What’s the Republic of Vanuatu, and what does it have to do with the extreme sport of bungee jumping?
Answer: The Republic of Vanuatu encompasses 83 islands in the South Pacific, including the Pentecost Island. “Naghol” is the original Pentecost Island name for the native ritual of “land diving”, which later inspired a westernized version best known as “Bungee Jumping.”
A side note: Vanuatu was the inspiration for James Michener’s “Tales of the South Pacific” which, in turn, was the inspiration for the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “South Pacific.
Also, the cast of the 2004 edition of television reality series “Survivor” were the Republic’s most recent publicized famous guests.
“Naghol” or “Land Diving”
According to Vanuatu legend, the first land diver was a woman who had escaped her husband’s abuse by tying a vine on her leg, diving off a tree top, and surviving. In the meantime, the woman’s husband was foolish enough to dive after her without benefit of a vine. He died.
From this legend sprang “naghol”, an annual island event that mostly celebrates the coming yam harvest in early April. As the main part of the holiday harvest ritual, most communities throughout Pentecost Island erect a wooden tower that can be as high as 150 feet; then a succession of men prepare to jump from their community’s tower. Before their jump, elders help the mostly young men select vines that will safely support the jump. In April, at the harvest season’s beginning, is when tree vines on the island are strongest. Successful jumps serve as a harbinger of a prosperous crop. According to tradition, the closer a diver’s head comes to the ground the higher the season’s crop.
As part of the ritual, each diver, faced with possible death, addresses the crowd of event onlookers, loudly confessing sins and telling family secrets as a probable cleansing process. Although the earth below each tower is usually softened, there is no other physical protection for divers. Over the years, some have died.
The End of “Naghol”?
In 1974, when Britain’s Queen Elizabeth visited Pentecost Island for the first time, a special “naghol” event was scheduled just for her. Unfortunately for everyone involved, the Queen’s visit happened after harvest season. As a result, the island’s tree vines weren’t nearly strong enough to hold the divers as they would have been in April or May at the height of the yam harvest. Thus, the Queen watched as diver after diver hit the ground. One later died.
In 1995, the Vanuatan government cancelled the naghol event on all but two sites on Pentecost Island, because it had lost its significance and had become too commercial. The two staged events would only be aimed at a tourist audience, not the native populace.
A.J. Hackett
After visiting Pentecost Island on numerous occasions to witness the land divers, New Zealander A.J. Hackett was inspired to develop the island tradition into an updated western version called Bungee Jumping. Instead of a tree vine, Hackett wrapped elastic bungee cords around his legs. In 1987, he demonstrated his innovation by jumping off the Eiffel Tower in Paris. After his stunt gained unexpected notoriety, Hackett decided that he’d promote Bungee Jumping as a competitive extreme sport.
Thanks to modern elastic technology innovations, A.J. Hackett recently promised to personally outdo all other extreme bungee stunts by jumping out of a helicopter on a bungee cord that could stretch up to 1.5 kilometers long.
A side note: Actually, the very first western version of Vanuatan land diving took place in 1979 when David Kirke, the founder of Oxford University’s Dangerous Sports Club, threw himself off a suspension bridge in Bristol, England. He survived only because his body was attached to the bridge by a thick piece of elastic that was a precursor to the bungee cord.
SOURCES:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_J_Hackett
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanuatu
“Eight wonders of Vanuatu”, Julia Romano, Yahoo Travel
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/theme/religion/rel_pentecost.htm
“Land Divers of Vanuatu”, Mike Lee, ABC News
“Extreme bid to stretch bungy record”, Jano Gibson, Sydney Morning Herald
