CBeebies Blog: Little Human Planet 7 - The Sing Sing Festival, Papua New Guinea:

Little Human Planet follows the lives of young children from around the world, giving a glimpse to our CBeebies viewers of how their counterparts live wherever they are. It's a celebration of what makes children different and what makes them the same around the world in a colourful and often surprising voyage of discovery.

In this programme we travel to the rainforest in the Tari Valley, Papua New Guinea

There are striking connections between the many different jungle tribes of New Guinea and the various species of birds of paradise that inhabit their mountainous rainforests. The ornate plumes and bizarre courtship displays of these birds have always fascinated local people, and they have been inextricably linked with the customs and beliefs of many of the island's tribes.

Dramatic and colourful displays by the male birds of paradise are indicators of status and fitness and a strikingly similar situation has arisen among New Guinea's forest clan. These tribes use huge amounts of bird-of-paradise feathers to decorate themselves in their ceremonies, and they even dance in ways reminiscent of the birds' displays. Even though men, women and children are involved in these ritual dances, it is the men who are more preoccupied with dressing to impress. They decorate themselves with a wide array of ornate objects from the forest, including leaves, shells, clay and feathers form all sort of birds, but the crowning glory of any outfit is invariably a splay of bird-of-paradise feathers and headdress.

These outlandish rituals have long been used to display status both in and among tribes. Today, most indigenous people are becoming ever more removed from their traditional forest lives, but the cultural value of the feathers has not diminished. Ceremonies have become huge national festivals. The Sing Sing has become one of the biggest events in the Papua New-Guinea calendar.Hundreds of tribes congregate to display their costumes and perform their dances in a celebration of cultural heritage and a competition to the most spectacular.

It is here in the Tari valley we meet five year old Evelyn as she is dressed and adorned with beautiful bird-of-paradise feathers, some beads as well as having her face and body painted. It is quite time consuming but well worth the wait as she and all the other Huli tribe prepare for the striking and colourful Sing Sing dance festival.

You can find out more about the series on the Grown-ups website http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/grownups/about/programmes/littlehumanplanet.shtml

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