The first week of September was our annual cultural festival for west Vanua Lava. It started about 5 or 6 years ago as a way to transfer knowledge of custom (dances, songs, games, etc) to the younger generations as well as a way to share custom with tourists. This year we had 14 yachts come into the bay for the festival and everyone on the boats loved it.
On three of the four days I was asked to play with the Amba Boys String Band. It was probably one of the happiest moments of my service.
Here are some of the girls from the village waiting to dance and then mid dance. Notice the 'devil' with her head covered. The photo on the right is of a custom game that only the chiefs are allowed to play, although I don't think they play very often.
This is the snake dance which is only performed in the Banks islands of Vanuatu.
This giant 'devil' was made just for their 15 minute dance during the festival. The men who learned the dance and carved the devil had to sleep in the bush while they were making it and practicing and could not be seen by anyone until they performed their dance.
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