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Original Thrill Seekers: Vanuatu Land Diving

Updated: Nov 27, 2018


The Republic of Vanuatu is a cluster of around eighty islands off Australia’s east coast. Colonized by multiple European countries over the course of its history, the island’s history is fraught with cultural suppression and negotiation. Missionary practices have resulted in the conversion of a large number of its citizens to Christianity, although they could not stop the unique syncretism of traditional beliefs and European Christianity. Resisting and subverting colonialism, Vanuatu’s indigenous population has held onto many rituals and beliefs, maintaining them despite pressure to conform to European standards. Perhaps the most well-known (and thoroughly documented) practice stems from the south of island of Pentecost, where to become a man in Vanuatu culture, a boy participates in two rituals: circumcision and land diving.


The yam plays a central role in both ceremonies. Cemented as a phallic and masculine crop through ni-Vanautu legends, it's association with these rites of passage is unsurprising. Although there are a variety of myths, the two most common ones state that yams were created from the bodies of men. One speaks about yams being generated from the body of a male ancestor, Singit, with his various body parts making different types of yam. The other also details the creation of death, being the story of two brothers, Barkulkul and Marelul. Marelul commits adultery with his brother’s wife, Sermorp, and is then killed by Barkulkul, who buries him in his garden like a large yam. More so than taro, a staple crop associated with femininity, yam is both economically and spiritually valuable, and has several ritualized functions within the masculine rites of passage on Vanuatu (Jolly, 2001, p. 185).


Boys are circumcised between the ages of five and six. Inaccessible to women, the ritual does not simply pass boys into manhood, but works to emphasize a shared suffering and brotherhood between them and the participating men. According to Margaret Jolly, it is also meant to imbue boys with the spirit of a male ancestor, Wahbo, rendering the tip of the penis a sacred site. The new men must now wear a pandanus penis sheath, namba, to conceal their genitals. Not only worn for religious purposes, the namba distinguishes them from younger boys, who are either naked or wearing banana leaf. The newly circumcised boys are left to heal in isolation for a short period of time, during which they and their mothers eat yams and avoid taro. At the end of this period, a celebratory feast is held, taltabwean, which celebrates the introduction of the boys to adulthood and reintroduces them to mixed-sex society. An important aspect of the festivity around the boys’ new masculinity is a display of yams cultivated by local men, who compete to see who has grown the biggest one. Whoever wins places his at the top of the pile, signalling his superior yam (Jolly, 2001, p. 184).


Once a boy is circumcised, he can participate in a second ritual of masculinity, called naghol in the local Sa language. Performed after the island’s yam harvests, usually around April or May, land diving is a way of securing favour with local gods and ensuring the next yam harvest is fertile (National Geographic, 2007). Young men, married and unmarried, tie lianas to their ankles and jump from a wooden platform.


Clearing land for the tower.

The tower from which the men dive is designed to signify a bisexual body. It has ankles, shoulders, arms, a head, as well as penes and vaginas represented by the diving platforms and the supporting struts. Despite the duel nature of the structure, its construction is purely male. Isolating themselves from women until completion, twenty to thirty men build the tower in preparation for the dive. Gathering materials, clearing the site, and construction are a communal effort, one that offers Vanuatu men time to bond. Women are strictly forbidden from approaching the tower until the day of the dive, as it is believed they will invoke the vengeance of Tamlie, whose spirit dwells within the tower, and cause injury or death for the divers (Jolly, 2001, p. 187).


Women and boys dancing during the naghol.

Even on the day of the dive, women are greatly restricted in their participation. They are allowed to dance and whistle along with the men gathered at the base of the tower but cannot sing and chant (Müller, 1972). As people celebrate below, the first diver, usually a newly circumcised young boy, climbs to the lowest platform. He makes a short speech or chant to summon strength, clasps his arms together, then jumps off the tower. After swinging to the ground, ideally brushing his head against the soft soil to bless the harvest, he is cut down by fellow divers. The process is repeated as men ascend to higher and higher platforms, each dive bringing greater honour and blessing (National Geographic, 2007).



The ceremony stresses ideals of masculinity: strength, virility, health, and beauty. Formerly associated with bwahri, warriors, naghol has replaced battle as a way for young men to prove themselves as aggressive risk-takers, even when the group has become largely pacifistic. Additionally, a successful dive is meant to enhance the bodily and spiritual health of the participant, along with heightening his sexual appeal. Jumping for increasingly tall platforms also raises his status within the culture (Jolly, 2001, p. 187).


Ni-Vanuatu men.

Although the divers and, subsequently, young masculinity are the main focus, older men play an equally important role as ritual experts and leaders. In contrast to the traits held valuable to young men, aging men, especially those with high social standing, are seen as “cool, equable, and pacific” (Jolly, 2001, p. 187). By emphasizing their role as wise men rather than as bwahri, different types of masculinity are honoured and celebrated during the ritual.


Ironically, both these masculine rites of passage originate with women. Jolly attributes circumcision to the myth of Wahbo, whose long penis made his wife feel ill during intercourse. She climbed a tree to escape his sexual advances and he followed, sending his penis up to retrieve her, but she managed to cut it with sharpened bamboo. Although he was displeased with the alteration, she preferred it. Naghol has similar roots: another dysfunctional marriage, this time of Tamlie and his wife. Sexually unhappy with her over-demanding husband, the wife ran into the forest and climbed up a tree with Tamlie following. She tied lianas around her ankles and jumped, landing safely, though Tamlie met a less fortunate end. He jumped without the lianas, falling to his death (Jolly, 2001, p. 185.) By shifting the perception of morals within them, what were stories of female liberation and empowerment are turned on their head and co-opted by men of the tribe, re-enforcing culturally prescribed gender roles. Land diving is a way to show that their intelligence and control over women is superior to that of their ancestors.


Modernization has dramatically changed the face of Pentecostal rites of passage. Increasing globalization and tourism has altered the meaning of these ceremonies for some, and their contemporary values are being constantly discussed and debated today. Vanuatu’s economy relies heavily on tourism and land diving plays a large role in its appeal as a vacation destination, but many people are challenging “the notion that tourism empowers customary owners of traditional culture” (Cheer, Liang, & Reeves, 2013, p. 436.) White travelers have historically inserted them into Vanautu's cultural narrative, altering traditions to suit themselves, inspiring ongoing debate about their place now. However, indigenous voices are often left out of the discussion about tourism and their traditions, leaving the discourse to white academics. In order to better appreciate how these rites of passage are understood and acted on today, without the colonial lens present in so many past accounts, more publications focusing on and written by ni-Vanautu voices are required.


References:


Cheer, J. M., Reeves, K. J., & Laing, J. H. (2013, October). Tourism and Traditional Culture: Land Diving Vanuatu. Annals of Tourism Research, 43, pp. 435-455.


Gardner, R.H. & Müller, K. (Producers), & Müller, K. (Director). (1972). Land Divers of

Melanesia [Motion Picture]. United States: Harvard University Film Study Center, & Phoenix/BFA Films & Video


Jolly, M. (2001). Damming the rivers of milk? Fertility, Sexuality, and Modernity in Melanesia

and Amazonia. In T.A. Gregor & D. Tuzin (Ed.), Gender in Amazonia and Melanesia: An

Exploration of the Comparative Method (pp. 175-192). Berkley: University of California

Press.


National Geographic. [National Geographic]. (2007, Oct 18). Land Divers I National Geographic. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0Mq6rCfYtU


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