Vanuatu tribes hold ceremony to remember their ‘god’, in mourning
Port Vila: Villagers in Vanuatu are also mourning the death of Prince Philip who passed away at Windsor Castle last Friday aged 99. For decades, two villages on Tanna Island have reportedly revered the Duke of Edinburgh as a god-like spiritual figure. On Monday, the villagers gathered in a ceremony to remember Prince Philip. According to Reuters, tribal leader Chief Yapa told the gathering that the connection between the people of Tanna and the English is very strong. Yapa said they were sending condolence messages to the Royal Family and the people of England.
Anthropologist Kirk Huffman, who had studied the tribes since the 1970s, said for the next few weeks, villagers would meet to conduct rites for the Duke, who was seen as a “recycled descendant of a very powerful spirit or god that lives on one of their mountains”.
They would likely conduct ritualistic dance, hold a procession, and display memorabilia of Prince Philip, while the men will drink kava, a ceremonial drink made from the roots of the kava plant, Huffman wrote. The rituals will culminate with a “significant gathering” as a final act of mourning, he said.
Vanuatu-based journalist Dan McGarry said there would be a great deal of wealth on display including yams, kava plants and pigs because they are a primary source of protein. Mr McGarry reported that he expected numerous pigs to be killed for the ceremony. Monday’s tribal gathering saw hundreds of people gathered under giant banyan trees, said Mr McGarry who is on Tanna.