The Transformation of Hierarchy Following Christian Conversion in Vanuatu

ABSTRACT

In this paper, I use pig-killings as an entry for understanding the transformation that has taken place with respect to hierarchy and egalitarianism in Vanuatu. In the early twentieth century accounts by John Layard there is a thorough description of the cosmological and spiritual meaning of pig-killings in the manly hierarchy of these islands. The entire society was consumed in a sacrificial cycle that each lasted for six years and involved the killing of many hundreds of pigs, the most valuable acting as substitutes for human beings. At the peak of the ritual, the greatest of men stood up on a stone platform and announced their increased status and thereby joined the ranks of the society of ancestors. Comparing this with the situation today, there is absolutely no build-up of super-human status in ceremonies. On the contrary, I argue that today, pigs are being killed, cows are being butchered and cooked, yams and taro are displayed and distributed in great quantities, and huge sums of money figure in bride price and ceremonial payments, but not for the purpose of gaining spiritual power. They instead express bilateral connections, and form a redistributive system of production. In a development linked to the introduction of Christianity, monetary value and colonial labour regimes, ceremonial life has made an almost unnoticeable turn against the former hierarchical order.

KEYWORDS:

• Melanesia
• Vanuatu
• pig-killings
• ritual values
• cultural change

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 I am very grateful to Ku and Gibson for all their advice on this article. I am also grateful to Editor Laurent Dousset and two anonymous reviewers for a very thorough reading of the article and for raising many important points.

2 I note that in the now disappearing counting system of Ambrym languages big numbers are conceptualised as ‘bundles’, the smallest being the bundle of ten (sanghul). The number hundred is either wingil besanghul mokor (lit. full up of tens coming together in one) or it can be getlamlam geho mokor (lit. big one comes together).