Island to Aelan (from a small island in the U.S. to a small island in Vanuatu): Numba wan dai blo Mai (1st of May)

Did you know on the 1^st of May Christianity arrived on the South area of Efate? I didn’t. All I was told by my community was that we would not be having school to celebrate the 1^st of May.

Starting off the day, everyone migrated to the center of the community and patiently listen to numerous tok tok’s and speeches recounting all the past historical, local customs, and important BuBu who were vital in the preservation of Christianity in Eratap village and Efate. As these tok tok’s were being led by every Head of Tribe, or Oldfala, in my community and when I was almost ready to check out (since it had been about 2 hours)… out jumped a Ni-Van pretending to be a ‘white man’. Dressed in all white, this youngfala carefully walked through the center of the field, and then was ambushed by a group of youngfala, custom men, from long ago. Dressed in all local materials, I watched a complete reenactment of the first meeting between the ‘white’ missionaries and the Ni-Van men of Eratap; and I mean very accurate because this took almost 2 hours, as well.

After, all the presentations were finished, everyone walked over to the ‘First Foundation’ in the village and placed Island Flowers around it. When lunch was finished, fitted with a roasted pig on a spike over a fire, the day was spent ‘spelling’ and storianing.