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?