Celebration – Tanna Style!
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We were lucky enough during our stay on Tanna to attend a circumcision celebration feast in a nearby village. The young boys (about 8-9 years old) had been recovering, hidden in the nakamal (men’s house) with their male relatives, for 7 days or so. The day of the feast is the day of their return to the village. Its one of the biggest events in a man’s life and hundreds of people come from all over the island, hauling as many gifts as they can carry and everyone parties for days. It was an incredible experience. I felt like an international correspondent with the story of a lifetime. The female relatives of the boys are dressed, ready, and waiting for the party to start… These piles of gifts were ceremonially exchanged… and then shared out to everyone… – taro, kava, pandanus mats, a dead cow, a couple of live pigs, chickens…. etc This is a proud day for the father of the young boys… All dressed up and ready to party! The men ceremonially leave the nakamal (men’s house) and the festivities begin.
They contribute the ENORMOUS fish to the gift piles… There is a prayer… And everybody dances – for hours and hours…
Even Elyse dances – the local people thought this was hilarious and were taking photos of Elyse on their mobile phones… These young boys were certainly not camera shy! Then (unfortunately) we were invited to eat some lap lap. This is like gluggy cardboard… but this one has an extra special treat inside! Some crushed chicken bones with little bits of pink, uncooked chicken meat. I couldn’t possibly IMAGINE a more disgusting way to cook your food. Who INVENTED this stuff, and why do they CONTINUE to eat it??? I’m sorry if any lap-lap-lovers are reading this, but you can guess what happened to my piece… Of course, there is LOTS of food. That huge white esky was used to cook a mountain of rice, and there is plenty of lap-lap and fresh beef to go around… Everyone who came to the celebration – which is hundreds and hundreds of people – line up to shake hands with the boys and give additional smaller gifts of soap, digicel phone credit, etc. and we keep dancing…
all day, and all through the night… |
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