Religion And Culture Of The Dani Tribe

General information:
Most of the Dani tribe lives in the area of the Baliem Valley, which is located in the central highlands of New Guinea (Indonesia) and is one of the world's most isolated tribes. Despite that their tribe is isolated they are more popular than other tribes in the area because of the tourists that visit Baliem Valley. The tourists like to visit this tribe, because they are very welcoming with them. Baliem Valley is located 1,500 meters above the sea with 50,000 people, half of the entire estimated Dani population.
They speak half-dozen languages and dialects, related to other NonAustronesian language families of the Highlands, which belongs to the
Religion and culture:
Most of their religious rituals are related to placating the restless ghost of their own

Their most important custom tries to protect the tribe from the restless ghost of their people, to do that some women of the tribe have to cut off part of a finger, voluntarily. Then the portion of the finger is burned and stored.
Another important custom are the wage mock battles. They are celebrated every August with their closest tribes, the Lani
(west) and the Yali (south east). This battles are to celebrate the fertility and wellbeing of the Papua province and to uphold ancient traditions. The soundtrack for the battle was formed by an ancient instrument named pikon and singing.
Economy and alimentation:
Their economy is based on agriculture. Men prepare the fields with sticks, and women do most of the planting, weeding, and harvesting. They have a ditch system, that capture streams, run the water through the garden beds and ditches drain off excess water. The 90% of their diet is based on sweet potatoes, because it can grow under extreme circumstances. They also use sweet potatoes to do bartering and dowries. The most important aliment for Dani tribe is the pig. They eat pig only to celebrate important events because pigs are too valuable for them to be served regularly.