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Turaga Nation
The Turaga nation 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 boar's tusk) in which their value can be reckoned. Tu ... [...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. References See also * House of Chiefs (Fiji) The House of Chiefs in Fiji consists of the Fijian nobility, composed of about seventy chiefs of various ranks, majority of which are related. It is not a formal political body and is not the same as the Great Council of Chiefs, a political bo ... Culture of Fiji {{Fiji-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pentecost Island
Pentecost is one of the 83 islands that make up the Oceania, South Pacific nation of Vanuatu. It lies due north of capital Port Vila. Pentecost is known as in French language, 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vanuatu
Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia 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 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 condominium (international law), condominium. An independence movem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Motarilavoa Hilda Lin̄i
Motarilavoa Hilda Lin̄i (7 September 1954 – 25 May 2025) was a Ni-Vanuatu politician, a tribal chief of the Turaga nation of Pentecost Island in Vanuatu in the South Pacific, who was associated with the nuclear-free Pacific movement, women's rights, indigenous rights and environmental issues. Life and career Lin̄i was born on 7 September 1954. An alumna of the University of Papua New Guinea, following Vanuatu's independence in 1980, she became one of the first two women elected to the Parliament of Vanuatu, in 1987. She served as member of parliament until 1996. 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 was briefly Minister of Justice, from October 1996 to November 1996. She received The Nuclear-Free Future Award in 2005. She was a sister of Vanuatu's first Prime Minister, Walter Lin̄i. Lin̄i die ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 store ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Livatu
The Livatu is a unit used by the Turaga nation, 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 language, Raga ''livo'' "tooth, tusk" and ''vatu'' "stone". ''Livo'' derives from Proto-Oceanic language, Proto-Oceanic ''*lipon'', from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian language, Proto-Malayo-Polynesian and Proto-Austronesian language, Proto-Austronesian ''*lipen'', a variant ... [...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. It is the national language of Vanuatu, and one of the three official languages of the country, the other ones being English and French. Bislama 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—although 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 gra ... [...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'' an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cargo Cult
Cargo cults were diverse spiritual and political movements that arose among indigenous Melanesians following Western colonisation of the region in the late 19th century. Typically (but not universally) cargo cults included: charismatic prophet figures foretelling an imminent cataclysm and/or a coming utopia for followers—a worldview known as millenarianism; predictions by these prophets of the return of dead ancestors bringing an abundance of food and goods (the "cargo"), typically including a bounty of Western goods or money, often under the belief that Veneration of the dead, ancestral spirits were responsible for their creation; and the instruction by these prophets to followers to appease "ancestral spirits or other powerful beings" to fulfill the prophecy and receive the cargo by either reviving ancestral traditions or adopting new rituals, such as Ecstatic dance, ecstatic dancing or imitating the actions of colonists and military personnel, like Flag-raising ceremony, fl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
