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Lesu is the name of a village in the Notsi-speaking area of New Ireland, an island province of Papua New Guinea. The Lesu are one of the nine main indigenous ethnolinguistic groups in the island.  Other groups include the Nokon, Mandak, Usen Barok, Nusu, and Lavongai. There is no social cohesion among these groups and, prior to European dominance, various groups as well as villages within groups, were often at war with one another. Contact between villages is confined mainly to joint attendance at ceremonies. There is no apparent name for the people speaking the same language, so Lesu is used as the “culture name.” The Lesu practice slash-and-burn horticulture, supplemented by fishing and hunting.

Houses in Lesu

Culture Summary

Social organization in northern New Ireland

Life in Lesu

Mortuary rites in New Ireland (Bismarck Archipelago)

Vital statistics of New Ireland (Bismarck Archipelago) as revealed in genealogies

Author	Title	Publication Date
Aijmer, Göran	Houses in Lesu	2007
Levinson, David	Culture Summary	2012
Lewis, Phillip H. (Phillip Harold)	Social organization in northern New Ireland	1969
Powdermaker, Hortense	Life in Lesu	1933
Powdermaker, Hortense	Mortuary rites in New Ireland (Bismarck Archipelago)	1931
Powdermaker, Hortense	Vital statistics of New Ireland (Bismarck Archipelago) as revealed in genealogies	1931
Powdermaker, Hortense	Feasts in New Ireland	1932
Rosman, Abraham	Powdermaker's Lesu	1991

Lesu

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