Full film record shot of the interior of Malekula, Vanuatu; the "Small Nambas" of the Lendombwey region; and the "Big Nambas" of Amok village.
Small Nambas footage documents various daily and ceremonial aspects of Nambas culture. These include scenes of casual domestic activities around residential hamlet complexes and subsistence practices relating to gardening and food preparation; various "custom" practices including male ritual activities enacted in and around the ceremonial ground or bunsar; nevimbur (funerary rituals to appease and invoke the spirits of the dead which are directed principally by a male gerontocracy) featuring male dancing and drumming, ceremonial display, and exchange of yams, pigs, and lap-lap (taro pudding); and artistic creation of temesnevimbur (funerary sculptures) in a ritually circumscribed area of the male ceremonial ground and the display of these and related rhambarab (life-size effigies) in ritual contexts. Also depicted are ogases (women's grade-taking rituals) including ritual purifications, adornment, dancing, tooth extraction, and pig sacrifices.
Big Nambas footage depicts daily life in the compound of the chief of Amok village and women working in a recently burned swidden garden.
Local Numbers:
HSFA 1975.1.1
Collection Restrictions:
Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Some of this material contains sensitive content and is not available for access. Please contact the repository for more information.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Kal Muller films and photographs of Vanuatu (New Hebrides), Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Outtakes from edited film documents a ceremonial pig feast including scenes of a ceremonial compound, "tuskers" (large pigs) being prepared for sacrifice; male dancers perambulating through the compound; oratory by the bigman convening the ceremony; tethering of the tuskers to trees in a small grove of palms, boar skulls wrapped in plaited palm trash affixed to the palms; male participants dancing with spears; shots of the cooking pits which use large heated stones; villagers encircling the compound; narrative by David Attenborough.
Legacy Keywords: Ceremony feasts redistribution ; Animal husbandry pigs ; Cooking fire pits ; Food preparation ceremonial ; Drumming dancing ceremony ; Speech oratory ritual leaders ; Ritual rites of intensification ; Oratory bigmen Melanesia ; Music ceremony ; Language and culture ; Oceania ; New Hebrides ; Malekula (Vanuatu) ; Vanuatu ; Melanesia ; Melanesians
General:
Local Number: HSFA 1975.5.1 - 1
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Man Blong Custom (Outtakes), Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Outtakes from edited film includes shots of a ceremonial scene of dancing, singing, and drumming by natives in a ritual enclosure around slit gongs; close up of the drums and drummers shot from a variety of angles; close ups of the dancers adorned with leaves and flowers, facial paint; beachside scene of filmmaker and party embarking in boat with an outboard motor, onlookers gathered on shore.
Legacy Keywords: Ceremony singing dancing ; Music drumming slit gongs ; Adornment facial paint leaves flowers ; Drums slit gongs ; Language and culture ; Oceania ; New Hebrides ; Vanuatu ; Malekula (Vanuatu) ; Melanesians
General:
Local Number: HSFA 1975.5.1 - 10
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Man Blong Custom (Outtakes), Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Outtakes from edited film includes closeup and mid-range shots of a site bounded by large upright slit gongs carved in anthropomorphic form; close-up shots of the statuary slit gongs; shots of other anthropomorphic statues incorporating boar's tusks; scenes of men loading turtle net into a canoe, canoes being paddled and poled across a lagoon to deploy the net; swimmers clapping the watter to direct turtles into net.
Legacy Keywords: Drums slit gongs ; Musical instruments slit gongs ; Art statuary anthropomorphic slit gongs ; Canoes use in fishing ; Fishing turtles ; Subsistence fishing use of nets in ; Swimming net fishing Melanesia ; Language and culture ; Oceania ; New Hebrides ; Vanuatu ; Malekula (Vanuatu) ; Melanesians
General:
Local Number: HSFA 1975.5.1 - 11
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Man Blong Custom (Outtakes), Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Outtakes from edited film includes scenes of a ceremonial pig feast held on the island of Malekula; drummers seated under a makeshift canopy of palm leaves playing slit gongs; scenes of the compound where "tuskers" (large pigs with curved tusks) are brought to be sacrified; activity around ceremonial arena; men in ritual adornment running back and forth across the dancing area; carrying in pigs for the feast; man shooting boar in the stomach with a bow and arrow; ritual ministrations of the bigman to the pigs; oratory by a bigman; men rolling out long palm mats on the dancing ground; David Attenborough delivering narration to explain the cultural value of a "tusker", how it is grown, and what criteria establishes its ceremonial value.
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Man Blong Custom (Outtakes), Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Outtakes from edited film includes scenes of a ceremonial pig feast held on the island of Malekula; ceremonial center and accompanying activities as pigs are being readied for sacrifice; David Attenborough delivering narration on the ritual value of the large boars known as "tuskers" and their significance in a system of ritualized reciprocities among the indigenous people; comments on the role of a bigman in mobilizing this ritual wealth for sacrifice; the big man sacrificing pigs first by symbolically splitting a pig skull wrapped in dried palm leaves and then splitting the skull of the live tusker with an ax; dancing and drumming; perambulations of the dancers around the ceremonial ground.
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Man Blong Custom (Outtakes), Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Outtakes from edited film includes shots of a ritual enclosure on the island of Malekula showing a man preparing to carve a standing slit gong; shots of David Attenborough speaking pidgin to a bigman about the pigs he has just killed at a ceremonial feast; open pit of heated stones to be used for cooking the meat; interior scenes in a cult house with close up shots of various anthropomorphic art including masks, staffs, and statuary; Attenborough with two villagers clad in traditional dress eliciting from them the names of the ritual objects.
Legacy Keywords: Art statuary carving ; Carving art ceremonial ; Tools adze carving ; Ritual art mimicry ; Speech pidgin ; Cooking cooking pits ; Food preparation cooking pits ; Houses cult house men's house ; Garb penis sheaths New Hebrides ; Adornment ritual nose bones ; Language and culture ; Oceania ; New Hebrides ; Malekula (Vanuatu) ; Vanuatu ; Melanesians
General:
Local Number: HSFA 1975.5.1 - 4
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Man Blong Custom (Outtakes), Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Outtakes from edited film includes scenes along a path outside a men's cult house showing villagers as they carry out and display various pieces of art from within the house; shots of David Attenborough eliciting the pidgin names of various ritual art objects from the natives; interior shots of the cult house featuring art done in anthropomorphic style; close ups of effigies which show how the curved tusks of boars are incorporated into native art.
Legacy Keywords: Houses cult houses men ; Masks art ; Art statuary anthropomorphic ; Cult objects art ; Language and culture ; Oceania ; New Hebrides ; Vanuatu ; Malekula (Vanuatu) ; Melanesians
General:
Local Number: HSFA 1975.5.1 - 5
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Man Blong Custom (Outtakes), Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Outtakes from edited film includes shots taken outside a "Yamao" or men's house in highland Malekula showing natives as they carry out and display various carved and painted cult objects that are housed inside; scenes of David Attenborough eliciting the names of these objects; a ritual enclosure which features several standing slit gongs and an adjacent mortuary shrine for a recently deceased elder; shots of Attenborough explaining the significance of the ritual edifice in which the tribal elder is installed and detailing the objects which surmount the funeral site; male drummers playing the slit gongs adjacent to the mortuary structure.
Legacy Keywords: Art statuary anthropomorphic ; Effigies art metenyelli tambuggi ; Masks polychrome ; Smoking tobacco pipes ; Drums slit gongs ; Mortuary practices corpse attitudes toward ; Music slit gongs ; Funerals drumming slit gongs ; Burials scaffolds ; Adornment mortuary rites flowers vegetation ; Ritual structures mortuary scaffold ; Houses men's houses Yamao ; Flowers use in mortuary rites ; Language and culture ; Oceania ; New Hebrides ; Vanuatu ; Malekula (Vanuatu) ; Melanesians
General:
Local Number: HSFA 1975.5.1 - 6
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Man Blong Custom (Outtakes), Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Outtakes from edited film includes shots in highland Malekula of ritually attired male drummers playing slit gongs in an enclosure adjacent to a mortuary shrine; close ups of the drums and drummers; men drinking water from coconuts; man wearing a large mask and garlanded with flowers and colorful leaves about the head, shoulders, and buttocks; masked figure circumambulating around the enclosure where slit gongs are placed; David Attenborough explaining the social and ritual significance of the enclosure to the men's house, the species of plants grown there, and the social and spatial demarcations at the site; pigs foraging around a habitation.
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Man Blong Custom (Outtakes), Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Outtakes from edited film includes shots of an old man sitting outside his house at a site in highland Malekula; pigs foraging around the dwelling; closeup shots of hybiscus and other types of flowers that figure prominently in the ceremonial life of the natives; aerial views of the island showing varied topography and settlement patterns, ecology, coconut plantations; ceremonial drumming and dancing at ritual enclosure where men are playing slit gongs; adornment of participants with leaves and flowers; procession of individuals into the enclosure holding burning torches.
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Man Blong Custom (Outtakes), Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
