Doctor Globetrotter

Travel health & Adventures of a Physician

Port Vila – the capital of Vanuatu

by Jul 23, 2023Uncategorized0 comments

Port Vila after two tropical cyclones

The capital welcomed me with blackouts in the evening hours in a big part of the capital, damaged roofs, and very limited internet access. No wonder, it has been only around a month, since 2 tropical cyclones, Judy and Kevin wiped through Efate making considerable damage to the infrastructure. The local market was also bearing the signs of the cyclones: most agricultural products and most trees were damaged, so apart from root vegetables, bananas, coconuts, and island cabbage, there were hardly any other fruits or vegetables available.

Sand drawing

For me, one of the most interesting places to visit in Port Vila was the National Museum. It has a nice collection of traditional artifacts, but the fascinating parts are not the items! The amazing part of the museum is the guide himself, Edgar! He comes from north Pentecost and is an expert in sand drawing, which is an intangible UNESCO Cultural Heritage of Vanuatu. Sand drawing functioned in the past as a means of communication between the communities belonging to separate language groups (only in central and northern Vanuatu there are 80 different language groups!) and besides that, it served as a way to pass on knowledge about rituals, art, and history.

The museum opened a “Kastom School ” for small children, where Edgar is teaching them about sand drawing and other traditions. We were invited by Edgar to sit with the kids and listen to his teachings. It was incredible! He was telling ancient tales while he was creating fine, geometric drawings and showed the use of some traditional musical instruments.

Cannibalism in Vanuatu

Later, after the kids left, we asked him about North Pentecost and he told us about the cannibal traditions from there. His grandmother grew up in the times when cannibalism was still practiced. He explained to us that in his home area, it was mainly practiced for spiritual reasons and not simply for eating meat. It was believed that by eating somebody, you can take their power. So they mainly targeted tribal leaders or persons who were especially strong or clever and it was believed that by eating their muscles, brain, etc. you could take their power.
Cannibalism was practiced in Vanuatu for the longest time on Malekula island, where the last documented case took place as late as 1969.

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