The Telefol people are an ethnic group in the

Sandaun Province Sandaun Province (formerly West Sepik Province) is the northwesternmost mainland Provinces of Papua New Guinea, province of Papua New Guinea (also known as home of the sunset). It covers an area of 35,920 km2 (13868 m2) and has a population ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

History

Telefol history starts with the "Old Woman" ( Afek) traveling through the land that is now the Eliptaman valley. She, as told through their creation stories, founded the Telefolip, the most sacred of Yolam Houses or

Haus Tambaran Haus Tambaran is a Tok Pisin phrase which describes a type of traditional ancestral worship house in the East Sepik region of Papua New Guinea. The most visually recognizable forms are from the Maprik area, with a tall and elaborately decorated f ...

in the

Star Mountains The Star Mountains ( Dutch ( colonial)'': Sterrengebergte''; Indonesian'': Pegunungan Bintang'') are a mountain range in eastern end of Highland Papua, Indonesia and the western Papua New Guinea, stretching from the eastern end of Indonesia t ...

Region about 300 years ago. Myth has it that there is a tunnel system between

Mount Fubilan Mount Fubilan was a mountain in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea. It has been removed in the course of the excavation of the Ok Tedi Mine, which been developed since 1984 as an open-pit copper and gold mine. After decades of mining, the ...

, the Yolam House at Bultem and the Telefolip exists, and that is how shell money and other valuable items came to the Telefol. The Telefol defeated the Telefol-speaking Iligimin people after the Iligimin people razed the Telefolip in the 19th century. The Telefol then proceeded to settle their lands. They then went on to defeat the Untou people, ritualistically cannibalizing the adults and absorbing the children into their group. Once the Untoumin were annihilated, the Telefolmin and Miyanmin would sometimes raid each other until the later 1950s, when pacification occurred.

Culture

The Telefol were part of a ritual system encompassing all of the

Min peoples Min people may refer to: * Speakers of Min Chinese, a variety of Chinese originating in Fujian province *The people of Minyue, an ancient Baiyue kingdom in present-day Fujian from which Min Chinese gets its name *Mountain Ok people Min peoples or M ...

. They were acknowledged by the Min as being at the highest level of sacred knowledge, and groups such as the Baktaman were at the lowest level. The Telefolmins' level may have been matched by the Urapmin. The Telefol possess a ubiquitous accessory called the

bilum ''Noken'' () is a traditional Indigenous people of New Guinea, Papuan multifunctional knotted or woven bag native to the Western New Guinea region, Indonesia. Its distinctive usage, which involves being hung from the head, is traditionally us ...

. Young children are introduced to the skills of bilum-making. Magalim, a masalai or bush spirit of great significance to the Telefol is active at the fringes of Telefol consciousness. He is known by various names such as Aanang Kayaak, Tenum Misim, Bagan Kayaak. He is a "boss" of all things wild and of the forests. Magalim takes many forms: a snake, a dog, an overly generous European, a headless European, and a four glowing-eyed Ok Tedi worker who ran speedily over the landscape

Counting system

The

Telefol language Telefol is a language spoken by the Telefol people in Papua New Guinea, notable for possessing a base-27 numeral system. History The Iligimin people also spoke Telefol, but they were defeated by the Telefol proper. Orthography Single and ...

's base-27 counting system is mapped onto the body by counting each of the following: the left pinky to the left thumb (1–5); the wrist, lower arm, elbow, upper arm, and shoulder (6–10); the side of the neck, ear, and left eye (11–13); the nose (14); and the right eye to the right pinky (15–27; as for 1-14 but mirrored and in reverse order).Telefol counting
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References

Bibliography

* * * *Jorgensen, Dan. 1980. "What's in a Name? The Meaning of Meaninglessness in Telefolmin." Ethos 8(4):349 - 366. *Jorgensen, Dan. 1981. "Life on the Fringe: History and Society in Telefolmin." in ed. Robert Gordon, Plight of Peripheral People in Papua New Guinea. Volume 1: The Inland Situation. Cambridge M.A: Cultural Survival Inc.: 59 - 79. *Jorgensen, Dan. 1990. "The Telefolip and the Architecture of Ethnic Identity in the Sepik Headwaters." in eds. Barry Craig and David Hyndman, Children of Afek: Tradition and Change Among the Mountain-Ok of Central New Guinea. Sydney: Oceania Monographs. 151 - 160. *Jorgensen, Dan. 2002. "The Invention of Culture, Magalim and the Holy Spirit." Social Analysis 46(1):69 - 79. *Jorgensen, Dan. 2007. "Hinterland History: The

Ok Tedi Mine The Ok Tedi Mine is an Open pit mine, open-pit copper mine, copper and gold mine Mining in Papua New Guinea, in Papua New Guinea located near the headwaters of the Ok Tedi River, in the Star Mountains Rural LLG of the North Fly District of the ...

and its Cultural Consequences in Telefolmin."

The Contemporary Pacific ''The Contemporary Pacific: A Journal of Island Affairs'' is an academic journal covering a wide range of disciplines with the aim of providing comprehensive coverage of contemporary developments in the entire Pacific Islands region, including Mel ...

18(1):11-56.

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