Bilum (Net Bag)
date: label: Accession Date
content: 17 May 2017
label: Collection Date
content: 27 Jan 2011
name: label: Collector
content: Dr. Joshua A. Bell
label: Donor Name
content: National Museum of Natural History
notes: label: Notes
content: Bilum bag made of acrylic yarn, tightly looped in a figure eight style. Red with black horizontal stripe across center. Text embroidered with white yarn. One side says: "DIGICEL / I LOVE MY / DIGICEL". Similarly, the other side says: "DIGICEL / I LOVE MY / DIGICELNA" (last two letters unclear). The handle of the bilum is a single strap that is mostly red with a black portion at the top. A few loose knotted yarns near the handle and at the bottom corner (possibly meant as decorative).
label: Notes
content: Donor notes: Cost, 60 kina. This bilum was made by Ellen Tani (34 year old [in 2011]) who is from Kaupena village in the Yalibu subdistrict in the Southern Highlands. She is a Mende woman. She came to Port Moresby in 1996 and since 2000 began selling blouses and bilums. She sells these things to help with school fees for her children and for “kastom tings” (custom things) such as mortuary payments. She lives in the settlement Morata #1. She obtains the wool yarn from the wholestore SVS (Super Value Stores) of which there are four branches in Port Moresby. Founded by a Papua New Guinean in Mount Hagen in 1986, by 2011 SVS had expanded into the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and Tonga. Digicel is a Irish owned telecom that is the dominant mobile phone/cellphone company in Papua New Guinea. When asked about the bilum, Ellen explained in Tok Pisin “I am advertising.” “Me lik advertising this company” (I like advertising this company). She uses a digicel mobile phone and maintains that she is the first to make a digicel [bilum]. She is able to make a bilum in 1-2 weeks.
label: Notes
content: Bag is largely knotted or looped with red synthetic yarn with a figure-8 stitch. The yarn appears to be a worsted weight size, and was sourced from SVS (Super Value Stores). A horizontal stripe of black yarn runs across the middle of the bag on each side; the handle has another bloc of black in the middle of two red sections. The handle is a flattened tube of material, while the body of the bag is a single-layer. The handle was made separately from the bag and attached with yarn. There are loose knots and threads poking out in several areas; it is unknown whether these are intentional. There is text that has been knotted on the exterior of the bag, using a white acrylic yarn. Text as below: Anterior: DIGICEL I LOVE MY DIGICEL Posterior** (second to last character is indecipherable, may be an N?): I LOVE MY DIGICEL DIGICEL[N]A
label: Record Last Modified
content: 14 Feb 2023
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Port Moresby, Boroko Market, New Guinea, Papua New Guinea, Melanesia
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Mende
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 2058627
label: USNM Number
content: E435185-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Bag
physicalDescription: label: Length
content: 52 cm
label: Width
content: 45 cm
label: Length - Body
content: 27 cm
label: Length - Handle
content: 25 cm