Saturday, February 1, 2014

Cargo Cults

I just learned about this.  In the South Pacific is one of the strangest religions in the world.  Primitive tribes during WW2 discovered modern technology (planes, manufactured goods, radios, clothes, etc).  But they didn't understand where they came from since they never saw a white man do anything other than sit behind a desk shuffling papers or march up and down the fields wearing uniforms (military parades).

They developed the belief that the manufactured goods were a gift from the gods, and that the activities the white men performed were religious rituals.  They believed that if they performed the same rituals, they would get the goods. I'm not going to repeat the whole story, read the links, but somehow they believed that the messiah was a mythical man named John Frum whose birthday was on February 15 and who was born in the state of Georgia and was in the US Marine Corps.  On the high holy day of Feb. 15, they paint the letters "USA" on their chests in red paint, and march up and down the fields, with homemade rifles made out of wood.  They build "planes" out of bamboo.



Update:  There is a similar movement in Vanuatu that sees Prince Philip as the Messiah.

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