Monday, March 26, 2007

Headhunter Corpse Paint

Check out this utterly beautiful photoset by Eric Lafforgue, of the Mount Hagen Festival on Papua New Guinea.

The Festival is one of the most important occasions for ceremonial display for the culturally extremely diverse population of the island. There are more than 700 (!) language groups on the Melanesian island, each having it's own distinct cultural identity, beliefs, art forms. Many of these groups practiced head-hunting in the past, keeping the skull of a slain enemy as a magical trophy and as a proof of a warrior's prowess.

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