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Fanla Festival: ROM Dance

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We are so privileged to be able to witness The ROM or “masked” dance in person.  I hope I am able to convey to you the true spectrum of culture, magic, story-telling, and ritual beliefs that this hypnotic dance conveys.

We shared the history, black magic, and spiritual nature behind the masks and costumes in our last blog.  This blog will detail the actual ROM ceremony, they rhythm music, and will explain the ritual behind the ceremony.

The ROM Dance is an authentic expression of Vanuatu’s culture.  It is a genuine heritage and belief wrapped in the supernatural and rich in symbolism.  The ceremony is believed to influence the harvests.  However, its primary purpose is to provide the men an opportunity to move up the ranks in their community through the grade taking process.

The entire ceremony is shrouded in mystical black magic to evoke the spirits.  Each dance performed by the ROM dancers tells a story that reveals the diverse cultural differences.

This ritual is imbued with secret knowledge that the elder chiefs keep hidden from the community.  Only a few men are chosen and given the honor to pay huge sums to make the ROM costume and perform in the ROM dance.

The ROM Dance

There are two sets of performers during the ROM dance.  The ROM costumed dancers with the elaborate and complex masks and costumes made of banana leaves are the focal point.  Each ROM dancer holds a wooden carving that represents a weapon.  This is in case they need to fight the evil spirit within the mask/costume.

The “nambas” are the warriors (chiefs and elders) that chant, sing, provide protection for the ROM dancers and ensure they are performing the dance correctly.  The chiefs and higher ranking nambas are identified by the number of pig tusks they wear and the red flower.  The more pig tusks the higher ranked the man is in the community.

As the dance begins, story, myth, heritage, and belief entwine with the supernatural in an unfolding rich in symbolism.  I am on the edge of my seat with eyes wide open and they have my full attention.  I don’t know whether to record this with my eyes, iPhone or GoPro so I do it all!

See either sv Sugar Shack or my Instagram for videos.

The Music

Two nambas play a powerful and rhythmic beat on the tam tams. These  are the beautifully carved, 4 meter tall slit drums.  Along with these  is the haunting sound from a bamboo flute.  This music in conjunction with the nambas who stomp their feet make the ground shake and give you goosebumps.

The nambas also carry bamboo sticks which they hit the ground with while stomping their feet. In the top left photo you can see the bamboo flute  and the bamboo sticks in the nambas hands.  The top right are the nambas playing the tam tams.

The Ceremony

During the ceremony they performed 5 distinct dances and songs.  However, it was hard for me to discern the differences between them.  Each performance had a special and unique meaning that evoked the spirits through black magic.

Sometimes the ROM dancers surround the nambas and sometimes it is the other way around.  But the movements are slow as they continue to stomp their feet keeping to the music.

We are lucky enough to have 10 ROM dancers, each with their own personalized and unique mask.  The two at the front were the most intricate and frankly were the most interesting to watch.  They were very energetic, jumping, and stomping  around leading the group.

With their intricate masks and flowing costumes that drape the bodies it was riveting. The entire group together was mesmerizing and breath taking.  I can’t imagine it is easy to see or breath out of these masks and they danced for well over an hour.  

It was raining and very cloud and difficult to get good shots.  Even with a little photo tweaking the photos just don’t do it justice. 

This was a profound and riveting privilege to witness.  I hope I did it justice and peaked your interest to learn more.  Be sure to check out our sv Sugar Shack Instagram account for the videos and photos of the dance and ceremony.

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  The ROM Dance took place in Fanla, Ambrym on 12 July 2024.  Did you catch the post on the mystery of the ROM Mask?

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.