John Frum (also called Jon Frum, John Brum, and John Prum) is a mythic figure associated with cargo cults on the island of Tanna in

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 ...

. He is often depicted as an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

serviceman who will bring wealth and prosperity to the people if they follow him. Quoting

David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histo ...

's report of an encounter: E look like you. 'E got white face. 'E tall man. 'E live 'long South America." In the 1990s, there was still reportedly over 5,000 members of the John Frum movement but today (2022) there are less than 500. Now, only the village of Lamakara remains true to the John Frum cause on the island of Tanna. The rest of the island has been mostly converted by Christian missionaries based out of

Sulphur Bay Sulphur Bay is a bay on the eastern side of Tanna island in Vanuatu. Nearby is Mount Yasur, called the world's most accessible volcano. History Sulphur Bay was the first part of the island visited by Westerners, when the glow of Mount Yasur att ...

History

The religion centering on John Frum arose in the late 1930s, when Vanuatu was known as the

New Hebrides New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium (french: link=no, Condominium des Nouvelles-Hébrides, "Condominium of the New Hebrides") and named after the Hebrides, Hebrides Scottish archipelago, was the colonial name for the isla ...

, although there was a claim in 1949 that it had started in the 1910s. The movement was influenced by existing religious practice in the

area of Tanna, particularly the worship of Keraperamun, a god associated with

Mount Tukosmera Mount Tukosmera is the tallest mountain on Tanna, Vanuatu. It is located in the southern part of the island. It was a volcano in the Pleistocene, but is no longer active, unlike Mount Yasur. The mountain has special religious significance for th ...

. In one analysis of the cult, the figure was first known as John Broom, who was believed by followers to one day return from a distant land to sweep away the White colonials and return riches to the islands. In some versions of the story, a native man named Manehivi, using the alias "John Frum", began appearing among the native people of Tanna dressed in a Western-style coat, assuring the people he would bring them houses, clothes, food, and transport. Others contend that John Frum was a

kava Kava or kava kava ('' Piper methysticum'': Latin 'pepper' and Latinized Greek 'intoxicating') is a crop of the Pacific Islands. The name ''kava'' is from Tongan and Marquesan, meaning 'bitter'; other names for kava include ''ʻawa'' ( Hawai� ...

-induced spirit vision. Said to be a manifestation of Keraperamun, this John Frum promised the dawn of a new age in which all White people, including missionaries, would depart the New Hebrides, leaving behind their goods and property for the native

Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from Indonesia's New Guinea in the west to Fiji in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, V ...

ns. For this to happen, however, the people of Tanna had to reject all aspects of European society including

money Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money ar ...

, Western education,

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...

and work on

copra Copra (from ) is the dried, white flesh of the coconut from which coconut oil is extracted. Traditionally, the coconuts are sun-dried, especially for export, before the oil, also known as copra oil, is pressed out. The oil extracted from co ...

plantations, and they had to return to traditional ''

kastom ''Kastom'' is a pidgin word (Bislama/Tok Pisin) used to refer to traditional culture, including religion, economics, art and magic in Melanesia. The term is the generally accepted term in anthropology to describe such phenomena as well as the ...

'' (the

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 Luganvil ...

language word for ''customs''). In 1941, followers of John Frum rid themselves of their money in a frenzy of spending, left the missionary churches, schools, villages and

plantations A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Th ...

, and moved inland to participate in traditional feasts, dances and rituals. Most followers had come from the Presbyterian church. European colonial authorities sought to suppress the movement, at one point arresting a Tannese man calling himself John Frum, humiliating him publicly, imprisoning and ultimately exiling him along with other leaders of the cult to another island in the

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Arch ...

. Despite this effort, the movement gained popularity in the early 1940s after 50,000 American troops were stationed in New Hebrides during

, bringing with them an enormous amount of supplies (or "cargo").Western Oceanian Religions: Jon Frum Movement
University of Cumbria During the war, approximately 10,000

Ni-Vanuatu Ni-Vanuatu (informally abbreviated Ni-Van) is a large group of closely related Melanesian ethnic groups native to the island country of Vanuatu. As such, ''Ni-Vanuatu'' are a mixed ethnolinguistic group with a shared ethnogenesis that speak a mu ...

men served in the Vanuatu Labor Corps, a labor battalion of the

United States Armed Forces The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is ...

. They provided logistical support to the Allied war effort during the

Guadalcanal Campaign The Guadalcanal campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by American forces, was a military campaign fought between 7 August 1942 and 9 February 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the ...

. The mass participation of Ni-Vanuatu men in the Labor Corps had a significant effect on the John Frum movement, giving it the characteristics of a cargo cult. After the war and the departure of the Americans, followers of John Frum built

symbolic Symbolic may refer to: * Symbol, something that represents an idea, a process, or a physical entity Mathematics, logic, and computing * Symbolic computation, a scientific area concerned with computing with mathematical formulas * Symbolic dynam ...

landing strips to encourage American airplanes to land and bring them "cargo". Versions of the cult emphasizing the American connection interpret "John Frum" as a corruption of "John from (America)" (although it could mean "John from" anywhere not of Vanuatan origin). In 1957, a leader of the John Frum movement, Nakomaha, created the "Tanna Army", a non-violent ritualistic society that organised military-style parades of men with faces painted in ritual colours and wearing white T-shirts with the letters "T-A USA" (Tanna Army USA). This parade takes place every year on February 15, the date on which followers believe John Frum will return, and which is observed as "John Frum Day" in Vanuatu. In the late 1970s, John Frum followers opposed the imminent creation of an independent united nation of Vanuatu. They objected to a centralised government they feared would favor Western

modernity Modernity, a topic in the humanities and social sciences, is both a historical period (the modern era) and the ensemble of particular socio-cultural norms, attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of the Renaissancein the "Age of Reas ...

and Christianity that would be detrimental to local customs. The John Frum movement has its own

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

, Nagriamel led by Song Keaspai. The party celebrated its 50th anniversary on February 15, 2007. Chief Isaak Wan Nikiau, its leader, was quoted by the BBC from years past as saying that John Frum was "our God, our Jesus" and would eventually return. In December 2011, the president of the John Frum movement (and jointly of Nagriamel) was Thitam Goiset, a woman of Vietnamese origin and sister of businessman

Dinh Van Than Gilbert Đinh Văn Thân, more commonly known as Đinh Văn Thân, is a ni-Vanuatu "prominent businessman" and former politician. Ron Crocombe described him in 2007 as "perhaps the wealthiest entrepreneur and largest private employer in Vanuatu ...

, despite the leadership of these movements having been "previously ..held by high ranking male chiefs". In 2013, Thitam Goiset was sacked from her role as Vanuatu's ambassador to Russia amid evidence of corrupt activities. "Vanuatu anti-corruption lobby: Russia ambassador a business deal"

Radio New Zealand Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and cu ...

, 16 January 2012. Followers of the movement continue to celebrate John Frum Day each year in February. Europeans have made claims on the prophecy of being the leader, who have gained status in Vanuatuan communities through promising to bring development and investment to the communities, such as Claude-Philippe Berger, who died in July 2021, who styled himself the "traditional king of Tanna".

References

Bibliography

* * Joël Bonnemaison, « Tanna : les hommes lieux (livre 2) » dans Les fondements d'une identité : territoire, histoire et société dans l'archipel de Vanuatu (Mélanésie) : essai de géographie culturelle, ORSTOM Paris, 1988, ire_en_ligne_[archive *_Tabani,_Marc._2008._Une_pirogue_pour_le_Paradis_:_le_culte_de_John_Frum_à_Tanna_(Vanuatu)_[archive.html" ;"title="rchive.html" ;"title="ire en ligne [archive">ire en ligne [archive * Tabani, Marc. 2008. Une pirogue pour le Paradis : le culte de John Frum à Tanna (Vanuatu) [archive">rchive.html" ;"title="ire en ligne [archive">ire en ligne [archive * Tabani, Marc. 2008. Une pirogue pour le Paradis : le culte de John Frum à Tanna (Vanuatu) [archive Paris : Éditions de la Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, 2008. * Tabani, Marc. 2010. Le culte de John Frum et la tragédie du nouveau millénaire à Tanna (Vanuatu) [archive]. In Douaire-Marsaudon F. et Weichart G. (eds.), Pacific Religiosities. Marseille : Pacific-Credo Publications, 145-172. * Tabani Marc, Marcellin Abong. 2013. Kago, Kastom, Kalja: the study of indigenous movements in Melanesia today rchive Marseille, Pacific Credo Publications.

Filmography

* ''

God Is American ''God is American'' (french: Dieu est américain) is a 2007 French documentary film written, directed and produced by Richard Martin-Jordan. Synopsis Since the end of World War II in 1945, the people of Tanna, a remote and isolated island ...

'', feature documentary (2007, 52 min), by Richard Martin-Jordan, on Frum's cult at Tanna * ''The Fantastic Invasion'', documentary (1991, 59min) by

Nigel Randell Evans Nigel Randell Evans (often credited simply as Nigel Evans) (1943–2014) was a British author, campaigner for people with disabilities and film maker, with over forty social documentaries to his credit, including '' Walter'', the feature film ...

for the BBC * '' Into the Inferno'', feature documentary (2016, 107 min), by Werner Herzog, on Tanna’s active volcano

External links

Jon Frum Movement

"In John They Trust"
article in ''

Smithsonian Magazine ''Smithsonian'' is the official journal published by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The first issue was published in 1970. History The history of ''Smithsonian'' began when Edward K. Thompson, the retired editor of ''Life'' mag ...

''
Evening spent with the John Frum movement on Tanna Island in Vanuatu, April 2013
(video) {{DEFAULTSORT:Frum, John Cargo cults History of Vanuatu Religion in Vanuatu Vanuatu mythology Oceanian deities 1940s in the New Hebrides New religious movement deities Messianism

History

See also

References

Bibliography

Filmography

Further reading

External links