Worship of a Coca-Cola can, ritual dances in honor of airplanes and marches with rifles woven from straw – it seems that such awkward rituals of islanders not accustomed to civilization exist only in films. However, to this day there are islands in the Pacific Ocean where locals practice their unusual cargo cults, and you can even look at it.
It all started during the Second World War, when American troops decided to place their bases on the islands of Melanesia. Since transporting cargo across the ocean was quite dangerous, the Americans collected the necessary provisions, clothing, equipment and household items in special boxes and dropped them from airplanes. Then they came there themselves, unpacked the “cargo” – cargo, simultaneously presenting the local population with every little thing.
The natives, who had never seen anything more interesting in life than their own loincloths, were amazed. They got jeans and T-shirts, flashlights, matches, and how they must have been surprised by the “fire water”! In general, the appearance of white-skinned aliens created a sensation.
The islanders carefully watched the actions of the military and were amazed that white people did not work day and night in the fields, did not go hunting, and yet unprecedented benefits still descended to them from heaven. But the white-skinned people performed “strange rituals”: they lined up in the morning, shouted some phrases, marched, built landing strips onto which those same magical planes would descend. From this, local residents drew an interesting conclusion: in order for the iron birds to continue to fly, it is necessary to exactly repeat everything that the military does.
The natives did not waste time and got to work. They made airplanes for worship out of sticks and straw, built something like headphones out of coconut to receive some signals they knew only, organized landing strips and placed torches along them in the evenings so that God forbid the sacred plane would fly past. That is why they were called “airplane worshipers.”
At the same time, the cult of the messiah John Frum arose, and now exists on the island of Tanna. It has not yet been established whether such a character actually existed and who he was. Perhaps one of the soldiers visited the aborigines, because according to the description of the local priests, he was a man in a long coat with shiny buttons. In their minds, he was a preacher who incited the natives against the white people, who had allegedly seized power over the planes and were solely enjoying all their benefits. John Frum promised that with his second coming the whites would lose their power, and the desired cargo would arrive to the islanders in unlimited quantities.
The situation worsened when the war ended and the troops left the islands. Iron birds with valuable cargo stopped flying, so the locals completely abandoned hunting and farming, instead trying with redoubled efforts to carry out their rituals. Priests appeared who allegedly contacted the spirit of John Frum “via radio.” To do this, a woman would wrap herself in wires, fall into a trance and shout out incomprehensible sounds, which the priests interpreted as messages. Every day the natives lined up in columns, picked up straw rifles, wrote USA in paint on their chests and marched under American flags, trying to attract the “bird of happiness.” Scientists, who became interested in the tribes even during the war, began to sound the alarm: because of their religious beliefs, the natives could simply die of starvation. Therefore, parcels with provisions began to arrive on the islands, which only once again convinced the locals of the correctness of their own absurd prophecy.
In the seventies, another cult was born in the Pacific Islands after the visit of Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth. Seeing an impressive man in a white camisole, the islanders began to worship him. The prince even sent them photographs of himself, and also invited five representatives of the tribes to stay in London for a few days.
The most important date in the lives of locals is February 15th. It is believed that on this day the second coming of the legendary John Frum should take place, with whom the natives will find eternal happiness and a comfortable life. Despite the fact that the islands have long been ennobled by those same white people, and the natives wear ordinary clothes, speak English at the very least and understand that they will receive benefits not thanks to parcels from the sky, but with an increase in the flow of tourists. But the locals still continue to wait for their messiah. Unfortunately, these days you won’t see makeshift runways or “radio talks” there, but in the local village of Ipikil, the center of the Frum movement, some rituals still take place. There they dance ritual dances, sing sacred country songs and believe in the spirit of John Frum like Christians believe in Jesus.
To see the adherents of the cargo cult with your own eyes, you need to visit the Republic of Vanuatu, located on the islands of the New Hebrides archipelago in Melanesia. Having flown to the capital of the state —
Port Vila, head straight to one of the southernmost islands – Tanna. Local residents will be happy to show you a traditional village where their beliefs are still alive.
Convenient hotel booking aggregator – OneTwoTrip.
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