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The Authentic Kastom Village of Fanla

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We came to Ambrym to see the legendary Fanla Rom Dance Festival.  This festival is held in the small, remote village of Fanla located up in the mountains.  Fanla is a true kastom village which is dedicated to preserving the Vanuatu traditional ways in culture, religion, economics, art, and magic.

We anchor at Ranon Bay which is the closest anchorage to Fanla.  This is a beautiful, large bay with a lovely village near the shore (see our blog post on Ranon).  

The Fanla Festival Program

This is a two day festival featuring ROM dances, black magic, sand drawing, and the rarely seen grade taking ritual.  Grade taking is specific to Ambrym and is where the men perform certain activities and pay significant amounts of money and pig tusks to increase their rank in the village.

There is so much to share about each event within the festival that I have broken them out into separate blog posts.  However, here are the highlights of what is to come:

Fanla Festival: ROM, a Mystical Cultural Event

The ROM dance is a sacred, magical event.  A few men are selected to perform the ROM dance as part of their grade taking ceremony.  The ROM dance includes very elaborate costumes and a hand made tribal mask.

This will be two parts:  One on the actual ROM dance and one on the beautiful, magical ROM masks and costumes.

Fanla Festival: Black Magic and Sand Drawing

An sorcerer performs several variations of sand drawing. Sand drawing is drawn from memory without lifting the finger and is a complete, complex pattern.

Drum and flute demonstrations will be played, several variations of dances will be performed and we will witness a small display of mysterious black magic performed by a special sorcerer, ‘the man blong blak majik’.

Fanla Festival: Grade Taking Ceremony

We witness two chiefs elevate from a level 11 grade to a level 12 grade which makes them the highest ranking men in all of Vanuatu.  The ceremony, steeped in tradition, includes several dances, songs, chants, and pig killing.  

But before we get to the festival, let’s talk about the very unique kastom village of Fanla.

The Kastom Village of Fanla

Fanla is located through the forest and up in the mountain. We hired a guide to show us the way to Fanla, since we were not 100% certain of its location. Freddy Roromal came down from Fanla to show us the “shortcut which would cut 20 minutes off our hike.  The route along the road takes 60-75 minutes and our short cut route took 45 minutes.

It is a relatively easy “walk” albeit mostly up hill.  When it rains it becomes very muddy but it is not a difficult climb. 

Fanla is one of the oldest villages in Ambrym and they have the two highest grade chiefs in all of Vanuatu.  This kastom village itself has a mix of concrete houses and traditional huts.  It appears many of the young people went to larger villages and returned with money to build strong, more secure homes for their families.

Fanla boasts of one of the most unique banyan trees in the country.  It is a female banyan tree that has a naturally grown “cave” on the back side of the tree.  The elders of the village used to hide skulls in the cave to prevent their enemies from stealing them.

From the front, the tree looks like a typical banyan tree.  But as you round the backside you see the very large opening.  They have strategically placed two stone carved tikis to protect the tree.  Once you walk in you turn to the left and there is a further path into the center of the tree.

Tour of Fanla

We continue our tour of the Fanla Village and come to the grave site of the eldest chief of the village.  This is chief who met Captain Cook when he arrived to Ambrym.  The chief gave Captain Cook a yam.  When the chief offered the yam to him he said “yam rim” which means my yam for you.  Captain Cook thought that he said the name of the island is  “yam rim.” This is how Ambrym got its name.

In exchange for the yam, Captain Cook presented the chief with a piece of metal. The chief created a special carving tool using the metal piece. This special tool is used in the highest levels of the grade taking ceremony carvings.  The chief showed us the 250 year old tool and allowed us to hold it.  It is amazing to me to be able to hold such an authentic piece of history in my hands!

The top photo is the burial site.  The villagers lay out the moss covered stones in the shape of pig tusks (which is the highest honor).  The chief earns hundreds of tusks over his lifetime and they are all buried with him.  This site is considered “tabu.” You can only visit with express permission from the current chief and with a guide.

The top right photo is the “secret” place of the high chief. The chief chooses to live alone and prepare his own meals.  He does not accept visitors (not even his wife). More on this in the grade-taking ceremony blog.

Me, the Leader?

As many of you know, I am extremely active in the cruising community.  I have produced 8 compendiums for various countries which are complete sailing guides (200+ pages each).  I am an administrator on several cruising forums, social media groups, and WhatsApp groups. Many cruisers turn to Sugar Shack for guidance and assistance and I consider it a huge honor.

I was able to gather 18 cruisers for the Fanla festival.  This is the largest group they’ve had attend and the villagers considered me the “leader.”  

I am so excited to share the many cultural events and stories we’ve learned about here in Fanla.  Follow along with us for the next couple of weeks to read all about it!

A new tribe of girls…they just to play with my hair.

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  We were in Falna around Mid-July 2024.  Did you read about the beautiful bays of Ambrym in our last blog post?

Beautiful Bays in Ambrym

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Ambrym is full of many lovely anchorages and bays.  Several are listed on charts and cruising guides and some we explored based on their beauty on the satellite charts.

Double Bay

We left Lonwolwol and headed for Double Bay which is not on any of the guide books.  But it looked super pretty on the satellite charts and it was on the way to North Ambrym (where we needed to be in  a week).  Super short motor, 8nm and we dopped the hook.  It is as beautiful as it looks on the satellite images.

Black sand beach with lots of volcanic rocks and shelves, bright green hills and multi colored rock faces.  The “shelves” are made of volcanic rock, sand, and debris and crumbles under your weight near the edges.  We found several unusual fallen trees with other trees wrapped around the trunks and lots and lots of flies and spiders.

It rained a lot here, so we had a lot of rainbows.  For the most part this is a great anchorage, but probably better in settled weather conditions.  Both Moana and Sugar Shack woke up at 5am to our anchor alarms going off as we were dragging.  We both had to reset the hook but then all was good.  The other bummer part of this bay is that you get lots of black debris on your boat (either black sand or the volcano dust) and you get a yellow rim around the water line from the sulfur in the water.

On our way out of Double Bay we drove by the other half of the bay and it was gorgeous.  The colors on the rock mountains were astounding and the caves are so mysterious.  We could not anchor here as it was too deep (30meters).

Ranon Bay

We make it to Ranon Bay which is where we need to be for the very famous Fanla Festival.  It is a small village with lots of very friendly people.   We visit the school, pass by a church, see many colorful houses, and discover a new nut (yellow flower below).

Can you understand what the writing is on the wall on bottom right photo?  Answer at the end of the post.

Ranon Bay is known for its carvers (both wood and stone).  So, we organize a display of carving work by all of the carvers at one time.  Unfortunately, there was a miscommunication and only one carver showed up.  We also meet with the chief to discuss our plans for the festival which is held at the neighboring village of Fanla.

These giant, 4 meter tall logs are the start of the famous Tam Tams.  Ambrym is famous for its magnificent tam-tams (or slit drums) sculpted out of the breadfruit family tree trunks. They are the some of the most impressive items of art in Vanuatu. The dancing areas in the traditional villages are decorated with Tam Tams planted in the ground, which can measure several meter’s high. They are used to beat the rhythm for the singing and dancing during ceremonial rituals.  Stay tuned for pictures of complete Tam Tams in our Fanla Festival blog post.

What is a Dinghy Wash?

Back in the states, when I had a car, I used to love going to the car wash.  Mostly because I loved a clean car but also because it was fun for me (I know weirdo).  Well, since I no longer have a car there has been no need for a car wash….but Matt found us a dinghy wash :0

We found a waterfall that fell directly into a bay and was deep enough to drive the dinghy through. There is a super funny video on Instagram so be sure to check it out on sv Sugar Shack’s page.

The day before the Fanla Festival we had Chief Sekor visit, he organizes the Fanla festival.  He came in from Olal which is another village at the north end of Ambrym.  I also met Chief Felix of Ranon and a lovely lady who had me giggling.  

Coming up next is a series of blog posts on the very famous Fanla Festival.

Answer: Cyclone Safe House

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog post occurred in mid-July.  We shared the history of Ambrym in our last blog.

Ambrym, the Volcanic Island

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Ambrym is a volcanic island with one of the most active volcanoes in the country.  This volcano has a very large caldera that is 12km in diameter and has two very active craters: Marum and Benbow.  The Benbow crater includes two lava lakes near the summit.

The locals offer 2-day hikes up to the summit, but you can only hike if the Vanuatu Meteorology and Geo Hazards Department deems it safe and a level 1 or below.  During our stay on Ambrym, the volcano was rated a level 2 so we were not able to even consider the hike to the summit.

Ambrym is the 5th largest island in Vanuatu and is a beautiful triangle shape. It is known for the very active volcano which dominates the island with its desert-like caldera. Small parts of the island are inhabited by locals and the rest of the island, the majority, is covered by a dense jungle.

We start off on Ambrym at the West side of the island at Lonwolwol Bay.  There is a lovely family here that runs the Lonwolwol Yacht Club.  They offer cultural events, host 4 festivals a year, and give tours of the famous Lonwol Lake crater.

Lonwolwol Bay

This bay has a very interesting history.  Jessie, the owner of the land, explains that in the very early 1900’s Europeans settled here and brought with it Christianity.  They established a hospital, several buildings, and a nice community.

However, the chiefs noticed that the locals lost their culture and respect of their heritage so they performed black magic.  This sorcery caused the volcano to erupt and completely destroy the Christian community in 1913.

So the remaining locals were able to re-establish their heritage and cultural ways.

Lonwok Lake crater

Prior to the massive volcano eruption of 1913, there was a lagoon where many boats and cargo ships would shelter within the protection of the island.  However, after the eruption, the open lagoon was closed off and became known as the Lonwok Lake crater.   It is said that it is so deep that you could put a cruise ship right in the middle and it would float.  This crater now serves as a place to swim and kayak.

Beautiful Garden

Jessie and his family now live on the edge of the lake.  They earn a living by offering cruisers tours around the lake and cultural events.  They also have a beautiful garden full of tomatoes, potatoes (regular, sweet, and kasava), pumpkins, cucumbers, salad, onions, carrots, and more.

We ask Jimmy to give a us a tour around the lake.  It took about 2.5 hours to do the 5.3km walk through the forest.  He showed us where the megapode and ducks lay their eggs, procured us some coconut cake, and protected us from 6 stampeding cattle (running from his dogs).

Craig’s Cove

Just around the corner is another anchorage called Craig’s Cove.  Supposedly they had a market which we wanted to visit. So my friend Chris on Moana asked me to join him on a dinghy adventure.  Craig’s Cove is only 3nm away so it should be “no problem.”

Famous last words.  The winds and the seas were showing off and causing havoc on our dinghy.  In retrospect, we should have turned around.  We ended up having 20+kts on the nose and 2.5-3m seas.  Which are huge in a little dinghy.  But we pushed on.

The top photo is before things got dicey.  Once we rounded the corner the $hit hit the fan.  But we arrived safely at Craig’s Cove.  I will skim over the fact that I fell in the water as we were beaching the dinghy (first time ever in 14 years).  There are two ship wrecks in the anchorage and the holding is supposed to be horrible (which is why we did not bring the big boats here).

We seek out the chief to ask his permission to walk around the village and he assigns three local boys to give us a tour.  They took us by the primary school, the church where we found a tam tam (tall, wooden, carved, slit traditional drum), the airport, the market, and the store.

Here are our fearless leaders (top left), a shot of the village and the airport.

Traditional Local Dinner

Jessie and his son Jimmy asked us if we would be interested in a traditional, local dinner on the beach for $1,000vt/pp ($10 USD) and we said “yes.”  By mid-afternoon, two more boats showed up so we invited them as well.

They started preparing around 1430.  First they prepared the loc (or lovo which is an underground oven).  They dug a hole, laid sticks and then rocks on top.  They set fire to it and let the rocks get very hot.  Then they laid banana leaves forming a bowl.  Inside the banana leaves the put bananas and pumpkin and then folded more banana leaves on top.  

Next come more rocks, more leaves and then it is topped with a burlap sack and left to cook for hours.  They used sticks that are split at the end like chopsticks to remove the rocks.

Dinner: fresh salad picked from the garden, boiled salad, yams, island taro, pork, & chicken.

After we all enjoyed our delicious dinner, they built the best bonfire.  We sat around and enjoyed the music and even had a little dancing.

Check in with us in a few days to see the beautiful bays we find in Ambrym.

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog post occurred over the 4th of July weekend.  Did you discover the Mysteries of Maewo Island in our last blog post?