That, until one day, curious-looking machines bring in uniformed men that change these islanders forever.
Ceremonial cross of John Frum cargo cult, Tanna island, Vanuatu.
They had then shipped the goods back home, which the foreigners had acquired on the way.
The exposure thus inspired the desire to gain back what was rightfully theirs.
They made radios from wood and planes from straws, thinking they could get the same effects.
They were chasing progress without applying the same principlesan approach that earned them the name of cargo cults.
John Frum cargo cult and their ceremonial flag raising.
What was central in all these movements was the belief that new cargo would herald a new age.
Another religious cult worshipped King George V of England as God.
Around 184 cultus have been identified across the region; only a few survive still.
They sit waiting for radios, TVs, medicines, cold drinks and more.
But since the war, barely any Americans have come back, and John Frum, not even then.
Strangers were finally dropping from the sky with exotic looking artifacts, just as they had prophesied.
These beliefs were rooted as much in Christian beliefs as in native rituals.
Local tribesmen worshipped deities with the belief that they would send new cargo to the land from heaven.
Some cults expected that the cargo would arrive from Australia, or the sky above it.
In this theory, heaven was a place connected to earth by a ladder.
Also central to these practices was economic backwardness, cultural oppression and a new-found greed.
Naturally, when new age goods arrived with the whites, these ignorant tribes celebrated the end of dearth.
So what if the cargo was never meant for or shared with them?
References#Smithsonian Magazine#Scientific American#Anthro Encyclopedia#Air Force Magazine
