​

​These titles are the most prestigious distinctions from Vanuatu tribes’ customs. The “chief” or “president” of these traditional movements is considered even higher than a spiritual leader. Indeed, natives from the islands consider their chiefs as living gods. This is the first time in history that a woman is given this title and succeeded to reconcile both movements.

​

About the John Frum movement origins

​

For more than fifty years, the people of Tanna Island in Vanuatu shunned Christianity in the belief that a mysterious savior named John Frum would bring them boundless wealth.

​

The cult is virtually exclusive to Tanna, one of the southernmost islands in the Vanuatu Republic. Accounts of John Frum's origins are as copious as they are colorful, but it is broadly agreed that he first appeared in human form in the late 1930s or early 1940s.

​

He told the islanders to throw down the Bible and keep kastom (customs) and Bislama (pidgin) for preserving their traditional ways. Those who heeded his words would be rewarded with wealth. The movement snowballed after the Second World War when the Tannese returned to their villages after working for American forces. They were stunned by the aircraft, jeeps and refrigerators, cigarettes, canned food and Coca-Cola.

 

They decided that John Frum was American, perhaps John “frum” (from) America. To encourage his return, they engaged in rituals, and twice daily hoist the American and US navy flags. The Movement is still alive and active despite the efforts of Catholics to bring Ni-Vans back to their church.

​​

About The Nagriamel movement origins

​

The name 'Nagriamel' is a concatenation of the names for two different plants in Vanuatu: the Nangaria and the Namele. The Nangaria is an ornamental with relatives common throughout tropical countries; the colorful wisk broom-shaped leaves are used in chiefly costumes and kastom ceremonies.

​

Nagriamel is a movement initially based in the northern islands of Vanuatu during the late 1970s as the archipelago was facing the rising of independence from French and British sovereignty (Vanuatu was formerly named ‘’Nouvelles Hebrides’’ and was administrated by France and England).

Nagriamel called for a focus on the traditional, village-centered way of life for the Ni-Vanuatu people, though its messianic leader Jimmy Stevens and his compound in the Fanafo area of upland Espiritu Santo gave it something of a cultish flavor.

 

As the independence movement in the New Hebrides gathered momentum after 1975, led by the more Anglo-centric Father Walter Lini and the Vanua'aku Party, the Nagriamel party sought to delay the end of British/French condominium.

​

Nagriamel declared a separate nation on the island of Santo on the eve of Vanuatu's independence in 1980. Vanua'aku Party and Papua New Guinean soldiers quashed Jimmy Stevens' and Nagriamel's short-lived 'Republic of Vemerana' only weeks later.