White Ancestors
The ancestors who would return with the ship were conceived as being white, an idea which recurs in many post-war cargo cults. Communication with them was possible by using an apparatus described as a 'flag pole' - a tall pole, attached by cane to the movement's 'office'. An expatriate observer suggested this was the imitation of a wireless set, and claimed to have seen a pumpkin hoisted up the pole for transmission to the ancestors. However, Albert Maori Kiki, who grew up in the area, suggested that this device was actually related to a myth whereby Morning Star used a long string of cane to come from his home, which is very distant, to the village to meet a woman he fancied. This is an illustration of the syncretic nature of many cargo cult rituals.
Read more about this topic: Vailala Madness
Famous quotes containing the words white and/or ancestors:
“After the brief bivouac of Sunday,
their eyes, in the forced march of Monday to Saturday,
hoist the white flag, flutter in the snow storm of paper,”
—Patricia K. Page (b. 1916)
“Tradition! We scarcely know the word anymore. We are afraid to be either proud of our ancestors or ashamed of them. We scorn nobility in name and in fact. We cling to a bourgeois mediocrity which would make it appear we are all Americans, made in the image and likeness of George Washington.”
—Dorothy Day (1897–1980)