The History of Ambrym Island

According to the reference and record, the pace of life was very slow, lazy and leisurely.

The most of islander in Ambrym were engaged in agriculture and live regularly, working in dawn and resting in sunset. Speiser (1912: 198) describe that:

In sun and shower, the natives work in the plantations in long rows, the women together with their husbands or with other women at some lighter task…. For light work the women are more useful, as they are more accustomed to regular work from their youth up than the men, who are used to spending their days in easy laziness.

and continued to say:

Towards sunset, the “Bubu” announces the end of work, and the natives stroll towards their quarters, simple huts of straw, where each man has his couch, with a trunk underneath containing his belongings. Meals are prepared by a cook, and the men go to fetch their rations, rice, yam, or taro. Sometimes there is meat, but not often, except in places where wild pig is plentiful. In that case, it is simplest for the master to send his boys shooting every Sunday, when it depends on themselves if

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they are to have meat during the coming week or not. After the meal, the natives sit round the fires chatting, gossiping and telling fairy-tales.

They also talk the stories about monsters and demons and share their experiences.¹ Speiser (1912: 198) described as:

They know stories of all sorts of monsters and demons, and excite each other by tales of these horrors to such a degree, that bad dreams or even a general panic are often the consequence, and the whole crowd turns out in the middle of the night, declaring that the place is haunted, and that they have seen a devil, who looked thus and so.

The islanders were kind and friendly², Speiser (1912:203) experienced this interaction:

My stay on Ambrym was very pleasant. By the help of Dr. B. ???, I was enabled to find four bright boys, willing and cheerful, with whom I used to start out from Dip Point in the mornings, visit the neighbouring villages, and return loaded with objects of all sorts at noon; the afternoons were devoted to work in the house. The weather was exceptionally favourable, …, were almost too enjoyable to be regarded as a serious duty.

In 1912, Ambrym and Malekula had contacted and communicated frequently. The culture in Ambrym was similar to Malekula, as was plainly shown by the natives’ dress.

Men wore the bark belt and the nambas, which they bought from Malekula; the dress of

1 It is proved in 1912 that some tales or myths existed in the Ambrym Island. But when I executed the fieldwork, the chief told me now there were most Christian stories children and many villagers learned. It is another topic about Christianity, the disappearance of kastom, innovation and renaissance and I do not mention these in this thesis. Then, after pondering a monument, he told a story about Tamate (or Tamat, Tamake) mask and women.

Later, I will interpret this story.

2 Through the fieldwork in Ambrym Island, I can still feel and sense their kindness, optimistic and bright ideas.

In the period of fieldwork, I encountered friendly boys and girls, and make a friend with them live a interesting and carefree life as same.

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women was the same as the dress of women in central Malekula. The dress was consisted of an apron of pandanus or some similar fibers. Ambrym people spun the number of fibers and then wound them round the waist. (Speiser 1912: 203) In addition, many institutions and ceremonies in Ambrym mixed their local tradition with the culture in Malekula and the culture of Ambrym retained more “archaic” because of the geological position, which attracted to the attention of many scholars.( River 1914)

In the” blackbirding period”, the movement of population and the activity of villagers and islanders were related to the companies and the Condominium rule, particularly French.

According to ethnographies (Patterson 1976: 18; Tonkinson 1977, 1979), references and fieldwork, John Connell (1985), in the investigation for the United Nation, discovered in the past there were mainly three factors to make the activity and the movement of Ambrymese, which structured the history of this island: the volcano activity, witchcraft, labor markets.

Besides, in this island, most people did the plantation but few settlers came here. So, we can infer that the concern of the Condominium government was less to Ambrym or the settler worried about black magic or secret society.

Valuable to mention, John Frum movement was cargo cult with some rituals, which arose from the 1930s to the 1978 as a result of the American soldier entering the New Hebrides and leading the islander to create the stories and to permeate all archipelago. John Frum was a messenger and connected with traditional “god”, for example, in Tanna, many people said he had seen John Frum and disseminated he would come to save kastom. Some persons said he came from America or Latin America and someone who lives in America knew and saw John Frum.³(Bonnemaison 1986: 215-218)

However, the movement also shocked the Ambrymese, but not seriously. The islanders

3 Refer to in the detail: Bonnemaison, Joel (1986 [1994]) Canoe and Tree, translated by Josee Penot-Demetry, Pp. 215-244. US: University of Hawaii Press.

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said the American would come, release many materials and bring prosperity here. Then they stopped to work for the Condominium and tentatively broken the social order of the European.

(Guiart 1950: 238) In this period, traditional belief, “pagan”, conflicted with Christian missionary, the Presbyterian, the Seventh-day Adventist church and the Catholic, for the notion on the pig.

In the south-east Ambrym, man first converting Christianity was the labor who recruited and worked in the Queensland from 1870 to 1899. In the beginning, the reason to convert was for knives, riffles, clothing and some supplies. Until large amounts of sudden and dramatic deaths occurred, Christianity was rapidly accepted by the islanders. People quickly destroyed the dancing ground, mask, gongs and some traditional objects. Then, they abandoned the ritual, songs and dances as well. Unavoidably, the traditional ritual life and mangki grade system collapsed fast.

In the past, the authority of chiefs and assistants was based on sorcery. In the process of the collective conversion, the chief played the role as a defender of kastom. They attempted to utilize the trader to oppose the missionary but failed. They didn’t resist this trend. Their successors were baptized, and received the better education and gradually discharged the responsibilities. In the development of Christianity, new chiefs emerged and were inaugurated.

Hence, the traditional structure was changed and the pastor, the elder usually joined the chief meeting. They became another form of chief to maintain the order and to solve the problem in the village.

Although in the Ambrymese mind, the sorcery was still real and believed, the chief in the south-east Ambrym had lost their control based on the sorcery. The essence of kastom may be changed in the south-east Ambrym. Even the revival and retention of kastom were declared and practiced by many ni-Vanuatu political leaders in the post-colonial period, and the chief in the south-east Ambrym needed to bring old chief in the North Ambrym to rebuild their

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house and many things, which was seriously criticized. (Tonkinson 1981: 237-265)

So, we can acquire the conclusion: Christianity brings the large influence in Ambrym. It is hard for ni-Vanuatu to retrieve some lost tradition at all.

2.3 Recent situation