West Papua in addition to storing a variety of extraordinary natural tourism beauty such as Raja Ampat, West Papua also has folklore or legends of the people of West Papua that you may not have known before.
4 Legendary West Papua Folklore
Many folklore from West Papua are still being retold today, especially to children and the next generation. Here are some West Papua folklore that are quite famous and fun to follow.
1. The Legend of the Dragon Conqueror Biwar
The first folk tale is the Legend of Biwar the Conqueror of the Dragon. This legend tells of a young man from Papua who managed to defeat the Dragon. This story starts from a long time ago when there was a young man named Biwar from Mimika Papua. Once upon a time, this young man is said to have fought a dragon in a cave in the interior of Papua.
This dragon is said to have killed his father and uncle. At the end of the story, the dragon managed to stab Biwar until his head was almost severed. Then the dragon was buried or buried with rocks in the cave. Until finally Biwar was greeted by the villagers with great joy. Now finally the village is safe and secure from the threat of an evil dragon.
2. The Legend of the Magical Crocodile of the Tami River
Another West Papuan folklore that is also quite famous is the Legend of the Miraculous Crocodile of the Tami River. One day it was told that there was a husband and wife who had difficulty giving birth. Because the child was too big and difficult to get out, he was finally ordered to look for water grass to the Tami river. On a river bank when the man was looking for water grass, suddenly behind him there was a very large crocodile.
But strangely, all over his body was covered with feathers like a Kasuari bird. Without thinking, the man rushed to run but the magic crocodile suddenly spoke, “Wait a minute,”. The crocodile asked the man for help to release him. In the end, the man released him from the crush of the stone. As a result, the crocodile delivered the water grass to his house until they became friends. At the end of the story, until now the man’s son is still keeping the crocodile down and forbids hunting for crocodiles in the Tami river.
3. West Papua folklore: The Origin of the Bird of Paradise
The next West Papua folklore is a legend about the origin of the Cendrawasih bird. It is said that long ago in the Fak Fak area, precisely in the Bumperi mountains, there lived an old woman with a female dog. Long story short, suddenly the woman became pregnant for no reason and a man named Kweiya. Several years later Kweiya met a man. Then, Kweiya finally introduced the man to his mother and in the end they got married and had two children.
But over time, Kweiya’s half-sister had a jealous nature of Kweiya. Until one day they attacked Kweiya. Upset because Kweiya’s body was full of wounds from the attacks of his two younger siblings.In the end Kweiya hid in a corner of the house and tied his body with tree bark. Then when his parents came home and looked for Kweiya. They saw Kweiya become a bird. At the end of the story, his mother realized what had happened and burst into tears. Seeing her son turned into a bird, his mother wanted to come along. In the end his mother turned into a bird of paradise.
4. The Origin of Lake Sentani
The next West Papua folklore is still often told is the origin of Lake Sentani. This legend from Papua tells about the origin of Lake Sentani which is one of the largest lakes in Jayapura. Once upon a time there lived two young men named Roo Wally and Habhoye Wally who went to study with a teacher named Holo Robhonnoye.
They learned how to hunt, build houses, and find springs. Before returning to the village, the teacher gave an anggay or a midrib of a nibun tree filled with water and told him not to let this annggay be on the ground. If they fell to the ground, they had to run to high ground. The two Wally youths took turns carrying anggay. During the trip, they saw many kinds of animals but tried not to hunt them. One day they saw a very beautiful cassowary and both of them forgot the message from the teacher.
They put the anggay on the ground and immediately chased the cassowary to the middle of the forest, but the cassowary could not be caught.They feel tired and when they rest, they remember the angay they left behind. The two young men ran back to where they had put the annggay and saw the water coming out of the anggay, getting harder and harder.
Realizing that they had made a mistake, according to the teacher’s message, they ran to a high place. With great difficulty they finally survived. The water from the annggay continued to flow rapidly until it became a large puddle. The puddle is now known as Lake Sentani. There are also many beautiful cassowaries around the lake.
Four West Papua folklore to put you to sleep. Interesting tale, no?
