John Frum Cargo Cult • Sing Sing • 2024

On Tanna island in Vanuatu people believe in a mythical man called John Frum (possibly a corruption of 'from' since he was reputed to be from Amercia) who appeared in 1937. He told the islanders that they should abandoned Western habits including money, western education and Christianity, and go back to their old traditions, living by their 'kastom' (Pidgin English for 'custom'). In exchange for this they would receive 'cargo', or wealth and prosperity. Every day in Lamakara village, followers of the cult raise an American flag which symbolises the power and material wealth which they see as still being monopolised by Westerners.

Cargo cults are religious practices in Melanesia, the Pacific region stretching from Fiji in the East to Papua New Guinea in the West, which focus on obtaining the 'cargo' (or material wealth) from the Western World through magic, religious rituals and practices. Cargo cult followers believe that their ancestors bequeathed them the cargo but crafty westerners took possession of it and deprived them of their inheritance. At the beginning of the 20th century, cargo cult devotees were constructing big wooden aircraft, landing strips and bamboo control towers, duplicating some of 'white man's rituals' in the hope they would attract real airplanes with cargo to the island. Nowadays these traditions have declined but older followers of some of the cults still remember the good old times when they would imitate the behaviour of American soldiers who came to their islands during the World War.” By @lens_pacific

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