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Vanuatu, "the country that stands up"

Formerly called New Hebrides, this Melanesian archipelago became an independent state in 1980 under the name of Vanuatu, "the country that stands up."

Its new flag has two red and green horizontal strips separated from a black triangle by a Y-shaped yellow strip which reflects the geographical position of the islands. The red stands for the blood of men and pigs, the green, richness, the black the people and the yellow the light of the gospel. In the centre of the triangle are a pig's tusk and two crossed fern fronds.

The ritual importance of the pig

In Vanuatu, the pig is at the centre of religious, ritual, economic and social life. It is used during customary ceremonies to make peace, pay for wives or permit a rise in grade. On the latter occasion, a man must gather and sacrifice pigs, preferably with long, curved tusks, to increase his prestige. With this aim in sight, he operates on the jaw of a one-year-old piglet, removing both upper canines and filling the cavities with earth and leaves. The lower tusks therefore have room to grow and curve in a ring. They may make a full circle, and sometimes two, in the space of seven or eight years.

Distribution of pig meat during a grade-taking ceremony (Vanuatu, Malakula, Labo village). Photograph by Mitchell Kanashkevich © Mitchell Kanashkevich

Bibliograpy

• Bonnemaison, Joël et al. (dir). 1996. Vanuatu Océanie. Arts des îles de cendre et de corail. Paris: Editions de la Réunion des musées nationaux