This year, 5 boys were circumcised and the ceremony involved 3 families. The boys went to the nakamal at the end of the first school term and were circumcised with a small bamboo knife. Bamboo is incredibly sharp. Ouch! Need I say more? After healing, and in time for the start of the second school term, the boys went back to school. When the families were ready for the ceremony, everyone brought a lot of water tar, yam, mats, baskets, calico (fabric) to the nakamal and made 3 very large piles. Pigs, nannys (goats) and bullock (cows) were carried or led inside the area too. The women dressed up in grass skirts, face paint and chicken feathers. Everyone goes to the nakamal. Then most of the men came from the solwata (salt water) with the boys and they walked around the edge of the nakamal before sitting down. One or two men then used a very large club to hit the pigs over the head and kill them. Sometimes it took 3 or 4 bashes before they were sure it was dead. They did the same for the nannys and then slit the throats of the bullock. The dogs ran around lapping up blood from the ground. Everyone from the families and surrounding villages then walked around to the young boys and their families and shook hands and gave a small gift to the boys, like soap or crackers. Finally, the men hauled the animals off to different houses, mats, baskets and calico were given to grandmothers of the boys and distributed around to other women, and the women started cooking. The rest of the day was spent cooking and talking, then eating and resting. Around 9:00pm the music starts in the nakamal and the women put on kastom dress again. Everyone goes to the nakamal and dances kastom dance all night long, until a little after sunrise the next day.
One mama made me a grass skirt – Kaha Ellen, another painted my face – Nani, and I joined the women both in the morning and for about 3 hours of dancing at night. I then quietly slipped off and went to sleep. I woke around 8:00 and could just hear them finishing as I made tea.
I also went to a first sick moon ceremony. Here, a young girl passage into womenhood is first celebrated by cutting her lower back in a series of inverted Vs with a piece of bamboo or glass. Any young girl who was away at school for her first sick moon and missed having a full ceremony can also be cut at this time. If she is not cut, the bad blood cannot come out and she will have problems with pain and bearing children as she gets older. All of the witnesses are cut too, but on their upper arms, ether in an small line of inverted Vs or in a star shape. I now have a star shaped scar on my arm. After, all of the women from her family go down to the beach. A mixture of grated coconut, some kind of leaf and coconut “hair” is mixed together. Everyone uses it like soap to wash first their cuts and then their entire body. All at once, everyone runs into the water and rinses it off. No amount of bacitracin is as soothing to an open wound at that mixture. It was warm from the sun and felt absolutely divine! When we came ashore, everyone put on dry clothes, the girl was dressed in kastom dress and her face painted. Her aunties were also in kastom dress. Everyone was given some kind of plant stalk and we started walking back to the village. We were joined by 2 of the girl’s uncles. Their job, and ours, was to protect the feathers in her hair from being snatched by any young man because if they were able to take it, then she would have to become his wife. Well, that was what happened in the past, but now that part isn’t followed. As we started to run, we were surrounded by young men with bigger, thicker and harder plant stalks, whipping us to get to the girl. Speaking from experience, when you get wacked with one, it hurts. There are some rules though. They can’t hit you on the head, face or front of your chest. I got so mad from being hit, I used my stalk to hit back. Unfortunately, the only men in site were the girl’s two uncles. When we got back to the village, everyone was laughing from the run and because the two uncles thought it was hilarious I hit them. So, to laughter and lots of talking, more food was prepared and cooked. Later we all ate.
Just a few more notes about life in the village and then I’ll talk a little about work. We’ve had quite a few large yachting groups come through, one with over a 100 people. At times I’ve felt like a tour guide. Lillian and Napua (Nelson) had a new baby girl and named her Lily Eleanor, the second name being my mother’s. Some men came and stole Enid one night and an uncle found her the next day and brought her home. Dawa likes to chew kava for me and Samson, and after taking a group to the volcano at night, stops by to eat whatever I happen to have cooked. Nathan and Noa, 2 volunteers from the other side of the island stopped by one day. They were trying to talk around Tanna in 4-1/2 days. Nathan had a backpack with all of the essentials. Noa arrived at Nate’s place with a taro and his dog. I made a dehydrated chocolate cheesecake I’d been saving for Nate, they slept and in the morning I found Nate had left sometime in the middle of the night to finish his walk. Noa hung around for a day, made friends, drank kava and caught a truck back to his sight the day after. I heard a story about papaya (po po). Some are very sweet and some are just ok. If you feed the skin or parts of a sweet one to the pigs, it will spoil the tree and the rest of the fruit will just be ok.
One mama made me a grass skirt – Kaha Ellen, another painted my face – Nani, and I joined the women both in the morning and for about 3 hours of dancing at night. I then quietly slipped off and went to sleep. I woke around 8:00 and could just hear them finishing as I made tea.
I also went to a first sick moon ceremony. Here, a young girl passage into womenhood is first celebrated by cutting her lower back in a series of inverted Vs with a piece of bamboo or glass. Any young girl who was away at school for her first sick moon and missed having a full ceremony can also be cut at this time. If she is not cut, the bad blood cannot come out and she will have problems with pain and bearing children as she gets older. All of the witnesses are cut too, but on their upper arms, ether in an small line of inverted Vs or in a star shape. I now have a star shaped scar on my arm. After, all of the women from her family go down to the beach. A mixture of grated coconut, some kind of leaf and coconut “hair” is mixed together. Everyone uses it like soap to wash first their cuts and then their entire body. All at once, everyone runs into the water and rinses it off. No amount of bacitracin is as soothing to an open wound at that mixture. It was warm from the sun and felt absolutely divine! When we came ashore, everyone put on dry clothes, the girl was dressed in kastom dress and her face painted. Her aunties were also in kastom dress. Everyone was given some kind of plant stalk and we started walking back to the village. We were joined by 2 of the girl’s uncles. Their job, and ours, was to protect the feathers in her hair from being snatched by any young man because if they were able to take it, then she would have to become his wife. Well, that was what happened in the past, but now that part isn’t followed. As we started to run, we were surrounded by young men with bigger, thicker and harder plant stalks, whipping us to get to the girl. Speaking from experience, when you get wacked with one, it hurts. There are some rules though. They can’t hit you on the head, face or front of your chest. I got so mad from being hit, I used my stalk to hit back. Unfortunately, the only men in site were the girl’s two uncles. When we got back to the village, everyone was laughing from the run and because the two uncles thought it was hilarious I hit them. So, to laughter and lots of talking, more food was prepared and cooked. Later we all ate.
Just a few more notes about life in the village and then I’ll talk a little about work. We’ve had quite a few large yachting groups come through, one with over a 100 people. At times I’ve felt like a tour guide. Lillian and Napua (Nelson) had a new baby girl and named her Lily Eleanor, the second name being my mother’s. Some men came and stole Enid one night and an uncle found her the next day and brought her home. Dawa likes to chew kava for me and Samson, and after taking a group to the volcano at night, stops by to eat whatever I happen to have cooked. Nathan and Noa, 2 volunteers from the other side of the island stopped by one day. They were trying to talk around Tanna in 4-1/2 days. Nathan had a backpack with all of the essentials. Noa arrived at Nate’s place with a taro and his dog. I made a dehydrated chocolate cheesecake I’d been saving for Nate, they slept and in the morning I found Nate had left sometime in the middle of the night to finish his walk. Noa hung around for a day, made friends, drank kava and caught a truck back to his sight the day after. I heard a story about papaya (po po). Some are very sweet and some are just ok. If you feed the skin or parts of a sweet one to the pigs, it will spoil the tree and the rest of the fruit will just be ok.
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