The dancers are so vividly decorated in costume and paint in order to attract potential spouses, to increase their fertility, as well as to deter aggression from other clans. It has also been known that a clan's competitors will come to the pig festival and try to out dance the host clan's dancers.   Such potential competition results in great thought and care given to the construction of costumes and the design of the adornment.

Clan Unity: It is during the early stage of the pig festival that all the decorations for the costumes are acquired. Some parts of the costume, such as the belts of fur and shells, are either given to the dancers by family or acquired by exchange using pork from the clan's pigs as currency.   Many of the decorations are costly, especially the bird of paradise plumes. The long plumes are used to decorate the brightly painted wooden headdress. The skirts worn by the dancers are made up of long thin strands of cloth.

Beauty: During the ceremony the dancers are rated by the spectators as to if their skin is glossy rather then undesired dry, dull and flaky.