View source for Duk-Duk

[[File:New Britain- Duk-Duk dancers, Gazelle Peninsula.jpg|thumb|right|Duk-Duk dancers in the Gazelle Peninsula, New Britain, 1913]]
'''Duk-Duk''' is a [[secret society]], part of the traditional culture of the [[Tolai people|Tolai]] people of the [[Rabaul]] area of [[New Britain]], the largest [[island]] in the [[Bismarck Archipelago]] of [[Papua New Guinea]], in the South Pacific.
==Description==
[[File:Duk-duk dance.JPG|thumb|Painting of a Duk-Duk dance by [[Joachim von Pfeil]], published 1899]]
The society has religious and political as well as social objectives.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Duk-Duk|volume=8|page=650}}</ref> It represents a form of law and order through its presiding spirits. In ritual dances, members of the society invoke the male spirit ''duk duk'' and female spirit ''tubuan'' depending on which mask the dancer wears.<ref name="D'Alleva">{{cite book|last=D'Alleva|first=Anne|title=Arts of the Pacific Islands|date=1998|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven|isbn=978-0-300-16412-1}}</ref> The dancers are always male despite the fact that some are performing the role of female spirits.<ref name="D'Alleva" />  Women and children were forbidden to look at these figures.<ref name="AM Blog">{{cite web|title=Christmas, Costumes and Ceremonies|url=http://blog.aucklandmuseum.com/2012/12/christmas-costumes-and-ceremonies/|work=Auckland Museum Blog|accessdate=March 20, 2014}}</ref>  Both types of mask are cone-shaped and are constructed of cane and fibre, with short, bushy capes of leaves. Traditionally the ''duk duk'' was taller than the ''tubuan'' and was faceless. The ''tubuan'' had circular eyes and a crescent-shaped mouth painted on a dark background. In addition to the mask, leaves cover the torso of the dancers so that only their legs are visible.<ref name="D'Alleva" />
Only males could belong to Duk-Duk, with an entrance fee (in [[dewarra]], small [[cowry]] shells strung on strips of cane, often 100 metres or more).
The society has its secret signs and rituals, and festivals which were in past times closed to strangers on pain of death. Duk-Duk only appeared with the full moon.<ref name="EB1911"/>
Justice was executed, fines extorted, taboos, feasts, taxes and all tribal matters arranged by the Duk-Duk members, wearing  masks or chalk on their faces. In carrying out punishments, they were allowed to burn houses and even kill people.<ref name="EB1911"/> Dancers wearing the ''tubuan'' masks were regarded as divine beings whose judgment and actions could not be questioned.<ref name=Salisbury>{{cite book|last=Salisbury|first=Richard Frank|title=Vunamami: Economic Transformation in a Traditional Society|url=https://archive.org/details/vunamamieconomic00sali|url-access=registration|date=1970|publisher=University of California Press|location=Los Angeles|isbn=9780520016477}}</ref>
The society's practice has been dying out since around the start of the 20th century, but Duk-Duk dancers are now featured as tourist attraction.
==Sources and references==
{{wikisource|Popular Science Monthly/Volume 38/December 1890/The Duk-Duk Ceremonies}}
{{commonscat}}
{{reflist}}
*{{Catholic|wstitle=Vicariate Apostolic of New Pomerania}}
*''Duk-Duk and other Customs or Forms of Expression of the Melanesians Intellectual Life'', by Graf von Pfeil in "Journal of Anthropology"
*H. Romilly, ''The Western Pacific and New Guinea'' (London, 1886)pp 27–33
==External links==
*[http://www.oceania-ethnographica.com/archiveB009.htm Duk Duk ceremony photograph, Gazelle Peninsula, New Britain Real photo postcard, c 1920]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20051020094910/http://www.pacificislandtravel.com/png/hotels/rab_hamamashotel.html Hotel featuring DukDuk ceremony for guests.]
[[Category:Religion in Papua New Guinea]]
[[Category:Secret societies]]
[[Category:Masquerade ceremonies]]
[[Category:Masks in Papua New Guinea]]