In search of Kastom, Malekula style - part two
Kokamo's Pacifc Meanderings
Tom and Rachel
Wed 25 Aug 2010 08:51
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Kokamo is at 16:34.7S
167:29.4E
After beating back to the south coast
of Malekula (it's hard work this upwind stuff - we'd almost forgotten!),
we felt our way into a sheltered cove across the bay from Tomman
Island. Safely anchored, we braved the choppy bay in our tiny dinghy, and
gingerly picked our way through the reef to the beach of the last home of
Malekula Kastom.
Imagine our surprise when we
heard someone shouting navigational hints, and turned around to
find a ni-Van lady not in the normal 'Mother Hubbard'
outfit, or even a grass skirt, but in a floaty floral dress,worn over
trendy black leggings, while gesticulating with her mobile and sweeping her
highlighted extensions back behind her shades. Banesta, it turned out, was
back from New Zealand for a few days to see her family for the first time in 5
years. She quickly became our immensely cheerful and voluble guide, and
we soon met all of her large family and went on a mission to collect fruit
from the islands overladen trees. We weren't allowed to return to the boat
until we'd had our fill of special chicken filled lap-lap, and our dinghy was
close to sinking with a load of 30 odd oranges and mandarins, a palm leaf basket
stuffed with grape fruit, a complete stem of bananas,
coconuts...
Today, we set out to visit the Kastom
family on the other side of the island. As we approached their nasara
(ancestral village), we were met by a stern looking man, wearing his small
nambas and ceremonial leaves. Tom described himself as the gate to
the Chief, and led us to Longlel himself: equally stern and inscrutable in his
reception. When I explained that we wanted to 'talk-talk' and
hear some Kastom stories, they relaxed, and we had lengthy and at times
thoroughly confusing chat in pigeon English (Bislama - which we are slowly
getting better at). They set up their nakamal in 2000, and
talk persuasively about the importance of holding on to their
culture. And yet, Longlel's own son said he hadn't taken any of the pig
killing Grades, and Longlel seemed despondent about the likelihood of
their culture surviving intact.
Both Chief Longlel and
Chief Aiar in the previous anchorage, were outspoken about kastom just being
carried out as a display for tourists, and understandably so. But it
seems that, on Malekula, the hope of being able to recruit enough people to
actually live as a community in a meaningful Kastom way, remains a case of
optimism in the face of an inevitably modernising reality. Having
heard so much about Malekula culture, this is something of a surprise, and makes
us realise quite how remarkable the Kastom villages we stayed with on Tanna
really are.
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