The Vailala Madness was a social movement in the
Papuan Gulf
The Gulf of Papua is located in the southern coast region of New Guinea. It has a total surface area of .
Geography
Some of New Guinea's largest rivers, such as the Fly River, Turama River, Kikori River, Purari River, and Wawoi River flow ...
, in the
Territory of Papua
The Territory of Papua comprised the southeastern quarter of the island of New Guinea from 1883 to 1975. In 1883, the Government of Queensland annexed this territory for the British Empire. The United Kingdom Government refused to ratify the a ...
, beginning in the later part of 1919 and diminishing after 1922. It is generally accepted as the first well-documented
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 ...
, a class of
millenarian
Millenarianism or millenarism (from Latin , "containing a thousand") is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming fundamental transformation of society, after which "all things will be changed". Millenariani ...
religion-political movements.
Name
The Vailala Madness acquired its name from observations of the behavior of people who participated in it, which included
glossolalia
Speaking in tongues, also known as glossolalia, is a practice in which people utter words or speech-like sounds, often thought by believers to be languages unknown to the speaker. One definition used by linguists is the fluid vocalizing of sp ...
, shaking and psychosomatic symptoms. In the indigenous language, participants called it ''iki haveva'', or "belly-don't know", meaning, roughly, "dizziness".
Return of the Ancestors
The movement included the belief that a 'Ghost Steamer' piloted by the returning dead, would arrive presently, bringing with it a cargo that included, besides departed relatives: tinned food, tools, various other resources; and in one version, guns with which to expel the colonizers.
White ancestors
The ancestors who would return with the ship were conceived as being white, an idea which recurs in many post-war cargo cults. Communication with them was possible by using an apparatus described as a 'flag pole'—a tall pole, attached by cane to the movement's 'office'. An expatriate observer suggested this was the imitation of a wireless set, and claimed to have seen a pumpkin hoisted up the pole for transmission to the ancestors. However,
Albert Maori Kiki
Sir Albert Maori Kiki (21 September 193113 March 1993) was a Papua New Guinea politician. He was one of the founders of the Pangu Party, which demanded 'home rule leading to eventual independence' for New Guinea. Born in the Kerema district on the ...
, who grew up in the area, suggested that this device was actually related to a myth whereby Morning Star used a long string of cane to come from his home, which is very distant, to the village to meet a woman he fancied. This is an illustration of the
syncretic
Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, thu ...
nature of many cargo cult rituals.
Regulation of life after colonial fashion
Another aspect of the movement which presages features of later cargo cults is the so-called "imitation of the white man". The leaders of the movement would drill the
rank and file
Rank and file may refer to:
*A military term relating to the horizontal "ranks" (rows) and vertical "files" (columns) of individual foot-soldiers, exclusive of the officers
*A term derived from the above used to refer to enlisted troops, as oppose ...
as if they were soldiers, they enforced a curfew after the manner of regimented life at plantations, and they held a ceremony which looked for all intents and purposes like
having tea in the European fashion. A table would be decorated with
crotons, and food would be served for the participants to eat while sitting on stools. According to
Francis Edgar Williams, the anthropologist who observed this, under no other circumstances would an indigenous person suffer through sitting at a table in this way. However, there was no explanation linking this to the ancestors, for instance. This illustrates another aspect of cargo cults, which is that some activities described as cargo cults could be rituals with secret meanings, or their description as such could be an outcome of the observer's expectation of secret meanings.
Strict moral code
Some reports suggested that the movement led to widespread sexual license, but this cannot be verified. Indeed, the movement officially taught a strict moral code, which included the prohibition of adultery and other moral offenses. Such offenses would be rectified by fines levied by the leaders of the movement. To discover who had committed any sin, these leaders organized divining ceremonies which involved a very large log, held by several men, which was said to have the capacity to seek out anyone who had guilt.
This resulted in the movement being classified as a form of extortion by the colonial administration. This offense was added to that of 'spreading false
rumor
A rumor (American English), or rumour (British English; see spelling differences; derived from Latin:rumorem - noise), is "a tall tale of explanations of events circulating from person to person and pertaining to an object, event, or issue in p ...
s,' punishable under the legal code of the
Australian Papua
The Territory of Papua comprised the southeastern quarter of the island of New Guinea from 1883 to 1975. In 1883, the Government of Queensland annexed this territory for the British Empire. The United Kingdom Government refused to ratify the a ...
territory. Several of the leaders were in fact jailed, for an unknown period of time.
Abandonment of ceremonies
The Vailala Madness also took a rigid line on the abandonment of the great cycle of
initiation
Initiation is a rite of passage marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components. In an extended sense, it can also signify a transformation ...
s that were formerly a center of social life in the Papuan Gulf. The cycle, known as ''hevehe'' and ''semese'', would take over a decade to complete and involved the building of a huge man's cultic house, known as the ''eravo'', in which were put ritual paraphernalia that were prohibited to women. The Vailala Madness destroyed the paraphernalia, and often the first step towards this was displaying the forbidden items to the non-initiated.
Source of these beliefs
The source of the model of organization incorporating drills, curfews and tea was most likely observed by the leaders of the movement whilst working in plantations far away from the Papuan Gulf, where they also picked up
Tok Pisin
Tok Pisin (,Laurie Bauer, 2007, ''The Linguistics Student’s Handbook'', Edinburgh ; Tok Pisin ), often referred to by English speakers as "New Guinea Pidgin" or simply Pidgin, is a creole language spoken throughout Papua New Guinea. It is an ...
. It is likely that there they also learned about the war with Germany, since the glossolalia was described as "djaman". It has been suggested that ideas about 'cargo' - specifically, the belief that it was diverted from the ancestors by whites - emerged within the context of the plantation indigenous labor force.
It is clear that Christianity, which had been introduced by
Rev. James Chalmers in the 1890s, had a profound effect on the people, and it is possible that many ideas in the moral code stemmed from it. The movement set out to "throw'em away bloody new guinea somethings", which should not be interpreted as the internalization of colonialist ideology. In fact, colonialist ideology in Papua demanded that indigenous society remain relatively stable within tradition and culture, and for this reason, the Vailala Madness was considered to be a troubling indicator that society might collapse under the pressure of change.
Observers and the end of the movement
The movement was observed first hand by
G. M. Murray in 1919, the Acting Resident Magistrate for the
Kerema
Kerema is the capital of Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea. It is located on the coast of Gulf of Papua. The Gulf region is aptly named for its concave coastline with large deltas. The Gulf area is a riparian region where many rivers from the southe ...
Patrol Station.{{Citation needed, date=April 2010 Francis Edgar Williams, the Government Anthropologist of the Australian Papuan administration, arrived in 1922, at which time the movement was still strong, though already showing signs of disintegration. By the late 1920s, it was no longer active. However, numerous other religious and social innovations continued to pass through the Papuan Gulf before WWII.
See also
*
Ghost Dance
The Ghost Dance ( Caddo: Nanissáanah, also called the Ghost Dance of 1890) was a ceremony incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems. According to the teachings of the Northern Paiute spiritual leader Wovoka (renamed Jack Wilso ...
, a belief extended among North American Indians that, in its
Sioux
The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota language, Dakota: Help:IPA, /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes and First Nations in Canada, First Nations peoples in North America. The ...
version, prophesied that the ancestors would come back by train.
*
John Frum
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. He is often depicted as an American World War II serviceman who will bring wealth and prosperity to the ...
, a later cargo cult.
References
*Schwimmer, E. (ed) (1976) ''F. E. Williams: The Vailala Madness and Other Essays''. London: C. Hurst and Company
*Cochrane, G. (1970) ''Big Men and Cargo Cults''. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
*Kiki, A.M. (1968) ''Ten Thousand Years in a Lifetime''. Melbourne: Cheshire.
*Worsley, P. (1968) ''The Trumpet Shall Sound, 2nd edition.'' London: Granada
Cargo cults
Religion in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinean culture