Helaehili is a form of verbal poetry you can find in Sentani, West Papua. Along with Ehabla, this oral tradition is considered a cultural heritage.
Participating in chanting Helaehili requires skill and focus. The performers do not bring notes or memorize poems to recite later. Unfortunately, both the younger and older generations are starting to leave it behind.
Helaehili is often performed at funerals as a form of respect for the dead and for the living to learn about the passed person’s deeds and learn from them.
Requires Skill forHelaehili
This form of poetry is an interesting piece of Papuan culture. The performance hinges on the performer’s ability to elaborate and improvise on the fly. Meanwhile, they still need to follow the rules of what makes the poem Helaehili.
The performers would prepare themes and plotlines to tell while performing Helaehili, but they would not make notes or memorize lines. Instead, they would elaborate on the story while performing. Spontaneity is a big part of the performance.
To make the performance easier, the poem uses many repetitions. For example, poems with four lines generally repeat the first line as the third and the second line as the fourth. It also uses many synonyms.
The performer would need to have a strong grasp of the language to be able to perform adequately. The poem’s length varies depending on the performer’s ability to follow these rules. Aside from that, the use of a place as a setting is also very important.
Helaehili and Ehabla are similar in this part. The difference is Helaehili links the setting with the character of the story, while Ehabla focuses on the setting alone.
Losing Interest
People living on smaller, more secluded islands in Sentani still uphold the tradition, but people living nearer to the city are losing interest in Helaehili. However, younger generations in both areas are losing interest.
Despite this, people still find entertainment in the tradition. The themes in the poem may be limited to someone’s life when they were still alive, but it also explores some themes that may not get explored or thought about.
For example, a study explores how a woman’s role in Sentani culture gets explored in Helaehili and Ehabla while it might not get noticed otherwise.
Helaehili as Cultural Compass
Aside from the entertainment value, Helaehili also has a role in the culture to act as a way to teach about hard work, the values of helping each other, getting along, having and valuing self-respect, respecting one another, following cultural norms, having pride in your roots, and taking care of nature.
As the poem tells a story of someone’s life, it also often contains morals and cautionary tales for listeners to learn from.
Helaehili also acts as a cultural standard for younger generations to hold themselves up to. It tells what is expected of them and how they should behave.
As it stands, older generations can also use it as a way to remind themselves of their cultural values. It can even act as a way to punish people who have violated cultural norms, especially in the emotional sense.
Aside from all this, Helaehili can be seen as an idealized tale of Sentani people’s lives. It shows what kind of life the Sentani people want to lead, what kind of leader is the ideal kind, what kind of community they want to become, and so on and so forth. The people listening to Helaehili can use the poem as a sort of blueprint to mold their community into something better.
Since Helaehili is performed in public, it also acts as entertainment and a way for people to socialize. It can also act as a way to strengthen religion and beliefs.
