FOUND IMAGE Pt.2

Further snooping around revealed these images of land divers from Pentecost Island. And it just occured to me that since I'm publishing these photos on the internet, likely violating some form of copyright law, I should give serious credit to the photographer. Unfortunately I have no idea who that person might be. On the other hand, they left these images on a public computer. In either event, if the photographer makes him/herself known I will gladly give credit where credit is due.

Now on to the nearly naked men of Pentecost Island.

I don't know any details about the history or ceremony of land-diving - except to say that they build a large rickety structure several stories tall, then tie vines to their feet which are cut at a length just long enough so that they just miss hitting the ground. I'm almost positive this is where bungee-jumping originated, although there is little elasticity to these vines. I'm told the scaffolding is constructed in such a way as to break, or collapse a bit to allow some "give" when the diver gets to the end of the dive, but I'm really not sure. I anticipate possibly traveling to this island during my service in Vanuatu, so I might one day be able to share my own photos, and much more detail about the why's, how's, and so forth.

Although it's also possbile that I might never travel to Pentecost, so I'm happy to be able to at least share these photos with you today:

NOTE: Nambas, or penis sheaths, are a custom thing. The nambas, as you can see, only cover the penis, not the testicles, and different islands have different styles. On Tanna we have the small nambas village, and big namba village - it's hard to guess which might be more interesting since it's not clear what the "big" and "small" are referring to - the namba or the person. These are really just worn for custom ceremonies. I think there are very few places left in Vanuatu that actually wear these things on a daily basis. The guys in this first photo seem to be just hanging out, or maybe waiting for their turn at land-diving - and yes, the little kids dive too:

And here are some dudes climbing the scaffolding:

And then getting the nerve to jump...

Check this shit out - maybe that tower is closer to 5 stories high? It kills me that these guys aren't even paying attention to the nut-ball flying through the air right behind them.
Holy jesus...

The only good story I've heard about the land-diving is the one about the Queen of Englands visit back in the 70's. Apparently they had planned to put on an elaborate show for her, but when one of the divers made a jump the vine was the wrong length (or it broke, or the tower didn't break properly) and he cracked his brain open and died - right in full view of the Queen. She didn't like that too much.