Why do women in the Trobriand Islands wait and attack strange men from the bushes? (9 photos)

In the early 1900s, British anthropologist Bronislaw Caspar Malinowski, who spent several years studying the Trobriand Islands, wrote an ethnographic collection that gained wide popularity in the West.





One of the unusual traditions of the people from the Trobriand Islands, even in modern times, is the celebration of the yam festival, when the shaman of the tribe allows women to “hunt” and attack strange men in order to have sex with them?

What kind of tradition is this?



Anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski with the inhabitants of the Trobriand Islands, 1918

Now we will tell you more about this in our new article:

First, a short excursion into history



The Kiriwina Islands are an archipelago in the Solomon Sea in the southwest Pacific Ocean, and belong to Papua New Guinea.

This archipelago was discovered in the 18th century by the French navigator and captain Joseph Bruny D'Entrecasteaux, who gave it the name of his deputy, Lieutenant Denis de Trobriand.



Having landed on the island, the French discovered that this archipelago was inhabited by the Trobrianders - an indigenous Melanesian people living according to matrilineal traditions, where all property is inherited through the female line, people live in primitive huts and worship totems.



The Trobriand Islanders have been very good gardeners since ancient times, and their traditional agriculture is based on growing vegetables, domestic pigs and fishing.

However, the basis of food and sacred worship among the Trobrianders is the cultivation of oblong tubers of yams (something between potatoes and sweet potatoes). Each family has its own yam container in which the tubers are stored.

But why do the Trobrianders allow women to attack men during the celebration of the “yam festival”?



This intriguing society, isolated from the Pacific Ocean, follows unique cultural rules and customs that seem almost alien to the modern world.

According to Trobriander legend, the yam plant is the food they receive from the gods. Yams are also a major currency, an indicator of wealth and status for both men and women.

An interesting aspect of Trobriand culture is the correlation between the prominence of yams in society and its sexual tradition.



The Trobrianders believe that yams have the shape of the “male organ”, which is why, in order to ensure that they receive a rich harvest of yams every year, the tribe organizes a magnificent festival of sweet potatoes (yams) in order to appease the gods.

During this festival, women are officially "allowed" to ambush strange men from other tribes in order to attack them and have sex with them against their will. Allegedly, if a woman manages to become pregnant, it means she will receive a blessing from the gods and the yam harvest in her tribe next year will be high. If a man cannot or resists, then women must bite off his eyebrows and eyelashes.

It's also funny that the yams that the Trobriand Islanders eat contain natural hormones that prevent children from being conceived. Therefore, Trobriand girls very rarely become pregnant during the Yam Festival.

For example, one Australian, Nick Nolan, traveling through these islands, reported that during this festival he was twice attacked by a group of women and (virtually) raped against his will. The first time it happened, Nick wrote that it was a terrifying experience, although after the second time he came to the conclusion that it wasn't that bad for him.



“They attack an unknown man when he is alone and exploring the area, comes to the beach to swim or take photographs. It must always be a stranger or a man from another clan; women will never attack men from their village. Therefore, the local festival is a very dangerous time for a man walking around these islands alone. Just in case, many locals at this time“They prefer to walk in twos or even threes,” writes Nick Nolan.

The sweet potato (yam) festival is held only once a year, in August, so it is better not to go there at this time, otherwise this cruel fate may befall you too!

Although, if you, of course, want to explore this practice for scientific purposes, it is not easy to get to the Trobriand Islands today, but it is quite possible.