Tanna Island — John Frum

On Tanna Island in Vanuatu, the John Frum movement is among the most enduring of the "cargo cults" that emerged across Melanesia in the 20th century, religious movements that interpreted the sudden arrival of vast quantities of Western manufactured goods — "cargo" — delivered to the region by colonial and, especially during the Second World War, American military forces, as a sign of imminent spiritual transformation. Adherents on Tanna believe in the eventual return of John Frum, a figure first reported in the late 1930s and variously described as a spirit, ancestor, or American serviceman, who promises that when he returns he will bring cargo, prosperity, and the restoration of traditional kastom (custom) free from missionary and colonial interference.

The movement gained significant momentum during the Second World War, when the American military presence in the New Hebrides (as Vanuatu was then known) brought an unprecedented influx of goods, vehicles, and supplies to people who had never seen such wealth, reinforcing the belief that John Frum's promises were being fulfilled. Every year on 15 February — "John Frum Day" — adherents at the village of Sulphur Bay, near the active Yasur volcano, hold a ceremony involving marching with wooden rifles painted with the letters "USA," raising the American flag, and ritual dancing, practices that began as imitations of American military drill observed during the war and have since become an established religious tradition in their own right. The movement has its own political party and has participated in Vanuatu's national elections since independence in 1980.