The tradition of cutting fingers

Apakah ungkapan kesedihan yang dipertunjukkan oleh seseorang yang kehilangan anggota keluarganya. Menangis, barang kali itu yang paling sering kita jumpai. Bagi umumnya masyarakat pengunungan tengah dan khususnya masyarakat Wamena ungkapan kesedihan akibat kehilangan salah satu anggota keluarga, tidak hanya dengan menangis saja.

Normally, they would smear themselves with mud for a certain period. But what makes them different cultures with many tribal cultures in other areas are cut off their fingers.

Almost the same as what is done by the Yakuza (the famous hard-line group orangasasi in Japan), if they had violated rules set by the organization or fail to execute their mission. As an expression of remorse, they must cut one of their fingers. For mountian community center, a cut finger is made for any member of the family as husband, wife, father, mother, son, brother, or sister died.
Cutting this finger, symbolizes sorrow and pain when losing a loved family member. The phrase is so profound, even should have lost limbs. For the people of the central mountains, the family has a very important role. For society Balim Jayawijaya togetherness in a family has its own values. Cutting the finger is generally done by women. But do not close the possibility of cutting fingers carried by family members of the parent was male or female. Cutting fingers can also be interpreted as an attempt to prevent the 'repeated' this evil that has claimed the lives of someone in your family who are grieving.  

As long as the story of a mother Moni (a tribe in the area Paniai), she told us that his little finger bitten by her mother when she was born. It had to be done, by the mother, because some children who were born before, always died. With children right pinkie finger decided she'd just given birth, the mother hopes that what happened to the children not previously occurred on the baby. This sounds very eksrim, but the fact is the case, Moni origin woman has been giving a lot of grandchildren and great-grandchildren to the mother. 

But now the culture of 'cut the finger' is deprecated. Now rarely encountered people who do that, in recent decades. What remains can we meet today are those who've done it long ago. This is caused by the influence of religion who has signed up to remote areas in Papua.

......Cutting fingers done in various ways. Someone cut a finger by using sharp instruments like knives, machetes or axes. Alternatively, by binding their finger with a rope for some time, so that blood flow is bound to die, then cut......