Chiefs and nasara, the sacred ground, demand the greatest of respect and authority among the Ni-Vanuatu. Gender roles vary. In some areas, men are in charge. In others, women have power.

The majority of Ni-Vanuatu are Christian but some still practice traditional religions.

These incredible people host rich and diverse traditions from clothing, such as their penis sheaths called nambas, to the drums they beat or the shells they blow to call workers back from the fields. The island has a visible history of cannibalism but it is no longer practised.

Both Big and Smol Nambas believe in the value of the pig. This is a belief shared in most of the Vanuatu island (a pig’s tusk is even on the national flag). The worth of the village, or of the person marrying, or of the new chief’s standing in the tribe, was measured in the number of pigs that they could source for the celebration.

More than 100 local Melanesian languages and dialects are spoken here. But the country has three national languages; Bislama, English and French.

Supported by tourism, an active craft industry has developed. Woven baskets, colored mats, bark skirts, miniature slit gongs and other sculptures, shell jewelry, bamboo flutes and bagpipes.

Most famous art works are the rhamberamb, or life-sized funerary statues of the dead, which
are prized by museum collectors.

Palm-type leaves (from the coconut or pandanus plants) are chiefly used in a tight-weave for mats
and house decorations

Namba makes simple, compact, but intricate children’s toys; rattles, pinwheels, fun bracelets etc
out of the leaves.

Nalawan Festival a ‘not to be missed’ colorful event at Firebeach and Lawa to commemorate the act of
worship to the god of the ancestors, before the first harvest of the crops.