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Vanuatu Land Divers - Naghol / N'Gol

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Uploaded by on Sep 2, 2006

Vanuatu Land Diving - NGOL
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Before bungee jumping, there was ....

.... this bizarre spectacle, which is called Naghol or N'Gol.

It began on Pentecost Island in Vanuatu (New Hebrides) many centuries, perhaps millennia ago, when a beaten woman ran away from her husband, Tamale. He found her hiding in a tall tree and called to her that if she came down he might beat her - but only a little. However if he had to get her she would be sorry. She refused. He climbed the tree and as he made his final grab, she leaped. In anguish at her death (or anger that he had missed her) Tamale jumped after her, not realising his wife had tied liana vines around her ankles and survived the fall.

Tamale perished. The ritual evolved over the years, to stripping a tall tree of it's surrounding branches and building a tower of sticks to support the trunk. The platform is made of wood and covered with leaves purposely to protect the platform from the sun drying it out before the ceremony. The leaves are removed by the jumpers before the jump. The liana vines which are tied to the ankel and slightly elastic following the wet season, are shredded and the other end tied to the tower. Men and boys, some as young as seven years, climb the tower and leap from the platforms in a show of strength, and a statement to women that they can never be tricked again....

It is also a fertility rite. Every year in April, when the first yam crop is ready, the islanders on the south of the island start building a huge tower for the land diving. It will take about 5 weeks to build, all materials come from the forest: lianas, branches, trunks. Eventually a wooden tower between 30 to 40 meters high is erected. Each diver must select his own vine. Its size is of utmost importance and if it is only 10 cm too long, the diver will hit the ground and break his neck. As the vines stretch at the end of the dive, the land diver's heads curl under and their shoulders touch the earth, making it fertile for the following year's yam crop.

The ritual is followed with a celebration of Kava, Tuluk, and Laplap. Yum Yum !!
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Uploader Comments (slk320k)

  • Haha I'm from Vanuatu! But I don't think I'll ever try that.

  • @smellycatrulesxX

    Interesting Vanuatu channel ... try: ' VanuatuVeritas '

    and take a look at the MEET THE NATIVES SERIES.

    Its a great show.

    And Vanuatu is a wonderful place.

    Do you get back there often?

  • I'm an English teacher and I have a reading about this in the text we use! It's great to find a video, too!

  • Ecuajosemc

    Did you take a look at my playlist ?

    MEET THE NATIVES

    I know you will love that show.

    Take a look and tell me what you think.

Top Comments

  • i like the guy at the end!!! he is my hero= ]

  • wow, insane! someone needs to get them some playing cards

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All Comments (186)

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  • KARL PILKINGTON

  • they have trolls in afirca too i see

  • Apefreaka is amazing ..

  • that guy just survived a 55 foot drop, and sustained no injuries.

  • @nip Vanuatu islands are in the pacific ocean, not in africa...

    As for the later racist comments: oh man can people be still on their middle age mindsets (the ones who had their jobs done by others, who by chinese made things and so on... Idiots are a long way from being cured)

  • gets up one min later falls down again

  • How the hell do their ankles not get broken?

  • I really wanna try this

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