Vanuatu is a group of 83 islands in the West Pacific northeast of New Caledonia and west of Fiji. We all used to call these islands the New Hebrides. The indigenous people, the Ni-Vanuatu, are a peaceful, gentle race, who enjoy life’s simpler pleasures in a country of unique and diverse customs and culture. It has been a republic for twenty-four years, and we finished the sail on their Independence Day. ARAGORN tied to the wall in Port Vila, on the island of Efate, the administrative capital of Vanuatu. Our younger daughter, Catherine, flew down to Vanuatu to visit, and help take the boat to Australia, joining our son Tom, who had come aboard in Fiji. Our long-term crew, Christy, had to leave in Vanuatu to fly back to Maryland – after a short tour of Australia and New Zealand. During our stay in Vanuatu, we visited the island of Ambrym by plane to see the “Back to Our Roots Festival”, put on by two villages for the local people, to remind them of their traditions (and black magic). Not many outsiders called during the festival, but we were welcomed. We need to warn you that the photos of men and women in less-than-modest garb during the festival are very National-Geographic-like, and should only be viewed at your own risk.
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Our son, Tom, joined ARAGORN in Fiji, and crewed to Vanuatu (and then to Australia). Tom was into fishing from the boat. Here Tom skins and fillets a tuna for dinner and sashimi.
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We toured the island of Efate one day, and visited the traditional village of Siviri on the northern coast. Although sporting only a small population (about 100) they did have an active church.
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As in most traditional villages, one of the villagers is designated the baker. In Siviri, the 83-year old baker made ten loaves of bread a day in this traditional oven.
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Because the villages in Vanuatu were so isolated until the late 19th century, the island group has a different language in each village. To unite the country under one language, Vanuatu picked pidgin English as the language that the most people could understand, and called the language Bislama. This ecologically sensitive sign by the beach in Siviri is written in Bislama. Can you understand it? (“Look-at-em good, all the picinini turtles belong to you and me”, or Look after the baby turtles, as all the turtles belong to all of us, and are our responsibility.) Most Bislama signs are a bit tougher to understand.
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To get to the Craig Cove Airport on Ambrym Island to see the festival was unusual. The airline (Air Vanuatu, flying Twin Otters) normally did not fly to Ambrym on Wednesdays, but for a fee were willing to divert their normal flight to Santo to touch down at Craig Cove and drop off the nine of us from the Blue Water Rally who were going to the festival. This handmade sign shows the Craig Cove (CCV) stop added to the normal flight sign. Now, let’s see, the next time I need American Airlines to fly me from Boston to White Plains, I just request that they add a stop on the Boston to Newark plane, and for a small fee they will? Life in a second-world country is simpler in several ways….
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Of course to get from Craig Cove to North Ambrym, we did have to take a ride in a small launch for about two and one-half hours. The boat was about 18 feet long, and was driven by a 15 hp Yamaha, and was used for transportation about half the time and fishing the other half. From left to right, Leslie York, Tom York, Peter the boatman, Catherine York, Isaiah the innkeeper and guide, Sue Goldsmith (ST. BARBARA), Helen Muesch, and Ed Muesch (TALEQUAH).
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Clad in traditional garb, the men danced separately from the women for the most part. Here two men are dancing a representation of the swimming of crawfish, while most of the village men are in a line, singing and dancing like a chorus. The men had a lead singer, but all the men joined in the chant-like tunes, led by a drummer. The dance step was an energetic two-step, which the men kept up for four hours a day for three days, why some of the older men have a walking stick.
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Many of the dances were done in a circle, with everyone huddled around a drummer and the lead singer. This reverse-angle shot of the men dancing shows the drummer and a few of the enthusiastic dancers.
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This is the introduction to the first dance by the women. The women on the ground at this point in the dance are apparently pretending to plant seeds, while the others form a chorus around them. Many of the women carry sticks to lean on while doing the two-step dance.
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The local audience at the Ambrym festival stood around the dance arena and gave the dancing their rapt attention … for three straight days. Here some of the younger boys and men lean on the unique, carved drums that still are used regularly to communicate between villages that have, maybe, one phone per village, irregular service and no electricity other than batteries.
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Two villages sponsored the Back to Our Roots Festival. The two village chiefs pose here in front of the idol used as the third step in the thirteen-step process to become a chief. Notice the spiral on the chief to the left – it is the tusk of a wild pig. The chief has a very expensive one, as it circles through 360 degrees. The tusk is a symbol on the flag of Vanuatu.
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The most “sacred” of the dances involves wearing the Rom masks shown here. The Rom dance was to be held on the last day of the festival, the day we had to leave. However the dancers did display the Rom masks by dancing them out, and then setting them up for all to see. Here they are dancing them into the dance area.
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A closer look at the Rom masks. We were warned not to get any closer, as they are very sacred. A senior, powerful man from one village, and the chief of the second village stand guard over the Rom masks.
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At one point, the “magicians” asked for volunteers from the “Europeans” in the audience to grab onto a magic stick, which would move even though we were trying to hold it still. Dick, of course, stepped right up. The stick did move, but the two “magicians” holding it may have had something to do with its vibrations.
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Our hosts at the guesthouse, Isaiah and his family, prepared a lunch for us at the festival. As you can see, the typical Ni-Vanuatu male and female dress very conservatively on a day-to-day basis. The “Mother Hubbard” dresses for one family are frequently all made from the same bolt of cloth.
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Once we arrived back at the guesthouse, we had lemonade waiting for us, plus cookies and other goodies we had brought with us, to stave off hunger before dinner. Her we picnic out while waiting for the wood-fired hot water heater to get our showers hot. The bunks in the bungalows were basic, and the blankets non-existent, despite 60 degree nights. But overall, the guest house was relatively clean and bug-free. Beside that, it was great to sit on the lawn and see the glow of the two volcanoes only a few hour’s walk away on Ambrym Island. Left to right: Isaiah, Catherine, Tom, Mike (TALEQUAH), Peter Goldsmith, Ed, Sue, and Helen (hidden).
Of course there was work being done while we sat around with lemonade. One of the women is shredding coconuts for one of the dishes for dinner that night.
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The last day we had to wait on the beach for our boat transportation back to the guesthouse. There were many local kids wandering around, checking out these “foreign” people. When Leslie walked out to these rocks a few yards offshore, many of the girls followed her out. Leslie talked to them, asking their names, etc., and immediately was a Pied Piper. After a bit Leslie and Catherine taught them how to play Duck-Duck-Goose, a game that had the kids rolling in laughter. Soon after, the boat came to pick us up and the last we saw were the kids trying to continue to play the game.
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This is the scene from the cliff our guesthouse sat upon. It looks as rugged and rockbound as some coves in Maine we have visited. Of course, the reefs are lava flows and coral, and the water is very clear … and there are no lobster pots.
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