Showing posts with label Vanuatu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vanuatu. Show all posts

July 24 - Children's Day – Vanuatu

 Posted on July 24, 2021


This is an update of my post published on July 24, 2010:




Vanuatu is an island nation in the South Pacific, lying between Australia and Fiji. It isn't just one island, but rather an archipelago of 83 islands and islets.



Today the people of Vanuatu celebrate Children's Day, which has two primary themes: “Stop violence against children” and “Give a child the chance to express an opinion today.” In the morning marches are held, followed by speeches, a dance, and other activities at schools.



Kids get the afternoon off from school and are expected to have fun with their families. Some children receive presents from their parents, but folks often remind parents that it doesn't matter if they can't afford to buy their kids presents―that the day is aimed at encouraging parents and kids to spend time together.





How'd they get there?

People have settled the various islands of Vanuatu for at least 4,000 years, undoubtedly arriving by boat. However, there are a limited number of plant and animal species on the islands. This is most likely explained by the fact that the islands are quite new, geologically speaking. There are no large mammals native to the island, although people have brought the usual critters with them (such as hogs, dogs, and cattle).



The most common indigenous mammals seem to be bats and rats. There's not much mystery about how they got to the islands: the bats flew, like the many bird and insect species, and the rats were probably stowaways on people's dugouts and boats.


The Vanuatuan animals that are very common are fish, corals, and more than 4,000 species of mollusks. Mollusks are land or water creatures that create protective “homes” of one or two shells, plus squids and octopi. Some examples are snails, clams, conchs, and oysters.






Some of these creatures, including cone shells and stonefish, are fatally poisonous.





Did you know?

One tourist attraction off the shore of Vanuatu is a sunken luxury liner similar to the Titanic. Instead of being sunk super deep down in cold water, however, this luxury liner rests on a shallow sea floor in clear, dive-able water.





Vanuatu boasts a banyan tree as large as a soccer field!



Vanuatu also boasts the world's most active volcano: Mount Yasur has been erupting continuously for MORE THAN A CENTURY!!




Yasur has been active and erupting consistently since at least 1774 - but probably centuries before that - and has been been considered erupting continuously for 120 years. 

Since the lava tends to be less thick-and-sticky than in some active volcanoes, it is a bit less dangerous - and that's why many people have gone to Vanuatu to peer into the crater and watch the lava with a lot less difficulty and danger than one would imagine. HOWEVER - and that's a big however! - all volcanoes are dangerous, and there are very definitely unsafe places, actions, and times with Mount Yasur!!!


Also on this date:






















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February 15 - John Frum Day in Tanna, Vanuatu

Posted on February 15, 2020

Today, on an island in the Melanesian / South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, Ni-Vanuatu men will wear old U.S. Army and Air Force uniforms in a parade. People with surnames like Lini and Salwai will wear green fatigues with name tags like Hill and Patterson. They will carry sharpened bamboo poles, and they will march and perform military maneuvers.


This parade is a notable feature of John Frum Day, a holiday that has to do with a mysterious figure - possibly a United States soldier - named John Frum. The reason why Frum is celebrated on this day, of all days, is that he is said to have promised to return to the island of Tanna on February 15 of some unnamed year. 

Note that John Frum was supposed to have first visited Tanna in 1939, more than 80 years ago, so he would be REALLY old if he were still alive.

And if he were actually a man.

Some people call John Frum a spirit being or a god. Some people believe he was a real and historic person. Some assume that he is a legend that was cobbled together from several historic and/or legendary characters. 

Still others shrug all of that speculation away as unimportant. They insist that the importance of John Frum is the inspiration he provides to Vanuatuans: the religion and/or the political party and/or the social movement that he inspired.

Some celebrating John Frum Day will be celebrating his
supposed connection to the United States, as well.
On the other hand, some Vanuatuan believers in John
Frum say that he doesn't have any connection with the
U.S. OR with the date February 15!


Frum is supposed to have mysteriously appeared on the island, telling the Ni-Vanuatu people that they should resist the European Christian missionaries who had insisted that Vanuatuans move their villages, abandon their religion, and follow the Christian god. Frum supposedly instructed them to flee from the missionaries and their teachings, and instead go back to the old places and old ways. 

Honoring "the old ways" includes grass skirts - and here
women dressed in gorgeous grass skirts perform during John
Frum Day.

That's why John Frum is seen as a religious figure AND a figure of political resistance AND a figure empowering Vanuatuans to maintain their traditions.

I find it interesting that it is so difficult - actually, impossible, probably! - to discover exactly how the John Frum thing got started, even though it began during modern times, less than a century ago.

By the way, I wrote about "cargo cults" and John Frum in this earlier post.


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