ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with two Middle Sepik peoples in Papua New Guinea: the Abelam and the latmul. The Abelam and the Iatmul of the East Sepik Province belong to the Ndu-language family of the Sepik-Ramu Phylum. As Lutkehaus and Roscoe point out, the Middle Sepik can be characterized as an area of intense intercultural traffic, and many highly valued items have been regularly traded between the Abelam and Iatmul through intermediate villages in the Wosera and Sawos regions. Although first menstruation ceremonies are not practiced among the Iatmul, they are common in many parts of the Middle Sepik region, occurring among the southern neighbors of the Iatmul, among the Sawos, among the Arapesh, and among the Yangoru Boiken. They also are practiced by the Abelam at the time of a girl’s first period, though they vary significantly from one place to another.
