Construction of the Upe Hat

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5.3 Construction of the Upe Hat

To a certain degree, the area of origin can be told by the shape of the Upe hat. Most hats made in the Tinputz-Teop area are tall and slender also a shape popular in the Pipipaia area. This style hat is over a meter tall. Keriaka men make the hats like a bulb and less than a meter tall. The Rotokas area, although not limited to the one shape, tends to be known for a flattened-bulb shaped hat. Regardless of the shape, the construction of the hat itself is much the same in all of these areas. It is interesting to note that the Beteriopaia, Mapiaro, and Sirioripaia villages do not make Upe hats. Moreover, in the past, because they did not have the “savvy” to make the hats, it was taboo for a man from this area to view an Upe hat. The taboo included severe consequences, if broken—even death. There are two types of hats: one for everyday use and a ceremonial hat for dances and celebrations. A “mock” Upe hat may occasionally be seen made by young boys imitating older brothers. It is made out of the grass leaves known as oareko. In order for an initiate to wear the ceremonial hat, he has to be marked as “ready” by the older men in the village. The hats are made by only a few knowledgeable, skilled men. In the past, the hats were purchased from these men by the boys’ parents. Beads, spears, bows and arrows, pigs, and later, money were used for payment. The hats are constructed of rattan for the frame, leaves from a type of limbum palm grown near the coast for the covering, natural dyes from plants for the coloring, and fine vine for stitching the leaves in place. Colored electrician’s tape is used nowadays to add to the color scheme. The frame is tied together with vine. It may be up to a meter in height. The frame forms the basic shape of the hat. Over the framework, limbum leaves virui are stretched and sewn in place. First, however, these leaves are “ironed” with hot stones in order to remove any creases. After being smoothed, some of the leaves are boiled in bamboo tubes with or without natural dyes. The colors are: red, blue, purple, and turquoise from tree roots and plant leaves. The limbum leaves, after being allowed to dry in the sun, are then sewn into place with very fine stitches. Designs on the hats are made by cutting patterns in the outside plain leaves exposing the colored layer within. The edges of the cut, plain outer leaves are then sewn to the colored layer. The final step is to wind bark twine around the “neck” of the hat which has been measured to fit the boy’s head. One of the Upe hat makers told us that it takes up to three days to put the design rigatoara on the hat. There are only a handful of men that we know of who are skilled in Upe hat construction. This does not mean that an unskilled man cannot attempt to make a hat, but the construction time will be significantly longer, not to mention anything about quality. When the men put the patterns on the ceremonial hats, they go to an isolated house in the bush. No one can enter the house nor disturb the man once the intricate work has been started. It is said that the hands work almost automatically, “Just like when a person writes a letter and doesn’t stop to think, of the movements he or she is making.” While the patterns are being created, these men are not to sleep with their wives lest their thoughts be diverted. There is a certain amount of secrecy that goes with the construction of the Upe hats. It is feared that other men could become jealous of a particular craftman’s skills and harm him by means of sorcery. The following incident illustrates this. Men from another area were suspected of jealousy because of the special attention which they had paid to Upe initiates and their hats made near Togarao. In response to the admiration and awe which these men showed, one felt obliged to pay them. He also paid K6 to have his own son, an initiate, carried on one of these men’s shoulders as part of the celebrations. In secret, and only after a friend negotiated with the main Upe leader, I was allowed to photograph the ceremonial hats of three Upe initiates in 1975 and of two more in 1982. A Rotokas friend had hoped that the pictures of these beautiful hats might be used on a PNG stamp or elsewhere to publicize this custom unique to Bougainville-Buka. 66 Outer plain covering removed from ceremonial hat The photographs, taken in 1975, were of three young men who first had plain hats on. After the first set of pictures were taken, two of the older men present removed the outer plain covering of the Upes to reveal beautifully and colorfully designed hats. We had taken every precaution to be where no one else could see what was happening, especially the women and girls. The second set of pictures, taken several years later, were of a friend’s two teenage sons. The friend had made both Upe hats himself and was pleased to have the pictures taken. Again, it was done in secrecy behind the buildings of the hamlet. Initially, the boys had cloth covering their hair. They went into a small building and put on their ceremonial hats for the photographs. After the pictures were taken, the hats were removed and I was allowed to take pictures of their shoulder-length hair. It had been smeared with coconut grease and soot, in order to make it appear very black and shiny. The younger son said that he had had his hat on since 1975, which I questioned because of the relatively short length of his hair. The Upe hat is made so that the mass of uncut hair accumulating over the months and years holds the hat in place on the initiate’s head. Nowadays, until the hair is sufficient to hold the hat in place, the Upe boys cover the thickening mass of hair with cloth bandannas. In the past, they spent this initial time away from the village and out of sight. Once the hair has grown sufficiently to hold the hat in place, it is called by a special term geegeru which pertains only to the long hair of Upe initiates. After having his photograph taken, one of the two boys explained about his hair. He said that an evil spirit tugarato resided in it. If I were to sit on his hair, the evil spirit would cause feces to come out of my nose and from underneath my fingernails and toenails. He attributed the spirit being to the Upe leaders who had “gathered” it from the jungle.

5.4 Related Taboos and Rites