Back to my Roots festival on Ambrym Island

Enjoying a warm Tusker beer at the Sunrise Yacht Club, in Olal

Carol and Dan enjoying a coconut drink at lunchtime

"Kastom" dancing

Killing of the pig by the chief

Local kids are captivated by the festival

Back to my Roots festival on Ambrym Island

August 21, 2015

August 19 to 21 there was a festival in a village on North Ambrym to which we and other cruisers were invited. These festivals are primarily for the villagers themselves. There are ceremonies involved in raising your status towards being a chief. The older folk want to make sure that their children do not lose touch with the customs, dances, songs, and ceremonies of the past. This event is a yearly one. In Vanuatu the original customs have not been lost. After watching many songs with dances, I was wishing that we had a translation. I know they each had a different meaning but sounded much the same to us. The drumming rhythms are more complex than we are used to. And the musical scale used is different also. (maybe pentatonic?)

The costumes were different from what we had seen so far. The women wore grass skirts but nothing on top. The dancers were the older villagers so not too exciting to watch. But there were more men dancing. They wear a grass band around their waists with various plants tucked in. The only other article is a  "penis sheath", which is dyed leaves wrapped around it with the testicles hanging out. Their beautiful dark skin looks much better like this than most North Americans would.

The choosing of a chief involves the giving of money and a pig. Also the candidates stood on a high platform dancing and dodging coconuts thrown up at them. They also killed a pig for roasting by hitting it on the head while it was tied on the spit. Not a pleasant thing to watch! I know there was more to all the procedures than we were understanding.

The  women had prepared lunch and snacks for each day which were very tasty. There was a "yacht club" along the water which was basically just  a bar with a few flags hanging up. We were anchored further down the shore by another village so got in some long walks. On Wed it was Janet's birthday. Chapter 2 crew treated us all to a dinner at the village near the anchorage. It was in the chief's home and was based on a roasted pig. It was a celebration not likely to be repeated. They gave her a "mother hubbard" dress as a gift. It is a loose gathered dress with puffed sleeves worn by most of the women past a certain age. As in most places the younger ones dress like we do and have cell phones.

The sailing in Vanuatu has been more work than in Tonga. It took 2 day trips to get to Ambrym, one of which was motor sailing to windward in rough seas. From Ambrym it was an overnight sail to Santo. We chose a light wind forecast, but except for a few hours we had 20 to 25 kn.  There are 2 volcanoes on the island and they were glowing orange after dark, a beautiful, unusual site. It would have been fun to hike up for a closer view. Most of the hikes are a full day return trip, or an overnight.