Peace Corps Volunteers sometimes finish their service and feel like they are leaving a part of themselves behind in Vanuatu. This will be the literal truth for Arthur Bassett, whose foreskin was planted along with a young coconut tree in the rich soil of Tanna. Arthur was circumcised in his village in accordance with the kastom practices of Middle Bush, Tanna. Thus, he has become a legend.
As volunteers, we are constantly being compared to one another and critiqued by the Ni-Vanuatu community. We sometimes feel challenged to prove our worth when stories of former volunteers arise. “This person walked barefoot always, this person chewed kava every night, this person was fluent in local language or this person married a local girl.” Future generations of PCV’s in Vanuatu will hear of Arthur, who sacrificed a portion of his penis in the name of community integration.
It is kastom in Tanna for a group of village boys to be circumcised with sharp bamboo and no anesthetic. Kastom leaves are then wrapped around the penis to speed the healing process, occasionally coconut oil is applied as well. The circumcised boys are not allowed to leave the kastom nakamal for two to three months until they have fully healed from the operation. Women, including the boys’ mothers, cannot make any contact with them as they are considered unclean. The boys must remain naked. They are not allowed to touch their food, they are either handfed by older men or the boys eat using a stick or leaf as a utensil. Circumcision is a major step in the lives of the boys, they gain some stature in the community and are allowed to help in the preparation of kava afterwards. The boys are normally quite young, about five to ten years of age on average.
Arthur was thirty years old when he decided to be circumcised. That he was not circumcised to begin with like a majority of American boys adds further to mysterious shroud that surrounds his childhood. His decision was not planned, but rather an impromptu choice was made after witnessing the procedure in his village. He mentioned to a villager how it might be rewarding to take part in their kastom and the next thing he knew, four men were holding down his arms and legs and he was biting a stick in anticipation of the snip. A doctor was brought in to perform the circumcision of Arthur and another young boy, so steel surgical implements were used instead of sharp bamboo.
Apparently, there are different styles of circumcision that the boys can choose from, somewhat like a haircut. The village men collectively chose the “Forget Me Not” style for Arthur. They explained that this type of circumcision would mean that any woman Arthur has sex with would never forget the experience for the remainder of her life. The “Forget Me Not” style features a prominent portion of foreskin that is left on the bottom of the penis. Men in Tanna relish in sharing that circumcisions performed according to kastom will enable the participants to have strong and lengthy sex lives as opposed to “white man” circumcisions performed at hospitals that weaken a man.
Arthur was not naked for the three weeks he remained in the kastom nakamal. Instead he fastened just a “para para” or calico cloth around his waist. However, the villagers were constantly trying to have Arthur remove his “para para” so that they could inspect the “Forget Me Not” handiwork up close. Arthur slept on a coconut leaf mat by a fire with the five other boys in his group that were circumcised. The only time the group left the kastom nakamal was to go shower in a nearby waterfall. Arthur used a leaf or stick to handle his food. He drank a shell of kava most nights and listened to stories from village elders to pass the time.
At the end of Arthur’s three-week wait in the nakamal, he and the boys would take part in a ceremony marking the end of the healing process and their reintroduction to the village. People from every area of Tanna would gather in the nakamal to dance and drink kava for an entire night until sunrise. This was an event not to be missed. After recovering from my initial shock upon hearing of Arthur’s circumcision, I immediately made plans to attend. Alexia, Bob, Noah, Sandra and RPCV Erica were also in attendance.
We arrived in Middle Bush the night before the big ceremony. The women were ushered some place to eat and practice kastom dancing, while we men went straight to the nakamal to see Arthur. Arthur looked healthy and in good spirits, although I did not inspect his “Forget Me Not” cut for myself. The sun was beginning to set, so coconut shells overflowing with kava were pushed into our hands. I was able to eat a steaming hot piece of tuluk before the kava kicked and I lost my appetite. The men practiced dancing as well and we spent the evening discussing Arthur’s eventful past three weeks.
The ceremony began the next day after lunchtime. Hundreds and hundreds of people from all over Tanna were there. Gigantic stampas of kava lined the perimeter of the nakamal and monstrous pigs lay bound and squealing in the dust. Coconut mats and calicos were piled into mounds as an offering for recent weddings that had taken place. Initially, I thought that I would just be a spectator at this event but the villagers insisted that Bob, Noah and myself take part in Arthur’s ceremony too. Our faces were painted in retina-burning hues, feathers were placed in our hair, leaves were draped across our chest and arms and we were given “para paras” to wear. I suspect that we looked rather ridiculous. All of the village men and the circumcised boys lined up and marched gravely to the center of the nakamal, where the women and people from other villages were waiting eagerly to see us. We circled the mounds of bridal offerings as enormous wooden clubs bashed at the skulls of nearby pigs without mercy.
The women were also dressed up for the occasion. Alexia and Sandra had bright face paint and dry grass skirts that made a whishing noise when dancing. The long column of men formed a circle and the kastom dancing began. It was a sneak preview of the all-night dance-a-thon that was to take place that evening. Bob and I struggled to keep our stomping and clapping in sync with the others while Arthur performed flawlessly. The first dance was over in less than ten minutes and then food and gifts were divvied out to different groups. Our Peace Corps group received a handful of mats and baskets, Fiji taro, a decent sized pig and a stampa of kava. We retreated to Arthur’s house to roast the pig and chew the kava before nightfall.
We returned to the nakamal around nine, stomachs pleasantly full from kava and pork. The dancing began in earnest then. I have never been a strong advocate of dancing in the past, but this was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. The ground really shook as hundreds of men stomped at the same time. Our clapping in unison sounded like gunshots. Dust hung heavy in the air as we danced beneath the banyan tree and it gave a surreal look to the proceedings through the hazy glare of fluorescent lights. We were all in a trance, connected with the ancestors of Tanna who had performed this same ritual for centuries now.
The night went on and on. The dancers never lost enthusiasm throughout the ceremony, in fact, they became livelier as time passed. Arthur chewed kava for me again around 2 AM and then a village chief insisted I drink with him at 4 AM. We lost Bob to giardia, Noah to an excess of kava and Sandra and Erica succumbed to fatigue. Alexia, Arthur and I danced onwards.
As the sun began to rise, I was a jumble of mixed feelings. I felt sore from stomping continuously for eight hours, hungover, delirious from sleep deprivation and happy to have made it through the night. But most of all I felt humbled and honored to be able to take part in the ceremony, which clearly meant a lot to the people of Tanna. While I am not envious of the discomfort Arthur must have experienced after the circumcision or the stern lecture he must have received from our Peace Corps office, it was clear that the past few weeks had strengthened his relationship with the community. I was proud of the crazy bastard.
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