John Frum Day is great. It is celebrated on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu. When I was there in February, 2010, I took a lot of pictures.
There is a cargo cult that sort-of believes if they copy American military rituals (flag raising, marching) then eventually modern goods will be dropped onto the island by air. This all started because the Allies used the island as a stragin ground during WWII. We left all kinds of goodies when the war ended.
I was lucky enough to be there for the biggest day of the year and learned that there is more to the tradition than this. Vanuatu was co-owned by France and England and neither country wanted the locals to practice their savage customs (there was cannibalism after all). They also didn’t want them worshiping the wrong gods. As part of this, they weren’t supposed to perform various songs and dances. The chief at the time actually ended up in prison for awhile. Talking to his now very old grandson, I learned that upon his release, he was given an American flag. As long as their custom dances were performed following a military-style raising of the stars and stripes, they could they were celebrating the freedom that Americans gave them in WWII. As a result, they have a great affinity for us. The chief even visited Bill Clinton back in the ’90′s.
In a weird sort of way, the day felt like attending a Young Life meeting. There were dances, the old leaders would do something silly and everyone would laugh. Then there would be a skit warning of the dangers of leaving the village for the sinful nightlife of the big city. The big city is Port Vila and has all of 30,000 residents.
In the pictures you can probably guess the chief is the one in the Mariner Captain’s uniform, which was a gift from a filmmaker years ago. Talking to a museum curator, I learned the gift-giver was an American who planned to deliver various appliances on John Frum Day, this fulfilling the prophecy. It took all the political maneuvering of the museum to stop this culture-changing action.
There was also a man in a white mask. In the sketch, he was obviously evil and trying to mislead the locals. I assumed this was an allegory for imperialism, or just white people, but the curator assured he was supposed to be a fish. The fishermen catch him by casting to the east, where the sun rises and all good things come from. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of racial identity problems around there, so I’m inclined to believe him. I was reminded of talking to a local who was explaining that Vanuatu looks to the West to learn about business. “Us blacks, we are like monkeys. We are monkeys who watch the whites and then do what they do.” I decided to forgo any explanation of why I didn’t fell comfortable expanding on his analogy.