What’s in Your Bilum?

There we were in this remote island village giving a training to some translators who wish to bring an oral translation of books of the Bible into their mother tongue.

There were mostly men in the building, but also a few women, predominantly looking after small children.

A couple of bags were hanging on the side of the structure where we were meeting and I wondered what was inside. Was it really what I was thinking?

In the break I went over to look and to grab a photo. I began talking to a very young woman clutching a young child hanging on her hip, born the same month as our youngest grandchild.

I could see the hanging object was a bilum, a homemade handwoven string bag, loosely attached up there and I also know it Is central to daily life and identity in Papuan societies.

Both bags, as I thought, contained sleeping babies. When they are asleep, the mother will hang the bag up somewhere off the ground and be free to work (or attend Oral Bible Translation training), or just sit around and chat with other mothers and women. When the baby stirs, the mother will sway the bag on the peg where it is attached. And when the baby needs something else the mother will unhook the bag and attend to the baby’s needs.

Just a fascinating and interesting little cultural note and also a unique use of a string bag. Below you will see the cute little bundle sleeping inside one of the “bilums”.