Baramu language

'Baramu' is the name of a place/ village in the Middle Fly District of the Western Province of Papua New Guinea. The name generally refers to the villages speaking the Baramu language.[1]

Overview

The name Baramu covers four (4) tribes: the eastern tribe Odag or Odai (Zebulon & Yahud) composed of Madame, Wederehiamo, Tirio (Madir) villages, the middle tribe (Levi) composed of Baramu and Tapila villages and the western tribe (Benei) composed of Lewada, Suame and Bitur villages (Gomoga 2007).[2] These tribes are located on the southern banks of the Fly River, between Kouoro and Bitur rivers (Gomoga 2007).

The Baramu speaking people use dugout outrigger canoes for everyday activities such as fishing, hunting and transportation and until the mid-twentieth century, the tribes and clans living in villages typically consisted of a single communal thatched-roof longhouse.[3]

A warrior from the Baramu tribe welcomes the leaders at Madiri Village during the 2007 National Elections.

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Intending candidates speaking to the tribe during the 2007 National Elections.

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Traditional Dancing group listening to the intending candidates, making speeches.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Traditional_Dancing_Group.jpg

History

About the mid-century, the Baramu speaking tribes were reduced to just one village that had only one long house because of the battles against the neighboring tribes. To the east with the Kiwai (Zebus or Zebulon) speaking tribes, to the west with Suki (Kamakaram) and Bine speaking tribes (Benei) who called themselves "Headhunters" [4] and to the south with Gidra and Abom speaking tribes. The three (3) Baramu speaking tribes combined as one (1) man and eventually drove out the warriors from the east and the southern tribes and with the help from the Gogodala warriors, Baramu speaking tribe eventually subdued the Headhunters at Kaisaware, Zair (Somogi) Island and saved Weredai or Were (Kiunum) speaking tribe from been annihilated from the tribes in Western Province (Gomoga, 2007).

From oral histories, the Baramu speaking ancestors were part of the other tribes, the Gogodala to the north across the fly river, Kiwai to the east, the Weredai or Were (Kiunum) and Suki (Kamakaram) towards the west and the Bine, Gidra and Abom speaking tribes to the south. Baramu speakers trace their lineage to the original members of the tribe who settled in the area after the break away from Iyasa or Isa (Israel) and Samari (Samara) villages, Kiwai Islands. All of the tribes in Western Province trace their lineage to the two boats which their ancestors used to travel to Western Province, Papua New Guinea (Wilde 2004). It is said that these original boats are still intact, but hidden (Gomoga, 2007).

The Baramu tribes have a tribe-based kinship system and trace their origins to the three tribes said to originate from their ancestors (Wilde 2004). It is said that during the 1st temple period over 2000 years ago, when King Solomon knew that Jerusalem was to be destroyed, he ordered eleven replicates of the Ark of the Covenant Box be made and filled with gold, Silver and iron. These replicates with the original were put on twelve boats with 12 parties composed of Judah, Levites, Benjamin and Zebulon and sent to the four corners of the earth to hide the Ark of the Covenant Box. Three went north, the other three went south, the other three went west and three went east. Out of three destined for the east, only two made it into Papua New Guinea because one sunk at the port of departure (Gomoga, 2007).

With the knowledge of Ezras, the earth been round, the two (2) boats that went east across the Sokara (Indian Ocean) to Dese (Australia) where the Australian Aborigines were left and eventually into Papua New Guinea and West Papua. From Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Fijians went further east and the West Papuans took the western part of the Island and settled in Irian Jaya. The boats that went west, sailed across the Atlantic Ocean and into America and there American Aborigines (Native Indians) settled, however, the Samoans, Tongans and Maoris travel further west eventually rejoining the parties that traveled east and turned south and settled in New Zealand (Gomoga, 2007). These were the first Israeli tribes that went out from Israel before the slave trade (mostly of the Israeli tribes, now African American) in the 1600 to the 1800.[5]

Within each of the four tribes, people are further divided into eight clans, which trace their lineage back to the primary ancestors and tribes. The premise of this tribal system is a marriage practice that continues to be organized along the lines of a prescribed tribe exchange system adhering to bloodlines and referred to as 'sister-exchange and the men are not allowed to intermarry within their own tribes but are allowed to take wives from the other three tribes and exchange sisters. The bloodlines are kept sacred (Wilde 2004, Gomoga 2007). The chiefly leadership is closely tied to the four tribes, but final decision on how tribes were organised was made by the chief of the tribe of Judah (Yahud).

The eight clans are divided according to the tribes, the Umaidi and Pidimo clans belong to the Odag or Odei tribe (Yahud), Idudmo, Bugumo clans belong to the middle tribe (Levi)and Ebaimo, Binamon, Banarom and Tapamo clans belong to the western tribe (Benei) and Kiwai speaking people to the tribe of Zebulon (Gomoga 2007). Moreover, it is said that all plants and creatures on the land, fish and creatures of the seas and the birds and creatures of the air are classified according to these eight clans and these clans have their own eight colours (Gomoga, 2007).

The Bible and the Tribes

When the first Unevangelized Field Mission (UFM) missionaries from the London Mission Society (LMS) came into Papua New Guinea, they settled at Madiri and begun to teach the tribe the Biblical History (Torah) and the Gospel. The tribes recognized the Biblical History (Torah), however, the elders rejected it because they found that the Biblical History (Torah) had been tempered with and the missionaries were teaching half the truth. There is a tribal punishment for people spreading half truths and lies. Why would the creator be really angry and banish Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden? I was told that after Eve ate of the tree of knowledge she committed a sexual sin with the fallen angel who seduced her and later Adam took part in a sexual orgy. The tribal elders executed the tribal punishment on the missionaries wife and she visited many of the elders around the tribe. For this reason the LMS moved their missionaries from Madiri to Wasuwa and eventually into Balimo (Gomoga, 2007). I was told by the elders that apart from the Bible, there are other ancient books where details of these histories have been preserved(Gomoga, 2007).

Today the tribe still awaits the true Biblical History account and the Gospel and believe that only the truth will set them free.

Baramu
Native to Papua New Guinea
Native speakers
 850 (2000 census)[6]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 bmz
Glottolog bara1378[7]

Baramu is Papuan language of New Guinea.

  1. ↑ Gomoga, J. " Oral Histories, Original notes, Baramu Village, Western Province, Papua New Guinea." (July, 2007)
  2. ↑ Crawford, A. I. "AIDA, Life and Ceremony of the Gogodala", (1981). 408 pages
  3. ↑ Wilde, C. "From Racing to Rugby: All Work and No Play for Gogodala Men of Western Province, Papua New Guinea." Australian Journal of Anthropology v. 15 no. 3 (December 2004) p. 286-302
  4. ↑ Martin, Graham C, "The Story of Gesi, One of the Notorious Suki Headhunters and the Influence of the Lord Jesus Christ upon him. 2nd edition. Sydney: ANZEA Publishers, (1982), pp 214
  5. ↑ This eyewitness account appears in Falconbridge, Alexander, An Account of the Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa (1788); Curtin, Phillip D. Atlantic Slave Trade (1969); Matheson, William Law, Great Britain and the Slave Trade, 1839-1865 (1967).
  6. ↑ Baramu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  7. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Baramu". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
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