| Laszlo18:34 UTC14 Feb 2007 | Vanuatu cargo cult marks 50 years - by the BBC
Just to show that it hasn't always got to be a coup or rioting for the South Pacific to make news! ;-)
| |
| decdublin20:04 UTC14 Feb 2007 | Laszlo,
You beat me to it! I just spotted the story and was logging in to TT to send it on!
There's also a link on the top right of the page to a story from 2004
Culture Clash
Has any TT'er been to Tanna Island?
| 1 |
| Laszlo20:13 UTC14 Feb 2007 | Been there, thanks.
In fact I spent a great day and night with the Jon Fummers in Lamakarra, the new centre of the movement now that Suphur Bay has turned Christian.
They decided my name was too complicated, and chose to call me John (of all names!) instead.
Next day, I left loaded with presents...
And that in a village whose nearby predecessor is in LP as a tourist attraction, and which gets day-trippers who come by car from the resorts to watch the dancing for an hour or so every Friday.
They said I was strange for speaking Bislama, arriving on foot through the mountains in the company of a kastom man, staying overnight and drinking kava with them.
Tanna may just be the most amazing island I have ever visited.... nostaligic sigh
| 2 |
| Laszlo20:30 UTC14 Feb 2007 | Just to illustrate the topic, I have quickly uploaded some of my photos of the flag-raising ceremony, the dancers in grass skirts, and the accompanying music being played.
| 3 |
| decdublin14:04 UTC15 Feb 2007 | Wow! Thanks for the photos.... it sounds a fascinating place... had never heard of Tanna or cargo cults etc... need to google and find out some more...
Firstly I'm off to wikipedia to look up 'bislama' and 'kastom'...!
Dec
| 4 |
| jillymac10:20 UTC19 Feb 2007 | Hi
I have just returned from Vanuatu last night and was lucky to be on Tanna and attend this event. We were staying at the Port Resolution Yacht Club. We left for the Jon Frum village just after 6am in the morning for the hour drive around the volcano to the village , there were people everywhere along the tracks and walking acoss the ash plain making their way to the village for the celebrations. we arrived to find trees decorated in small american flags and hundreds of locals surrounding the big centre square of the village, lots of tourists as well and the BBC team and another american documentary team too were there. ( this was all in the village up the hill a bit, not the one down by the beach and the hot spring- for anyone that knows the place). Some villagers quickly brought out two bench seats for us to sit in the shade as it was a very hot day so we sat and watched this amazing celebration with the volcano thundering loudly in the background ........It started at 8am , in front of Chief Issac and his team dressed in their military apparel ... first was the very official flag raising ceromony followed by forty or so men marching in their new blue jeans with the USA painted in red across their naked chests ,marching very well with sticks that were supposed to be their guns ... its was quite amazing to see and almost laughable !!! The marchers were followed by the band that played among other things the USA national anthem , then this was followed by lots of different locals dancers from different villages , we stayed till lunchtime and tried some laplap but the celebrations continued well into the night . Amazing ....
Port Resolution Yacht Club by the way is in the most stunning location .... on a cliff overlooking the bay , we stayed for four nights in this piece of paradise in our little hut.
P.S. I have some photos of the celebrations and the Yacht club but i am not very clever in attaching them to this site so if you would like to see them PM me your email address and i will send them on
| 5 |
