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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?

Fanla Festival: A Mystical Culture

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The ROM or “masked” dance is known for its detailed and complex masks, elaborate costumes, and rhythmic drumming.  It is performed by the chiefs, elders, and sorcerers during special ceremonies, grade-taking, and occasionally for performances.

In this post I will share with you the history and magic of the cone shaped masks.  In our next blog, you will encounter the extraordinary ROM dance.

Legend of the Mask

The two-sided ROM mask represents good and evil.  The legend says that a beautiful young woman from Olal (a village on the North tip of Ambrym) created the first ROM costume to gain the love of a young man. She donned the ROM outfit and enticed him into the forest where she revealed herself to him and fatefully told him how she made the costume.

The man did not love the woman, but he did love the mask.  So, he killed the woman, took the mask, and sold the rights to make the copies of the costume to fellow tribesmen.  He traded the rights for pigs which he used to gain the next grade and improve his status.

The belief that stands for the “good” stems from a young mother who had a baby who could not be soothed.  It cried uncontrollably so she created a mask to bring it joy.

How is the ROM Costume Made?

The ancient ritual is shrouded in secrecy. Costumes are kept in strict hiding until the ceremony begins.  If a male takes a “peek”, they must pay the fine of one pig and endure a whipping with a stinging plant.

If a woman watched any process in the making of the costume then she would be killed.

The ROM mask consists of a tall, conical, brightly painted, banana fiber mask, with a face that resembles a baboon.  Each side is unique and clearly shows the fight between good and evil.  The top part is adorned with feathers, leaves, and flowers.

The dancer’s bodies are adorned in a thick, somewhat intimidating cloak of dried bananas leaves.  In their hand they carry hand woven, cone shaped weapons to ward off evil spirits.

Each costume, especially the mask is made with great sorcery and embedded with magic.

High ranking chiefs and warriors who dance alongside the Rom dancers wearing nambas.  They will often wear red flowers in their hair to symbolize pride, majesty, knowledge and strength, as well as a boar tooth necklace to indicate power and wealth.

Some chiefs will wear a namale leaf on their back to convey peace, while others wear white bird feathers to suggest both peace and safety.

The Rights to the Mask

Only men who are of a certain grade can buy the rights to make a mask.  When a man wishes to ascend the village hierarchy, he must purchase (with pigs and money) the rights to learn how to make the mask and embed it with spirits and power.  They will create a pattern and spend an extensive amount of time learning the rules that determine specific colors and shapes of the mask as well as the type of magic it will possess.

The first mask design will be very simple and will only cost a few pigs and money.  As the man ascends in grades, his mask will become more complicated and will cost a lot more. As the man ascends, he must pay with more pigs and money to learn the teachings of a more complicated designs.  The right to make or wear a sacred mask carries high costs in the Ambrym society.

Once they buy the rights to a design they own it for life.  They will be the only one that can replicate the design, carve the design, and draw the design for eternity.  

Each design has powerful magic embedded into it which is why it is destroyed after the ceremony.  Part of the teaching is not only how to create the mask, but how to embed it with the spirits.  ROM masks usually invoke the spirits of the ancestors and are important agents of social control.

Mass Destruction

Immediately following the ceremony, the creator of the costume will destroy the mask and burn the banana leaves.  They believe that the spirit within lives on and will haunt and plague the wearer if it is not destroyed.

Although, I think that is an ancient belief and practice.  Why do you ask?  Well we were told to tell other cruisers to come anytime to see the ROM dance.  But if it takes 2 weeks to make the costumes and they are destroyed after each ceremony, then how can someone come to see it anytime??

After the ceremony we were allowed to take photos of the costumes.  However, nobody was allowed to get closer than 3 meters.

This website has interesting insight into the ROM mask.

Coming up next is the very exciting ROM dance which was a profound and riveting privilege to witness.

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  The ROM dance at the Fanla Festival took place on 11 July 2024.  Did you read about Fanla, the authentic kastom village where the ROM dance takes place?