West Papua is a home for cultural diversities. About 250 tribes live in harmony here. As one of the cities in West Papua, Wamena has the highest population in this province. Among the population, the Dani tribe is one of the biggest tribes that live in this area. Hence, the name of Wamena is from the Dani language, “Wa” and “Mena”, which means “babi jinak” in Indonesian or tamed pig in English.
What is barapen
Barapen is a tradition done by the people in several areas in Wamena, West Papua. In general, this tradition is practiced by Dani tribe who live in Lembah Baliem, Pegunungan Bintang, Nabire, Dekai, Pegunungan Tengah, Paniai, Jayawijaya, and Yahukimo.
Barapen’s meaning is stone burning. This is an important tradition where the whole villagers help each other cook together by using stones as the media. Usually, the kind of food they use for this tradition is corn, vegetables, and tubers.
Dani tribes have already done this for a long time. This tradition has a meaning as a gratitude symbol for their abundant blessings, marriage, welcoming honorable guest, and a dead ceremony. Moreover, barapen is also seen as a peace symbol after a tribe war.
History of barapen
This tradition has been around for hundreds of years among the people. They said, at first, a couple was confused about how to process their food because they didn’t have any tools and cooking utensils. After a long thought, they got an idea to use stones as cooking media. Then, it turned out this kind of cooking process made delicious food, and it was even better than the usual method. Since then, they decided to preserve this kind of cooking method.
Barapen preparation
They start to prepare the stuff early in the morning. The leader of the tribe is wearing his cultural clothes and invites all the people for barapen. During the day, they will hunt their pig, but it can be replaced with another animal.
At first, they hunt their pig with arrows. If the pig is dead instantly, it means the festival will be successful. However, if it is another way, they believe that they will face many obstacles in the process.
After their hunting process is done, some people will accept that prey, then clean and slice it. Meanwhile, the others are dancing and preparing stones and holes.
How do they do the barapen
The cooking process involves several steps, and it has many layers. Here are the steps of the barapen process:
- Some villagers pile and burn stones in the burner until all the wood are used and heat the stones (sometimes they would be reddish).
- Meanwhile, the other villagers will dig another deep hole.
- The burned stones are filled in the other hole. Before that, they put banana leaves on the hole base.
- Above the hot stones, they pile up the banana leaves and then place sliced pork.
- They cover the pork with banana leaves, then put another burned stone and cover it with the leaves.
- Above the leaves, they place tubers and vegetables and again, they cover the food with banana leaves.
- On the top of the leaves, they pile another burned stone. Lastly, they cover it with other banana leaves.
Even if this cooking method is uncommon, the food is still tasty. The vegetables will absorb the fat from the meat.
Usually, the Dani people spend about 1 hour on the cooking process. When it is fully cooked, all people will gather around and share their food in the center of the field. Here, we can feel the solidarity and togetherness of the West Papua people.
What barapen teaches us
This festival has a certain value that we can learn about. Barapen tradition teaches us about how to create and strengthen togetherness between people in the region and tribe. In barapen, all of the people are fully involved, from the preparation process to the eating process. This is one of the oldest traditions in Papua to express gratitude and fraternity.
Barapen’s name in another region
Every region and tribe in Lembah Baliem has a name referring to the meaning of stone burning according to their language. Paniai people will call it “gapii” or “mogo”, while Wamena people call it “kit oba isago“, and Biak people know it as barapen. However, in general, barapen is the most common name.
Conclusion
West Papua has an interesting cultural event that can gather many people in harmony and help each other. This event will make the solidarity stronger within the tribe. This important and oldest cultural event is one of the treasures we have to preserve.
