Nomad in Vanuatu

The Nomads have arrived in Vanuatu. Vanuatu is a Melanesian archipelago in the Pacific ocean. Our port of call is Vila, the main city of this Pacific archipelago.
The Ni-Vans, short for Ni-Vanuatu (people of Vanuatu) speak an English pigeon lingua franca that started out as a language of trade comparable to the Malay language in Indonesia . The Ni-Vans however are composed of 150 different tribes over 80 islands, which all have their own distinguished languages. These languages are so different that when speaking their own tribal language the Ni-Vans can hardly understand each other. Isolated evolution due to natural barriers in Vanuatu also caused the abundant cultural differences between the tribes, making it a heaven for cultural anthropologists.

The Ni-Van celebrate their culture(s) which is also enjoying a revival supported by tourism entering the area. However most of the cultural activity is still strongly rooted in their Adat, which they call Kastom. More so it appears then in neighbouring Fiji. Due to complex Kastom rules around (land) ownership the Vanuatu chiefs seem slightly less powerful than the Fiji chiefs who own all the tribes land. The diversity in Vanuatu traditions is shown in the fact that in the remote Northern islands some ancient customs persist. Jungle tribes in the North still practiced cannibalism up to the the 1970’s and 80’s and instead of showing the marital status of women by using tattoos (and/or rings) some tribes still knock out the front teeth of the happily married bride.

Sifor a spokesperson for a traditional village close to Port Vila tells us the Ni-Van are happy that Christianity has changed some of their more carnivores customs, such as cannibalism. Attempts to counter conversion to Christianity by killing (and eating) Church missionaries is still seen as the main reason why the Ni-Van population decimated through apparent divine persecution. The notion that European diseases brought from the west contributed to the hard fall in population is an afterthought. In any case some loss of Kastom is not considered regrettable at all. Understandably so when you know that in the old days all female first borns were killed upon arrival due to the strict rules of paternal land ownership.

But Sifor also tells us they are even happier to be able to retain much of the old ways. Once educated it becomes a matter of choice he says. There is so much ancient knowledge that equals the science of the modern era. Natural medicine and ways of hunting and fishing by using plants and herbs and techniques perfected through millennia still stand the test of time. He shows us uncanny ways to preserve food (bananas that are processed and buried underground so they remain eatable for up to 3 years!), ways to fish by using sticks and spider webs and ways to survive cyclones that hit the islands regularly. There is so much more to tell and he invites us to stay in the village overnight to learn more why the adjective primitive is often subject to revision.

A Nomad might need to come back and catch up on that offer.