Wintua Men's house exterior

During the first fieldwork among the Mewun in 1974, villages had no men's houses, although these definitely were important and present in pre-colonial times. Since Independence, each Mewun village has a men's house again. Traditionally, the men's house was tabu for women although young boys began to stay there early in their lives. Today, the re-emergence of the men's houses signifies the clear division that continues between the genders.

Different species of colored leaves are used to distinguish women's ritual ceremonies from those of men. The plants with green and yellow leaves are used for women's areas and dances; the plants that have multicolored leaves of red, green and yellow, like those planted in front of the men's house are connected with men's areas and rituals.

• Summer 1981

• Larcom, Joan

• Skinner-Jones, Ann

• Land and Custom Sustained and Revived

• Melanesia
• Oceania
• Pacific Islands
• South West Bay (Malakula, Vanuatu)
• Wintua (Malekula, Vanuatu)

• Building
• Dwellings
• Manners and customs
• Plants, Ornamental

• image

• No linguistic content; Not applicable

• Skinner-Jones, Ann

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2021-11-16