Pentecost Island - Lifestyle and Economy

Lifestyle and Economy

There are no real towns on Pentecost. Most islanders live in small rural villages, surviving by subsistence agriculture and growing cash crops. Taro, a root vegetable well-suited to Pentecost's wet climate, is the staple food. Manioc (cassava), yams, bananas, kumara (sweet potato), coconuts, island cabbage, pawpaw (papaya), nakavika (rose apples), citrus, sugar cane, cacao, mangoes, pineapples, nuts, and European vegetables are also grown for local consumption.

Vegetables are often grated into a paste, wrapped in large leaves, baked in an earthen oven and covered with coconut cream to create 'laplap', a savoury pudding.

Villagers keep 'bullocks' (cattle), pigs and chickens, which are slaughtered for food, usually on special occasions such as marriages and 'grade-taking ceremonies' (at which aspiring chieftains rise through the ranks). Wild pigeons, flying foxes (fruit bats), crabs and fish are also caught and eaten. Dogs and cats roam the villages, and these too may occasionally end up in the cooking pot.

Imported rice and tinned meat form an increasing part of the diet in more developed areas of the island.

Pigs are highly important in Pentecost society, not only as food but as a traditional item of value, which may be given as payment during marriage ceremonies or as compensation for transgressions. Boars with long, curved tusks are particularly prized. Woven, red-dyed mats are also used as a traditional form of currency.

Traditionally, copra (dried coconut meat) was Pentecost's main export, but this has now been overtaken by kava, a narcotic root used to prepare a traditional drink. Kava is grown and drunk on many islands in the South Pacific, but Pentecost is particularly well known for it, and much of the kava drunk in Vanuatu's towns and abroad originates on Pentecost.

Cattle were once exported from Pentecost to the meat-processing factory at Luganville on neighbouring Santo island. However, most are now slaughtered locally instead, to feed Pentecost's growing population.

Houses are traditionally constructed from local wood and bamboo, and thatched with leaves of natanggura (a variety of palm). However, wealthier islanders now build their houses instead using imported cement and corrugated metal.