We live on this reservation of 463,000 acres of what once was the heartland of our people’s aboriginal homelands.

Today, three sub-tribes, Mescalero, Lipan and Chiricahua, make up the Mescalero Apache Tribe. The Mescalero roamed freely throughout the Southwest including Texas, Arizona, Chihuahua, México and Sonora, México.

The Mescalero were essentially nomadic hunters and warriors, dwelling at one place for a temporary time in brush shelter known as a “Wicki up” short rounded dwellings made of twigs or teepees made of elk hides and buffalo hides. No other Native Americans in the Southwest caused the terror and constant fear in the settlers as the Apaches did throughout their existence. They raided Spanish, Mexican and American settlers, and were known to be expert guerrilla fighters who defended their homelands. The Chimbu primarily speak Kuman-one of the over 800 languages of Papua New Guinea.Hundreds of years ago, long before white men came to this land, these mountains, plains and deserts belonged to the Mescalero Apaches. Taking their name from the Pidgin word for a music party, a Sing Sing is a festival or gathering of various clans, tribes or villages in Papua New Guinea with the aim of sharing indigenous tradition and culture. Today, they are now part of an event called a “Sing Sing,” where nearby clans gather to celebrate the rituals and traditions of their cultures.ĭespite the tribe’s relative obscurity, these cultural festivals have allowed us to take a peek into the mystique of the Chimbu skeletons:Ĭhimbu skeleton dancers prepare themselves for a Sing Sing by painting bones and skulls on their bodies.īetween 60 and 100 tribes contribute to the festivities, including those who take part as skeleton dancers. Only first making contact with the Western world in 1934, they have largely remained a mystery-making their skeletal body paint even more fascinating.Ĭombined with dance, the paint jobs of Papua New Guinea’s Chimbu tribe were originally intended to intimidate enemies. Living in a remote mountain region of Papua New Guinea, as much as 7,800 feet above sea level, little is known about the Chimbu tribe.

Ripley books are no stranger to unbelievable body painting, like that of Italian artist Johannes Stötter, but the curious camouflage featured in Shatter Your Senses! takes us off the grid!

Tribal body paint history