Korowai (the cannibal tribe in Papua, Indonesia)

Indonesia is famous for its unique and magical tribes and customs, including eastern Indonesia, one of which is Papua. The island is so large with the dominance of the rugged mountains and quite difficult to access, making many tribes inland has not been able to blend with the modern world. Moreover, the tribes in Papua are famous for their deeply rooted sacred beliefs, which make it difficult to separate them from their lives. One of the most famous tribes these days is the Korowai tribe. The tribe is crowned as the cannibal from Papua.

Is it true that the Korowai are Kanibal? Is it true that they still eat human flesh today? What is their reason behind the unusual food use? Does this violate the social ethics of society? Let's see.

The Korowai tribe was only discovered about 30 years ago, where their lives are very difficult to reach because they are in the jungle of the jungle of Papua.

For the first time the Korowai tribe was discovered by a modern man, a Dutch Christian missionary named Johannes Veldhuizen. Accidentally Veldhuizen found the life of the Korowai tribe. He also tried to stay with them while studying how the Korowai tribe survived in an area where they only existed as human beings. From their alienation and the absence of contact with the outside world, until when there was a meeting with the missionaries, they just found out that there are other human beings in this universe besides them.

The tribe survived by building houses on trees with a height of 5 to 35 meters or often they call the "High House".

What impressed me was that the high-rise house did not use nails and cement as a glue, but only used a strong rattan rope as a glue for the material of the tree house. Access to the tree house was just by climbing a long ladder made of twigs. If you are afraid of heights, do not try. Because access to outdoors is completely unattended and only with the help of a normal rope.

Korowai tribe began to be exposed and known as the Cannibal Tribe, because they have a habit, even has become a culture to eat pieces of human flesh.

Speaking of cannibalism, you may have heard the story of the figure of Pedro Algorta; one of the passengers survived the crash of the plane in the Andes Mountains, which survived for 71 days by eating other passenger body pieces. The reason for the constriction and the difficulty of finding this alternative underlies cannibalism in the Korowai tribe. Beyond that, there is a fundamental rule about who and why a person can be a victim of cannibalism.

Cannibalism in the Korowai tribe does not just happen for no reason. There are certain rules in terms of eating human body pieces. A journalist who once lived with them named Paul Raffaele, said that the cannibalism by this tribe is very contrary to the perception of the wider community.

They will not eat human flesh, except in the practice of their life to deviate from their social norms. One example of irregularities is the practice of shamanism or witches they call the term "Khakhua".

Cannibalism for them is a rule in cultural custom which has been handed down from generation to generation. It is not a crime, but a social reward for the perverted, and makes it a benefit to its tribal community, by making its meat as a food fulfillment.

But on their openness to the outside world today, cannibalism has been abandoned and replaced by a normal law in social society.