We arrived in Vanuatu, which is a country liberated from a joint ownership between France and England. This area was formerly known as New Hebrides and before that this was known as the Sandwich Islands, I believe so named by Captain Cook. Vanuatu is an archipelago of 83 islands in the Coral Sea with over 100 dialects, populated by a quarter of a million peoples. These islands are volcanic in origin (whereas New Caledonia was a makatea, a coral atoll) and the volcanoes here are active. There is a lot of earthquake activity in this area. The language is varied but one that is spoken is a kind of pigeon English which looked nonsensical when written but as I studied it the words and meaning revealed themselves to me. It is very humid in this country, the humidity at this time is 85%, something which my celtic blood literally wilts in. Trying not to keel over, I visited a gallery, museum, the city of Vanu and on a tour also, visited a cultural village and was introduced to the people and chief who live here close to traditional ways. Cannibalism was known to the north as recently as 25 years ago. It makes you wonder what doesn’t make the tourist news. If one marries one’s front teeth are knocked out to indicate marital status. It is a patriarchal culture, the wife must leave her family and live with her in-laws. Wealth is transferred to the son. It was also mentioned that the first born, being a girl, would often be killed because of this. The number of feathers in the headdress indicates how many pigs owned and therefore a lot of feathers indicate great wealth. We were shown a means of fishing with using a spider`s web to create the fish net and we were shown the spider that was used for this. It was enormous, the size of my hand, very graceful, with globules in the leg joints that refracted light. We were show marae, gardens in the forest where these 500 people live and gather, the sky canopied by jungle, orchids flowering, the sound of cicadas a deafening whir.
I was intrigued by the spirit poles, they looked so much like space beings, and not particularly the kind I should like to run into. They eat a land crustacean, that is blue in color which one traps by leaving coconut on the ground.
We were told that burials were vertical with the head above ground, as it is believed that if the head is underground that the soul will be trapped. We were told that the brains are believed to be the residence of the soul, the guide used the word heart so let’s say both, and verily brains are considered a delicacy. These people are deadly serious. This isn’t a joke. I think I might be more at home on the islands further to the north. :)
On a less sobering note I was further intrigued by a gallery of “found” art, the artist being European French, who worked much in the fashion of Picasso. It was a visual feast and one I wasn’t able to spend enough time in.
The Chinese have made business overtures and built the parliament buildings as a “gift” in thanks for the trade, a fact that the tourist guide spoke proudly of which I should think isn’t all that settling. Tourism is half the business here as well.
The tour guide (who did not have front teeth, by the way) read my palm and guess what? It is all coming up roses with me. She said I have an interesting life (I do) and there will be a miracle at the end of it. She said more but I will leave you with that as I have to chase down a cappuccino as my next order of the day.
I hope I can get some photos mounted to this page, it really is impressive the cultural exposure I have been blessed to experience and my words I fear, fall far short.
