SKETCHES FOR A DIALOGUE WITH THE POMIO KIVUNG—
A CARGO CULTIN THE MERAI SUB-PARISH
by
John Aranda Cabrido, SDB
“Stupid, uneducated, credulous” – these were just some initial descriptive remarks used by some Baining youths in depicting the cargocult members of their village.[1]One could sense a mixture of anger, frustration and exasperation as the young people described to me the practices of their cargocult-adhering relatives. The overriding sentiment, however, was sadness, aware as they were of the fact of their village’s deep divisions.
I first visited the villages of the Mali Baining with a trip to Illi on March 2001 and have returned there for three successive years. My longest visit was a two-month Christmas apostolate extending from December 2003 to January 2004.During this time I ministered in the Merai sub-parish which includes the villages of Merai, Illi, Mark and Karong. In three of these the local cargo cult, or the Pomio Kivung, was a significant – if not the dominant –presence in the village.
This paper studies the nature of cargo cults, particularly that of the Pomio Kivung. It aims to give pastoral directions for the Catholic Community of the Merai Sub-Parish towards fostering dialogue and collaboration with members of the local kivung.[2].
What are cargo cults?
The Melanesian Pidgin term “kago,” as used in “kago cult,” is derived from the English “cargo” and refers to the vast supplies of imported forgeign goods brought in by European colonizers and missionaries in the mid-19th century and by the Japanese and Allied forces during and immediately after World War II.[3] This astounding display of material goods seemed to be the realization of traditional Melanesian expectations and helped spur the sprouting of numerous religious movements which were generally intense, short-lived and relatively small scale.[4]
These cargo cults are by no means peculiar to Melanesia as they are also documented in the other island groups of Oceania. Africa, North and South America, China, Burma, Indonesia and Siberia also have their share.[5] Still with over 200 new religious movements found in the Melanesian islands of Papua,New Guinea, Solomon, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and Fiji, cargo cults are more associated with them. In fact, the West first learned of this phenomenon from the Papuan movements: the Mansen myth of the Koreri (1857) and the Numfoor of Irian Jaya, both of West Papua; the Baigona Movement (1912) and Vailala Madness (1919) of the Madang Area in East Papua; and the the Marching Rule of the Solomon Islands and the John Frum movement (read: John from America!)of Vanuatu.[6]
Initial observations indicate certain factors which favor the formation of cargo cults. These include: (1) the local people’s socio-economic structure, basic personality and traditional religion; (2) facility of the introduced religion to be interpreted as cargo doctrine; and (3) initial contact and subsequent relations with European colonizers and missionaries.[7]Strong colonial administration coupled with relatively weak local social structures led to traumatic race relations often resulting in the flourishing of cults. Instead, where local social structures are strong, the people hard-headed, race relations good and secularism is preferred over religion, cargo cults are less likely to be found.[8]
Today’s cargo cults share essential elements:[9](1) dependence on a myth rooted in historical tradition including the return of dead ancestors; (2) belief in the cargo myth;
(3) belief in the coming of a redeemer or messiah; (4)ethnocentric or nationalist feeling often tainted with violence or threat of violence against whites; (5) tendency towards syncretism and/or revival of paganism; and (6) their quest for a key, often a secret ritual, by which changes are expected to happen automatically.Secondary characteristic components include: (7) the prominent role of a charismatic leader; (8) attempt to restore native economic and political control; (9) performance of ecstatic, orgiastic and/or destructive activity; (10) belief that members will become white and vice versa; (11) the unification of traditionally separate and hostile groups; and (12) the capability of the re-emergence of the movement after its apparent failure.
Many Melanesian cargo cults believe that Jesus is a black man who was spirited away through black birding by white men and crucified by them. In his return Jesus will be accompanied by a cloud of ancestors and will institute a Golden Age when there will be no more sickness or death. However, this time of wealth, righteousness and freedom from oppression and injustice will come onlywhen cult adherents have earned it especially through the fulfillment of ritual minutiae.[10]
Often the beginning of a cargo cult is marked by the arrival of a charismatic figure, generally regarded as a prophet, who claims to know the “key” or ritual secret needed to secure the arrival of the much-desired cargo. Irregardless of how one obtains this secret knowledge—be it through a dream, a waking vision or some other religious experience, a myth dream is eventually constructed which forms the cult’s foundational belief. This is drawn from a variety of sources: traditional myths, personal experiences, rumors, popular stories, dreams and anecdotes.[11] Since their belief is that cargo cannot come by itself, its arrival is ensured by proper religious ritual. Villages are kept noticeably clean, especially their graveyards. Kago houses or warehouses are built apart from the village and airstrips are constructed. People start sanctification drives through more devout church attendance, prayer meetings and public confessions. Large banquet tables are erected. To highlight the villagers’ need for assistance, pigs and chickens are slaughtered in holocaust, savings are spent, properties and harvest are destroyed and people stop working in their gardens.[12]And when the expected intervention eventually fails, more action is deemed necessary. Mass hysteria takes hold and people destroy cherished objects. Ultimately, when all else fails, the prophet figure is eventually banished or a spin is made on interpreting the “delay.”[13]For many, as K. Burridge observes, “the activities of the cult and the expression of its symbols appear as ends in themselves. The myth dream continues in potency after the failure of the cult.”[14]
Western interpretation of cargo cults
Cargo cults have been evaluated in various ways by Western researchers.
F. Steinbauer, who has studied the contributions of over 400 authors on cargo cults divides these into five categories based on the group’s origin and/or goals:[15]
1. socio-political: cargo cults viewed as a defense mechanism against the shock of sudden contact with another culture;
2. Christian-ethical: cargo cults manifest a deep desire for fullness of life;
3. cultural-historical: cargo cults are based on traditional beliefs, rituals and mythology;
4. rational-economic: cargo cults express the desire for self-liberation and are motivated by the lack of political institutions and of technological and scientific knowledge;
5. synoptic interpretation: cargo cults arethe result of both external and internal factors, i.e. contact with Western civilization and indigenous magical thinking and millennial hopes.
Instead, E. Stilwell classifies the different kinds of cargo cults according to the particular theoretical bias of the researcher.[16] F. Zocca’s divisions are simpler and limited to the cargo cult’s nature.[17]
What these classifications prove is the great diversity within the cargo cults themselves. This serves as a caution against overly emphasizing the reactionary nature or the millenarist views of today’s cargo cults.
Cargo cults as a reaction to change
Nearly all authors agree that cargo cults are a result of “the rapid socio-cultural changes introduced by the contact (of indigenous peoples) with Western civilization.”[18]Dazzled by the colonizers’ goods or the military’s vast supplies,[19] Melanesians initially readily gave up their traditional ways and appropriated the customs of their colonizers. This was their attempt to achieve full human dignity and attain economic and socio political equality with the Europeans.[20]The sight of black American soldiers who wore the same uniforms as their white counterparts only strengthened their belief that by conforming to the Western ways they would also share in its benefits.[21]However, the harsh treatment of the colonizers, particularly the severe manner of the Germans, made people feel inferior and envious.[22] In time their initial submissiveness turned increasingly antagonistic as they gradually realized that the white men had not cared to reveal their secret.[23]Their maladjustment to the new culture and the psychological burdens it brought made them turn to the cargo movement as a possible way out in conformity with Melanesian tradition.[24]
Cargo cults as expressions of frustration
Cargo movements developed out of frustration engendered when the native people’s expectations failed to materialize.[25] They believed that European goods were obtained by magic alone, i.e. through the possession of some esoteric secret and that the white man had refused to reveal this to them.[26] Moreover, they interpreted the Christian message in terms of the Melanesian hope for a new age. This feeling is expressed well by a native who relates to R.R. Hanselmann in 1934: “True, the mission has brought us the Gospel, but it does not change our living conditions…. The white man does not want to share his secret with us. We are living in dirt.”[27] Many people were disenchanted with modern education and pulled their children out of schools because “the cargo secret was not in the curriculum.”[28] This frustration can also be viewed partly as the failure of the Western missionary enterprise “to address the existential questions of Melanesian folk religion” and their world view in any significant way.[29]
Cargo cults as milleniarist movements
Today’s cargo cults exhibit characteristics associated with millenarist movements.[30] They envision some (1) imminent intervention resulting in a (2) total and complete transformation of the world. This decisive event will be the (3) ultimate intervention prior to a final future which would be (4) this worldly, i.e. salvation on earth. This experience of wealth and contentment will be a (5) communal experience in contrast to the present individualistic and corrupt world.[31]
As millenarist movements, cargo cults are fueled by the frustration experienced by poor, powerless and oppressed peoples disenchanted by the gap between their expectations and their reality in a fragmented society. Many of these are in periods of transition— culturally, socially and/or politically, and are supported only by their recourse to their traditional religious beliefs.[32] Thus they easily follow some charismatic figure expounding new visions and announcing some secret revelation. Some find reinforcement in traditional customs expressing this in violent destruction of the vestiges of outside cultures. Others instead reject the insufficiency of traditional culture and create new rituals and symbols. After a display of ecstatic phenomena, both paths suffer the same end when prophecies remain unfulfilled. Most die out spontaneously while others evolve.
G. Trompf notes that the classic cargoistic outbreaks have subsided tremendously in recent decades. Today cargo cults have been transformed into independent churches, 18 of which he identifies.[33] Others have merged with millenarian Christian denominations. This explains for example the rapid growth of the Seventh Day Adventists in the Eastern New Guinea whose end-of-the-age gospel resonated with the expectations of the local people.[34]Others have found a home in the charismatic groups of the mainline churches. Finally, others have opted to stake their hopes for a better future in the political arena.[35]
Understanding cargo cults in the Melanesian way
The above mentioned analysis of cargo cults presents a synthesis of the best of Western scholarship. It highlights the historical and socio-cultural contexts which gave rise to the Melanesian cargo cults. It also gives insight to the future directions of the Kago phenomena.
However, it fails to giveadequate importance of the Melanesian–his/her person and worldview –as the real starting points in the analysis of the cargo cult phenomena.[36] For example, a “person” in Melanesia is both what one is and what one has. The idea of “what one has” is conjoined to “what one is” as a social being. As such, interdependence and life in community is essential.[37]This indicates the tendency towards a cargoistic mentality, with its emphasis on communal rewards, fits very well the Melanesian world view. It is therefore unnecessary to perceive the cargo cult phenomena as simply reactionist— irregardless of whether this is interpreted as a protest, revival or adjustment movement. To do so fails to acknowledge the Melanesian cargo cults’ real roots in the people’s traditional beliefs and rituals.Neglect in this regard would simply repeat the mistake of earlier government administrators and pioneering missionaries and share in their blunder and disappointment.[38]
It is true that a historical survey of the development of Melanesian cargo cults shows the shifting of the cults’ primary orientations.[39] The early cults were traditionally inspired and oriented— best considered as “‘natural’ religions and ritual approaches to changes in their society.” However, the consistent suppressive policies and attitudes of whites gave birth to newer forms which were often rebellious, anti-white and millenarian. It was this later phase of the cargo cults that is marked by the people’s fascination for the white’s cargo and material wealth.[40]
Still, failure to give due emphasis on the initial stage of the cargo cults’ development distorts its image presenting it as a “confused…, even envious attempt by Melanesians to obtain [the] white’s culture and civilization.”[41] Instead, the Kago phenomenon is no different from the age old methods of Melanesian problem solving.[42] Villagers simply adopted cargoism “as a means of explaining and manipulating the old order.”[43]For example, communal feasts, ritual dances and religious ceremonies are hardly new to the Melanesian. Through these, goods and services were exchanged and payments and tributes were offered to ancestors. These important practices are original to them and need not be referred to Western influences.[44] The same can be said of the Melanesians’ capacity for religious innovation and adaptive cultic activity.
Traditional Melanesian values and ethics
This paper advocates that cargo cults in Melanesia can only be properly understood by appreciating traditional Melanesian values and their world view.[45] The core Melanesian value and “the sum of everything positive the Melanesian heart desires” is gutpela sindaun.[46]A rough verbatim translation of this pidgin term is good (= gutpela) sitting down (= sindaun). However, a more dynamic approach brings out its real meaning. “Gutpela sindaun” is a broad, encompassing term whose semantic range comprises “security, health, wealth, growth, prestige, good relationships” and is perhaps best translated as “the fullness of life.”[47] I had a personal insight into the meaning of gutpela sindaun as I stayed with a family for some two months in the Baining village of Illi. With no modern conveniences as electricity and modern media,many of our free moments were spent in the friendly leisure of story telling, often under the shade of a Talis tree. Since my hosts’ home was near the road path, passing travelers were always invited to join in. Most would sit down for a short rest, partake of some fruit, join in some story-telling and then be off. In that short exchange, relationships were strengthened and prestige for the host family was affirmed. More than that, life— simple yet contented, was enjoyed to the full.
In the Melanesian ethos, there is only one way to achieve this gutpelasindaun and it is through the community.[48]The Melanesian community consists of “a web of relationships”: the extended family and in-laws; ancestors and the land.[49] It is the quality of relationships within the community which will assure the desired harmony, security, health, etc. associated with gutpela sindaun. Broken relationships meant sickness, barrenness, death, etc. in the community. A student-boarder in our school insisted to return to his village after some weeks of lingering sickness. He was convinced that his illness— which he termed sik ples (= sick place) was related to some broken relationship in his village and could be cured only there. After a month, and reportedly after “mended relations,” he returned back to school fit and healthy.
These relationships are established, strengthened and mended through exchange.[50]Verbal pleasantries do not mean much in a Melanesian context.[51] Exchange is done through some concrete material reciprocity. Bride-wealth, for example, is not so much a “payment” for the bride as the start of a long-term bilateral flow of goods and services.[52] Once we were rudely awakened quite early in the morning by the swishing of a sickle by a young man cutting the grass near our residence. Try as I might, he could not be persuaded to stop. He had offended us priests earlier that week and this was his way of mending relationships. Similarly, students would regularly bring me parrots from their native forests whenever they came back from holidays. They knew I was fond of birds and these youths generally fell under two categories. They were either recipients of past kindnesses or, inversely, had behaved badly in the past term. Either way, the parrots served as meaningful exchanges meant either to strengthen or mend relationships. Ultimately, these served to build our community and reestablish “gutpela sindaun.”