Description
Ai Pugaik is when a turtle or a dugong is being butchered. This print shows a young hunter butchering up a Dhangal(dugong). His butchering skills are guided by the elders along the right side of the print. The elders are the educators of this practice. The women also play a very important role during the butchering, as they carry the woven baskets for the shares. Beside the Zogoaw Garka (the hunter who speared the Dhangal), the women decide who the shares go to, for they are the ones who cook the food and serve their families. The Dhangal is butche red with the sharp edge of a Mai (pearl shell). On the inside of the Mai, a diagram shows how the Dhangal is butchered. The butcher reads the diagram as he cuts, the elders explain why it is cut in that manner.