Author: Xu Mingyuan Attaché, Third Secretary and Second Secretary of the Swedish Embassy, Director of the Organization Department of the Political Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Political Counsellor and Chargé d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Uganda, Chinese Ambassador to Fiji and To Kiribati and Vanuatu.
On the shore of the vast sea, on the slopes of the coconut grove like the sea and the green grass, a 30-meter-high jumping tower was erected with the trunk of the coconut tree. A dark-skinned Melanesian man stands at the top of the jumping tower, opens his arms, looks up at the blue sky, prays for the blessing of the gods, and then jumps down. His safety depended only on a vine attached to the jumping tower and around his neck. With the elasticity of the vine, the man flipped up and down several times before he steadily hung his head toward the ground.
At this time, the local elder and his family cut the vines with an axe. The man stood up again and accepted a family offering him the famous local drink "Kava". Immediately afterward, the male and female villagers in costume sang and danced and congratulated the man on his passage through the coming-of-age ceremony. This activity, which the indigenous people call "Nagaur", is the origin of one of the extreme sports - bungee jumping. Such a peculiar coming-of-age ceremony took place in the village of Bentapo on Pantkast Island in the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu.
According to friends in Vanuatu, this "Nagaur" activity on Pantkast Island has a history of hundreds or even thousands of years. It is derived from a folklore that there was a woman in the ancient village of Ben Lapo who was abused by her husband and was caught back several times. In the end, she could not escape, so she climbed a tall banyan tree with vines entwined around it. When the husband found out, he chased after the tree. The woman was pushed to the extreme and was determined to resist to the end. She pulled her husband up and jumped from the top of the tree. Who knows, the woman's life was great, she was entangled in the vines, and she landed safely, but her husband fell to the ground. The chief of the village was deeply shaken to learn of this, and he felt that the brave spirit and strong will of the woman should be promoted and carried forward, so he asked the men in the village to jump from the sky in imitation of the woman to test their will and bravery. Later, it gradually became a men's rite of passage, and chose to be held in May during the harvest season of the local staple potato, in order to celebrate the harvest of potato crops.
To this day, this ritual is held on The Island of Pantkauster, which still inherits the ancient ways and methods handed down from the ancestors. They used completely local materials, built jumping towers out of coconut trees, did not use any wire, did not use an iron nail, and all used bark or vines to tie up. The tower is 30 meters high and about 10 meters wide. They are generally built on the slopes of the mountains facing the sea with a certain slope. Behind the tower, countless thick vines are used to pull them to many coconut trees to ensure the stability of the jumping tower. Against the backdrop of blue skies and white clouds and golden sands, the tower stands majestically.
The Vanuatu friend Carloti who accompanied us told us that this ancient ritual on the island of Pantkaus, before vanuatu's independence in 1980, was generally not allowed to be visited by foreigners. After independence, Pantkauser Island was not only opened to the outside world, but with the development of tourism, the chiefs of Ben lapo Village and other villages and towns and the local government cooperated with the tourism department to develop the "Nagaur" activity on Pantrauste Island into an important tourism resource, and the potato harvest season in April and May was held in many places every year. Jumpers are not limited to those who have passed the test to qualify as adults, but also many are experienced jumpers.
The ancient and thrilling "Nagaur" activity of the Pantcost Islanders inspired some foreigners to think, and bungee jumping appeared. However, in Vanuatu is not called bungee jumping, except for the local vernacular "Nagaur", promotional materials are called land diving or Pan Island jumping. Why New Zealand and other countries use "BUNGY", the author has not examined. But as far as I know, the chief of the village of Ben Lapo is named. Whether BUNGY originated from the nickname of chief Of The Bulge is unknown.
— END —
Article Source | "A Historic Moment"
Author | Xu Mingyuan Image | Internet
Edit | Diplomats say something about Qingyan