to Wabag from the Yaibosa-Pompabusa area, it assumed a major role in the trade, giving it a complex and fascinating history.
Yanaitini was originally the brother tribe of Itokone whose place of origin and settlement was at Tilyaposa near Pompabusa in the middle Lai valley. There is one legend that traces Itokone and Yanaitini’s ancestors to the Tambul area in Western Highlands, but this was not widely confirmed. It may therefore refer to a smaller group that later joined Itokone or be an explanation for Itokone’s trade ties with the Tambul area.
Itokone and Yanaitini were in a strong position, as described in early oral traditions. Their land near Tilyaposa contained the only significantly large axe stone quarry in Enga. Most other high quality axe stones came from quarries in Western Highlands. Trade brought Itokone tribesmen on journeys south to the Kandep area and west to the Lagaip. Presumably it was on these journeys for trade that Itokone discovered and laid claim to some of the area in the Yandapo near Laiagam with salt springs. The following is the Yanaitini historical tradition of how Itokone obtained land in the Yandapo by Itokone ‘by waking up early’, in other words, realizing the value of the salt springs early on and claiming a good part of the land. Sambe came later and laid claim to a smaller share:
“Long ago Itokone and Sambe made an agreement that they would meet on a certain day to decide how to divide the land in the Yandapo between them. They set the day and time to meet. Itokone got up very early and climbed up a high mountain called Yakopamanda. From there he looked around in all directions, saw all the land below him, and felt elated by the view. He chopped wood, built a fire on Mt. Yakopamanda and sat there waiting for Sambe to come. Sambe climbed the mountain very slowly and arrived later. By this time Itokone had used up most of the firewood in the area.
When Sambe reached the top of the mountain, Itokone said to him, “I slept here and came very early, but I see that you have arrived very late. It must be because you already have all the land you need.” They decided to draw the boundary line from that point and put a post in the ground to mark the boundary. Itokone got the larger part of the land. Later Itokone went and talked to men from the Yandapo Apulini clans of Mamai and Kopale to tell them of the agreement.”
(Pasala Laoala, Yanaitini Kia clan of Tetemanda)
Although it is usually said that Itokone and Yanaitini were brothers, further interviews revealed that Itokone’s brother was named Namuni and that it was Namuni who moved to Tetemanda and gave birth to Yanaitini and Kainawaingi. Namuni was known to be bad-mannered and a troublemaker. The following is the legend of how Namuni, Yanaitini’s father and Itokone’s brother, settled at Tetemanda. This version of the tradition is told in the more popular form in which Yanaitini is named in place of his father Namuni:
“The origin legend of Yanaitini begins with two brothers, Itokone and Yanaitini (Namuni). They were originally from the area near Pompabusa where the Itokone tribe lives today. When Itokone was on his way from his home at Tilyaposa to the Nakatima salt springs near Mulisosa, he stopped at Tetemanda. Tetemanda at that time was a jungle of yumbi trees. There he built himself a small hut and continued on his journey to the salt springs. When he arrived, he cut up pieces of dry wood and put them in the pool of salt water to soak. Since they had to soak for several months, he returned to Tetemanda, planted sweet potatoes and other crops behind his small house, and went home to Tilyaposa.
Some months later Itokone got his mother, sister and brother and returned to the salt pools to take out the wood and burn it into the ash which contained salt. When they had finished, they started home and spent the night at Tetemanda. Itokone saw that the crops he had planted earlier were growing well, particularly the sweet potato, and realized that the land was fertile. He considered settling there permanently.
The next morning, Itokone told his brother that he was planning to move to Tetemanda and asked him to take their mother and sister back home to Tilyaposa. He urged them to cook and eat their breakfast quickly and get an early start for the long and tiring journey.
When the food was ready, Itokone noticed that Yanaitini was not eating and asked him what the matter was. Yanaitini did not reply, so Itokone guessed what was on his mind. He asked Yanaitini if he himself would like to stay at Tetemanda and Yanaitini said yes. So, they agreed that Yanaitini should stay at Tetemanda and that Itokone should take his mother and sister back to Tilyaposa.
Before they left, Itokone made the agreement with his brother that since the distance between Tilyaposa and the salt quarry was long, that Yanaitini should make salt and send it to Itokone and that Itokone would send Yanaitini stone axes. Itokone then left with his mother and sister and Yanaitini (Namuni) stayed at Tetemanda.
(Note: below Pyasala leaves out one generation. Apparently, Namuni, Itokone’s brother, married an Itapuni woman and had two sons, Yanaitini and Kainawaingi): Later Yanaitini also married an Itapuni woman and had two sons Kepa and Paule. Paule later got married and had four sons, Piau, Kokopa, Neneo and Kalinatae. Kalinatae stayed with his grandfather Yanaitini, while the others including Kepa spread out and built their houses in their current locations. Kalinatae built a house at Yambikutisa at Aipinimanda and lived there with his grandfather.
While they were living there, Yanaitini fell ill and Kalinatae, realizing that he might die, took his grandfather’s bundle of charms (takameyaki) to attract wealth. (In other versions Yanaitini distributes his wealth). Later, Kepa and Paule’s other sons arrived. Seeing that Kalinatae had already taken the bundle of charms, Kepa took the pig rope and the club for killing pigs (skill in pig raising). Neneo took the bamboo knife. (The bamboo knife makes a clean, sharp cut and thus is a metaphor for skill in public speaking). Kokopa the spear (skill in fighting), Piau took the stick for planting taro (skill in taro growing) and Kondakana took Yanaitini’s digging stick (skill in gardening).”
(Pyasala Laoala, Yanaitini Kia clan of Tetemanda. (Wabag)
In a similar version of this legend told by Pisoto Pisini of the Yanaitini Piau Kumbini clan, it is mentioned at the end that Yanaitini had planted sweet potatoes at the salt springs some years after he had settled at Tetemanda. A man by the name of Monaini came from the Kasapa area in the Lagaip and stole sweet potatoes that he had planted. A man of unknown origin told Yanaitini about the incident and Yanaitini then sent a message to Monaini that at some time he would come and fight him. Later after Yanaitini distributed his wealth to his sons and grandsons, he told them to put on long ceremonial aprons and to dress up to go to fight Monaini in ceremonial wars or tournament fights.
They did, and this began a long series of great tournament fights, the Great Ceremonial Wars (Great Wars), that took place in Sirunki with the Kaimuli Sambe clan hosting Yanaitini and the Lyaini tribe hosting Monaini. (Wiessner and Tumu 1998, ch. 10). These formalized Great Wars were followed by extensive feasting and exchange. They were fought periodically over the generations from approximately the seventh generation (ca. 1800) until the 1930’s. Pisoto himself remembers going to fight in one of these wars that played an important role in increasing the flow of trade between the Lai and Lagaip valleys. The competing tribes paid generous compensation to hosting tribes and allies during feasts that attracted spectators and participants from many surrounding tribes. In more recent generations, Yanaitini gave up its land in the Yandapo to Sambe Kaimuli as part of the payment for being its host in an episode of the great tournament fights with Monaini.
The descendants of Yanaitini spread up the ridge that separates the Lai from the Ambum valley and towards Wabag on the Lai valley side. Then, in approximately the seventh generation, a vicious war broke out between Lyaini-Sakalini and Pumane and Aiele in the upper Ambum and Yakani and Sene-Yokasa in the lower Ambum. Yanaitini, seeing a chance to obtain land in the Ambum, came to the aid of Lyaini-Sakalini and Yakani. When most Pumane and Aiele and Sene-Yokasa had been driven out of the Ambum valley to Kompiam, a small group of Sene-Yokasa still remained at Limandomates near Aipinimanda. Yanaitini came down from the ridge top and finished off most of them. It is said that their skeletal remains could be seen by the riverside until recently. Then Yanaitini clans then moved into some of the land vacated by Sene-Yokasa on the southern side of the Ambum valley. In the generations after it settled at Tetemanda, Yanaitini played an increasingly important role as middleman in east-west trade. The fact that Itokone was its brother tribe gave it strong ties to the eastern part of the province.
Kainawangi
In the Yanaitini origin story, it is mentioned that Yanaitini had a brother Kainawangi. Although Kainawangi’s descendants were many fewer than Yanaitini’s, their history is worth mentioning as it gives an overview of adventure, intrigue and interaction early on in oral history.
While Yanaitini settled at Tetemanda and later moved up to Aipinimanda with Kalinatae, Namuni’s other son, Kainawangi settled at Langatesa just below Wabag. As the number of people in the Wabag area gradually increased, people were no longer interested in small fights. The Great Wars between the tribes became the center of everybody’s attention. For instance, Yanaitini went up to Sirunki to fight Monaini, while Malipini and Potealini joined forces and fought Itapuni and Awaini. Meanwhile, Lyaini and Sakalini and Yakani were at war with Pumane, Aiele, Sene and Yokasa:
One day Malipini and Potealini men came to Yanaitini and asked,
“Would you kill an Itapuni or Awaini man for us so we can continue to fight our Great War?”
“We do not live near Itapuni or Awaini, so that would be difficult for us,” answered Yanaitini. Go to Kainawangi who lives at Langetesa right next to Itapuni and he will do the job for you.” Some men from the Malipini Kamaniwane clan then went to Langatesa and said to Kainawangi,
“Will you kill an Itapuni Kala man for us and then join us in the Great War?”
“I do not want to leave my land,” Kainawangi protested. “What land do you have to offer me if I join in your conspiracy?”
“We have land which is just as good as yours. If you do what we are asking you to do, then we will give it to you. Come and take a look at it,” the Kamaniwane men answered they took Kainawangi to Kaiapa and showed him the land in the Ambum valley down at Kokale and Lowale. The land was very fertile, and sugarcane and taro grew well there. The Kamaniwane men repeated their offer. “We will give you all of this land and any girl of your choice if you go and kill a Kala for us and then join us in fighting our big war.”
In those times, before engaging in a Great War, both sides met first, talked the matter over and made an agreement as to when and where they should fight. So, after Kainawangi went down to Mangi and killed a Kala man, he returned to Kaiapa for discussions.
Meanwhile, Itapuni and Awaini thought that Yanaitini had killed their man and declared war against Yanaitini. However, Yanaitini protested, “We did not do it. Malipini, Potealini and Kainawangi did this to provoke you into fighting another battle of your great fight with them. They paid a man to kill your man. Go to Sari and fight your war, meet your real enemy there and fight directly with them.” So it was at Sari that another episode of the Great Wars between Malipini-Potealini and Itapuni-Awaini broke out.
Kainawangi stayed at Kaiapa preparing to marry the two girls who had been selected for him. One day when there was a sing-sing at Pimisa hosted by Sakatawana, Kainawangi dressed himself up and went to the dance. While he was dancing, a Waematae woman from the Sakalini tribe came and danced beside him. At the end of the day, she proposed to Kainawangi that they go to sleep in his house. He accepted the offer and brought her to his house at Kaiapa. In the morning the Kamaniwane men told him flatly,
“We were planning to give you two of our girls in marriage, but since you have chosen another by yourself, we will no longer do this. We will pay the bridewealth to the family of the Waematae woman for you.” And they did.
Kainawangi and his Waematae wife lived at Kaiapa and moved back and forth from his new land to his wife’s place in the upper Ambum. On one journey they left for Kumiwangilo in the upper Ambum carrying some sweet potatoes. On their way they stopped at Saka near Anditale and as they looked around, they noticed that the land looked fertile. They buried the sweet potatoes there and continued their journey. They reached Kumiwangilo and stayed there for a long time before returning home.
On their way back to Kaiapa, they arrived at Saka and discovered that the sweet potatoes that they had buried had grown vines. From their thick stems, they could see that they had grown large new tubers. Kainawangi and his wife weeded out the area in which they had buried the sweet potatoes, cleared the bushes, and made the area into a garden.
Seeing that the land was good and that all food crops grew well there, Kainawangi laid claim to the land. He called the land “Saka” which means fertile and new. He and his Waematae wife settled there, and she gave birth to a son whom he named Kaiema. When Kaiema grew up, he also moved back and forth from the Waematae area and married a woman from the Waematae Kukupa clan. They had one son whose name was Laiea, and a second son named Pandipu.
From Saka, Laiea, Kainawangi’s grandson, went to the Sambe area and married a woman named Yaplumi from the Sakate clan of Sambe in Laiagam. Yapumi gave birth to two sons, Tandala and Laka. Around this time a tribal fight had broken out between the Sambe and Kunalini tribes near Papyuka (Laiagam) over the issue of a stolen dog collar. Sambe drove some Kunalini groups out of Laiagama over Sirunki and into the upper Ambum near Kainawangi’s land at Saka and across the valley to where they are settled today. This land was empty since it had been abandoned by Pumane and Aiele tribes who fled to the Kompiam area after a tribal fight with them. After Kunalini groups had been driven into the Ambum by Sambe, the two tribes continued to fight on the westernfront of Kunalini’s land. Laiea supplied attacking Sambe forces with food because they were his wife’s relatives. Kunalini, who had noticed this, decided to drive out Laiea along with Sambe and take over his land after he left. He told Laiea,
“You have been helping Sambe in this war because you are his in-law, when they withdraw, you must also leave.”
When the war ended, Laiea was afraid to remain behind and so he moved to his wife’s area near Laiagam. There he caused trouble which resulted in a fight in which his wife was killed. He then married her younger sister Piame and brought his family down to Wabag. He settled at the place where the community school is today, and this place was called Laiagama in memory of Laiea. From there his descendants expanded and occupied part of the area which was later given to the white men when they established government headquarters at Wabag. Later Laiea married three more wives. Papaimi, a woman from the Sakalini Ambusi clan, Teame a woman from the Sakalini Yomo clan, and Pepokame, an Itapuni woman from Wabag. Today some of the sub-clans founded by Laiea’s sons still reside at Saka in the upper Ambum while others live at Wabag. The sons of Laiea’s brother Pandipu live near Wabag today. They are all considered to be Yanaitini tribes-people.
CLANS AND LOCATIONS
Yanaitini
| Clan | Location | Nearest school or aidpost |
|---|---|---|
| Kaimanguni | Manjopa/Landapmanda | Kunsis/Sari |
| Saekone | Lakyamanda | Wakumale |
| Kumbini | Tole/Kundis | Kaiap/Kundis |
| Kia | Teremanda | Wabag/Sari |
| Yapakone | Aipinimanda | Par/Sari |
| Kalepatae | Aipinimanda | Par/Sari |
| Neneo | Waipu | Par |
| Kokopa | Mukutisa | Sari |
| Lanekepa | Lypamanda | Wabag/Par |
Kainawangi (usually considered Yanaitini)
| Clan | Location | Nearest school or aidpost |
|---|---|---|
| Piame Tandala | Saka | Anditale |
| Piame Laka | Wabag | Wabag |
| Kailali | Saka | Anditale |
| Papaimi | Saka | Anditale |
| Teame | Saka | Anditale |
| Pepokame | Wabag | Wabag |
| Lae | Wabag | Wabag |
| Waipape | Wabag | Wabag |
Note: These clans listed above are small; they probably should be considered sub-clans. Many of these sub-clans are named after Laiea’s wives rather than after his sons.