Tolai people of East New Britain

E619349

The Tolai people of East New Britain are an Indigenous Melanesian ethnic group of Papua New Guinea known for their rich ceremonial traditions, distinctive shell-money economy, and use of the Tolai (Kuanua) language.

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Observed surface forms (1)

Surface form Occurrences
Tolai people 0

Statements (49)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Melanesian people
ethnic group
artForm bark cloth
carved masks
ceremonial dance
masked dances
shell ornaments
cashCrop cocoa
copra
ceremonialCurrency tabu shell money
ceremony dukduk ceremony NERFINISHED
tubuan ceremony
colonialContactWith Australian colonial administration
German New Guinea administration NERFINISHED
continent Oceania
country Papua New Guinea
culturalRegion Bismarck Archipelago NERFINISHED
demographicStatus one of the largest ethnic groups in East New Britain
economyFeature shell-money economy
kinshipSystem patrilineal descent
language Kuanua language NERFINISHED
Tolai language NERFINISHED
languageFamily Austronesian languages
languageSubfamily Oceanic languages NERFINISHED
locatedIn East New Britain Province NERFINISHED
locatedOn New Britain Island NERFINISHED
majorTownNearby Kokopo NERFINISHED
Rabaul NERFINISHED
notableCulturalFeature bridewealth exchanges using shell money
elaborate mortuary ceremonies
initiation rituals
region Islands Region of Papua New Guinea NERFINISHED
religion Christianity
Roman Catholicism
surface form: Roman Catholic Church

United Church in Papua New Guinea NERFINISHED
secretSociety dukduk society NERFINISHED
tubuan society NERFINISHED
socialStructure clan-based organization
subsistence fishing
gardening
traditionalCurrency tabu shell money
traditionalHousing stilt houses
traditionalReligion ancestor veneration
spirit beliefs
uses shell money strings
usesShellMoneyFor bridewealth
usesShellMoneyFor compensation payments
usesShellMoneyFor land transactions
mortuary rites

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Tolai language hasEthnicPopulation Tolai people of East New Britain