|
Turaga Nation
The Turaga nation (from ''tu'' "stand" and ''raga'', a tribal name) is an indigenous movement based in northern Pentecost Island, Vanuatu. Its leader is Chief Viraleo Boborenvanua, and it has also been associated with Motarilavoa Hilda Lin̄i. The organisation has its headquarters in the traditional village of Lavatmanggemu on the north-east coast of Pentecost. The Turaga movement promotes the revival of traditional Melanesian customs, modernised in certain respects. In place of the Western economic system, which is seen as a cause of poverty and foreign dependency, the movement promotes the ''kastom'' (custom) economy, based on traditional systems of economic exchange and native forms of currency such as pigs and woven mats. The Turaga movement operates its own bank (called Tangbunia after the giant baskets in which valuables were traditionally stored) at which these items can be deposited, and has devised a unit of currency (the livatu, equal to the value of a fully curved bo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Turaga Coat Of Arms At Lavatmanggemu
In Fijian, Turaga is the word for a man. The ''Turaga-ni-Koro'' is a title for the head of a village (''Koro''), who is usually elected or appointed by the villagers. As kind of city administrator or mayor, he plays a key role in the modern Fijian government structure and is paid a small government allowance. Similarly, the chief of a ''Mataqali'' (clan) is known as the ''Turaga-ni-mataqali''. The exact historical status of the Turaga played an important role in conflicts regarding common landownership. Other uses Turaga was used by The LEGO Group for their toy line Bionicle. References See also *House of Chiefs (Fiji) A House of Chiefs (or ''House of Traditional Leaders'') is a post-colonial assembly, either legislative or advisory, that is recognised by either a national or regional government as consisting of and providing a collective, public voice for an et ... Fijian culture {{Fiji-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pentecost Island
Pentecost Island is one of the 83 islands that make up the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu. It lies due north of capital Port Vila. Pentecost Island is known as in French and in Bislama. The island was known in its native languages by names such as ''Vanu Aroaroa'', although these names are not in common use today. Pentecost has also been referred to as ''Raga'' or ''Araga'', a tribal name that originated in the north but is now widely applied to the whole island. In old sources, it is occasionally referred to as Whitsuntide Island. Geography Pentecost is a lush, mountainous island which stretches north to south over some . It has an area of . The mountain range, of which the highest is Mount Vulmat (), marks the dividing line between the humid, rainy eastern coast and the more temperate western coast. The coastal plains, cross-cut by small torrents, are generally very green and ideally suited for plantations and livestock. The climate on Pentecost is humid tropical ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vanuatu
Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east of New Guinea, southeast of the Solomon Islands, and west of Fiji. Vanuatu was first inhabited by Melanesians, Melanesian people. The first Europeans to visit the islands were a Spanish expedition led by Portuguese navigator Pedro Fernandes de Queirós, Fernandes de Queirós, who arrived on the largest island, Espíritu Santo, in 1606. Queirós claimed the archipelago for Spain, as part of the colonial Spanish East Indies, and named it . In the 1880s, France and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom claimed parts of the archipelago, and in 1906, they agreed on a framework for jointly managing the archipelago as the New Hebrides through an Anglo-French condominiu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Motarilavoa Hilda Lin̄i
Motarilavoa Hilda Lin̄i is a chief of the Turaga nation of Pentecost Island in Vanuatu in the South Pacific, who has been associated with the nuclear-free Pacific movement, women's rights, indigenous rights, and environmental issues. Following Vanuatu's 1980 independence, she became one of the first two women elected to Parliament, in 1987. During the early 1990s, as Minister of Health, she helped to persuade the World Health Organization to bring the question of the legality of nuclear weapons to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. She received The Nuclear-Free Future Award in 2005. She is sister to Vanuatu's first Prime Minister, Walter Lin̄i. See also * |
Tari Bunia Bank
The Tangbunia Bank (widely misreported as ''Tari Bunia'') is a bank run by the Turaga indigenous movement on Pentecost Island in Vanuatu. It is notable for dealing in items of customary wealth such as hand-woven mats, shells or pig tusks rather than currency such as the vatu. Accounts at the bank are reckoned in livatu, a unit equivalent to the value of one fully curved boar's tusk. The Tangbunia Bank has fourteen branches throughout the island, with its headquarters at Lavatmanggemu. The bank's manager is Chief Viraleo Boborenvanua. It was set up in accordance with the national government's support for the indigenous customary economy, in a country where a majority of the population does not participate extensively in a monetary economy. According to the British Broadcasting Corporation, the bank is similar to other banks in that it has "accounts, reserves, cheque books and tight security". The bank is named after the giant baskets in which valuables were traditionally stored ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Livatu
The Livatu is a unit used by the Turaga indigenous movement and the Tangbunia Bank in Vanuatu to reckon the worth of items of traditional currency such as pigs and textiles. One livatu is equivalent to one fully curved boar's tusk, a symbolic item of value in Vanuatu culture. Long dyed mats, a less valuable item of exchange, are worth up to a half a livatu. According to Chief Viraleo, manager of the Tangbunia Bank, the value of 1 livatu is fixed at 18,000 vatu (approximately ). This approximately reflects the price for which tusks sell in the markets of Port Vila. Account holders at the bank can make transfers and write cheques in livatu. Etymology The word ''livatu'' is a compound derived from Raga ''livo'' "tooth, tusk" and ''vatu'' "stone". ''Livo'' derives from Proto-Oceanic ''*lipon'', from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian and Proto-Austronesian ''*lipen'', a variant of ''*nipen''/''*ŋipen'' (compare Samoan ''nifo'' and Tagalog ''ngipin''). ''Vatu'' derives from Proto-Oceanic ''* ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raga Language
Raga (also known as Hano) is the language of northern Pentecost Island in Vanuatu. Like all Vanuatu languages, Raga belongs to the Oceanic subgroup of the Austronesian languages family. In old sources the language is sometimes referred to by the names of villages in which it is spoken, such as Bwatvenua (Qatvenua), Lamalanga, Vunmarama and Loltong. It is the most conservative language of Pentecost Island, having preserved final vowels while also retaining the five-vowel system inherited from Proto-Oceanic, compared to other languages spoken on the island, which have all developed additional vowels in addition to pervasive vowel deletion. With an estimated 6,500 native speakers (in the year 2000), Raga is the second most widely spoken of Pentecost's five native languages (after Apma), and the seventh largest vernacular in Vanuatu as a whole. There are significant communities of Raga speakers on Maewo island and in Port Vila and Luganville as a result of emigration from Pentecos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bislama
Bislama (; ; also known by its earlier French name, ) is an English-based creole language and one of the official languages of Vanuatu. It is the first language of many of the "Urban ni-Vanuatu" (citizens who live in Port Vila and Luganville) and the second language of much of the rest of the country's residents. The lyrics of "Yumi, Yumi, Yumi", the country's national anthem, are composed in Bislama. More than 95% of Bislama words are of English origin, whilst the remainder comprises a few dozen words from French as well as some specific vocabulary inherited from various languages of Vanuatu; though these are essentially limited to flora and fauna terminology. While the influence of these vernacular languages is low on the vocabulary side, it is very high in the morphosyntax. As such, Bislama can be described simply as a language with an English vocabulary and an Oceanic languages, Oceanic grammar and phonology. History During the period of "blackbirding" in the 1870s and 188 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avoiuli
Avoiuli (from Raga 'talk about' and 'draw' or 'paint') is a writing system used by the Turaga indigenous movement on Pentecost Island in Vanuatu. It was devised by Chief Viraleo Boborenvanua over a 14-year period, based on designs found in traditional sand drawings, and intended as a native alternative to the Latin alphabet. It is used mainly for writing in the area's native Raga language, although it can also be used for other languages including Apma, Bislama and English. Features The Avoiuli alphabet comprises characters equivalent to the letters A-Z, decimal numerals and other symbols, including a range of currency symbols representing the livatu and specific items of traditional value such as pigs and dyed mats. Like the Western orthography used to write Raga, it represents the velar nasal ''ng'' and prenasalised consonant ''ngg'' using modified forms of the letters ''n'' and ''g'' respectively, but represents the labiovelar consonants ''bw'', ''mw'' and ''vw'' using ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cargo Cult
A cargo cult is an indigenist millenarian belief system, in which adherents perform rituals which they believe will cause a more technologically advanced society to deliver goods. Causes, beliefs, and practices Cargo cults are marked by a number of common characteristics, including a "myth-dream" that is a synthesis of indigenous and foreign elements, the expectation of help from the ancestors, charismatic leaders, and lastly, belief in the appearance of an abundance of goods. The indigenous societies of Melanesia were typically characterized by a " big man" political system in which individuals gained prestige through gift exchanges. The more wealth a man could distribute, the more people who were in his debt, and the greater his renown. Those who were unable to reciprocate were identified as "rubbish men". Faced, through colonialism, with foreigners with a seemingly unending supply of goods for exchange, indigenous Melanesians experienced "value dominance". That is, they ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cargo Cults
A cargo cult is an indigenist millenarian belief system, in which adherents perform rituals which they believe will cause a more technologically advanced society to deliver goods. Causes, beliefs, and practices Cargo cults are marked by a number of common characteristics, including a "myth-dream" that is a synthesis of indigenous and foreign elements, the expectation of help from the ancestors, charismatic leaders, and lastly, belief in the appearance of an abundance of goods. The indigenous societies of Melanesia were typically characterized by a " big man" political system in which individuals gained prestige through gift exchanges. The more wealth a man could distribute, the more people who were in his debt, and the greater his renown. Those who were unable to reciprocate were identified as "rubbish men". Faced, through colonialism, with foreigners with a seemingly unending supply of goods for exchange, indigenous Melanesians experienced "value dominance". That is, they ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
