Louino Primitive Cultural Village

This is a village of the Yakel tribe on the island of Tanna, another island of Vanuatu. They have maintained their cultural traditions even to today. I'm told that a previous chief prohibited kids going to school. So they were raised and educated in the traditional way.
The 1st picture is as we approach the village that is way off the beaten track out in the mountains. The road was impassible due to rain. So we got as far as we could and still had an hour walk.
The 2nd picture is our welcome snack. This is traditional Tanna laplap, in this case made from taro by the village woman preparing the servings.
The 3rd picture is of the main meeting area of the village along with a small craft market whose purpose is to support the village children.
The 4th picture is some of the village children gathering together in the open space surrounded by a group of houses. I'm told there are 7 families of several generations living here together. The kids were gathering to shows a few of their games. There is another post of a video of them.
The 5th picture looks at 2 types of taro with island cabbage at the far right. The 6th picture is the traditional means of starting a fire. The man rubs a stick in a groove until a spark forms which then lights the fire.
The last 2 pictures are of the preparation of kava. Kava is a plant whose roots are mildly intoxicating. The roots are ground and sometimes eaten raw. Usually, the ground root is mixed with water with the resulting "tea" drunk. This is a male only activity. Females traditionally do not partake of kava, and they are excluded from this part of the village.Read more