hat, ceremonial

All adolescent boys in villages on the north coast of Bougainville wear upi hats to hide and protect their growing hair. Upi boys have to obey special restrictions, especially any contact with women, for several years as part of their initiation into manhood. Made of the dried and bleached leaves of a small fan-palm stitched over a thin bamboo frame, the upi for everyday wear is usually left plain. Important ceremonies are held when the boys take on the upi, when some of the restrictions on upi wearers are lifted, and when the upi itself is removed. For the second ceremony, the boys wear a special upi such as this one, ornamented with elaborate patterns cut into palm leaves that have been dyed red in a secret process known only to the mountain people of the interior.