5 Communal sago collection - Washing.m4v

Communal sago collection Washing (9.09) with the sound of women scraping sago in the background. This was a special event with a large team, but the different tasks involved are shared even when women work just in pairs. Two washing platforms and silt traps were built beside the river, in easy reach of water, from pieces of bamboo and different parts of sago palm trees. The troughs are made from the bases of old palm fronds, the three collecting basins which comprise the silt trap are made from the sheaths that support new growth, and the strainer made from the sacking-like material that lines the sheath. Water is forced through the strainer carrying the suspended sago with it, flowing from one level to the next, slowing down as it does so, depositing its load in one or other of the basins, and draining away at the lower end. Periodically the women empty the contents of the upper trays into the largest one at the bottom, rebuilding the silt trap each time.
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Category:

Education

Tags:

• Papua New Guinea
• Sepik
• Sawos
• Torembi
• sago collection
• hunter-gatheterts