Simbari people

The Simbari people (also known as the Simbari Anga, called Sambia by Herdt) are a mountain-dwelling, hunting and horticultural tribal people who inhabit the fringes of the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea.

The Sambia – a pseudonym created by anthropologist Gilbert Herdt – are known by cultural anthropologists for their historical practice of "ritualised homosexuality" and semen ingestion practices among pubescent boys. The practice occurred due to Simbari belief that semen is necessary for male growth. Simbari practice did not appear to affect male sexual orientation. Nearly all males are happy to move on to relationships with women once permitted. A small minority of males remain bachelors and continue to engage in homosexual relations, and are considered unusual and ridiculed by other tribesmen. In recent decades, traditional practices, such as boy insemination and a hierarchical and antagonistic view towards women, have ended in favor of schooling and more equal relationships between men and women.

The Simbari people speak Simbari,^: 37 a Trans-New Guinea language belonging to the Angan branch.