The 2022 Nalawan Festival

The 2022 Nalawan Festival

By Lynn Shrewsbury

When you visit the remote villages on Vanuatu, it’s obvious that they have been cut off from tourism over the last few years. The younger children stare wide eyed, and the welcome we are given is warm and open hearted.

We sailed to Vanuatu from New Zealand, partially to explore the remoteness of these outer islands but also we hoped we’d manage to get to some of the cultural festivals. It seems that many of the normal cultural festivals haven’t actually happened this year, possibly because of lack of funds and tourists, but the Nalawan festival in South West Bay of Malekula had a lot of support from the local community, the tourist board, and the visiting yachts.

We sailed into South West Bay to be greeted by the pristine waters, turtles swimming and coral reefs. A week before a fuel barge had exploded here, and we’d been worried about the environmental impact, but there appeared to be none, excepting a burnt patch of mangrove near the airport.

The bay is large, but there is a great sheltered anchorage near a village called Lebinwen (we were told this means white sand, soft mud). An island boat had been arranged to get us across to the festival at Lawa village on the far side of the bay early the next day.

Join us in August next year to experience this festival on the Pacific Rally 2023!

We arrived to a lovely welcome from the officials and organizers. I can’t tell you how happy they were to have 20 of us cruisers attend, as well as other special guests from local government and tourism.

The cultural festival itself was held in a separate dance area, with 3 ceremonial dances celebrating octopus, taro and a two headed animal. Each dance was well explained, but the masks worn by the male dances are stunning, both in design and colour. The dance area is sacred, and ringed by stones that celebrate events in the very long history. As a very special celebration of the end of covid isolation, we witnessed a pig killing ceremony (not for the weak hearted), and the addition of a new stone to the circle.

Later, after a beautiful lunch of local food served in banana leaf bowls, we watched a demonstration of roof thatching and sand drawing. The afternoon ended with the local string band singing and some dancing. Tomorrow, we get to visit the local lagoon in dug out canoes, and a buffet dinner (including the pig).

I cannot recommend attending a festival in Vanuatu enough. This isn’t a tourist show - it’s the people celebrating their culture and history. It’s been a heart warming day, with beautiful people who love sharing stories and smiles.