English | English For the Trobriands the most important event in the course of the year are the harvest ceremonies. The festivals, taking place in a period of abundance after the crop has been gathered, are opened with dances. Men and a few girls of the village square. A group begins to sing the ceremonial harvest songs, accompanied by drums. The dancers, dressed in skirts made of pandanus leaves and fibres from banana leaves, move in a circle round the sinders and drummers. After two to four hours a concluding dance is performed. The film presents the beginning of the ceremonies, a part of the songs of the cycles Usi veponu and Usi vetoi, and finally the end of this ritual inaugurating the festival in Tauwema village. |