Curses and Cargo cults at Port Elliot
The Port Eliot Literature festival is situated on the landscaped grounds of the 18th century Port Eliot House at St Germans in Cornwall. Taking part over three days, the Lit fest attracts a diverse range of performers, and has something for all tastes. Whether you want to catch some music, listen to poetry, see talks by authors about their work, watch films, or take part in a pub quiz, the Port Eliot Lit fest will not disappoint.
On the Saturday afternoon, Charles Montgomery’s account of his travels to the Western South Pacific islands, and the origin and influence of myths, had the audience captivated.
Charles Montgomery became interested in myths at ten years old when he discovered his Great Grandfather’s diary in the attic. His Great Grandfather, Rev. H. H. Montgomery, wrote stories about the Anglican’s church attempts to Christianise the South Pacific in the 19th century. He described a place which was full of myths, magic and violence and danger.
Charles found “the images followed him into his dreams” and he was fascinated by the idea of myths. A myth, he suggests, doesn’t mean a fib, but a story that helps us learn about our relationship with the world, and tells us how to live. He wanted to understand the stories his Great Grandfather told, and to see if there was anything left of the lands he had described. Following in his footsteps, he travelled to the Melanesia islands in the South Pacific 120 years later.
Charles recounted myths he had been told on his journey, such as a sorcerer who could change himself into an owl and fly around the islands at night. If he didn’t like you, he would pull open your stomach, rip your guts out and replace them with sticks and leaves. You would feel fine the next day but in a few weeks you would start coughing them up, and wouldn’t live long after that.
Another tale was from an island where terrible sorcerers lived. They would leave curses wrapped up in a leaf lying in the road, and if you stepped over it your penis would disappear. I wondered what would happen if a women walked over them.
What fascinated Charles was how these myths influenced the way the islanders lived. The chief of one village told him the story of a visitation from a spirit saying “you must understand what guides us.”
Back in 1940’s when the island was essentially a Presbyterian theocracy; a Spirit came in the middle of the night, in a big white hat with his eyes in the shadows, and appeared before the elders. He said “You have to stop going to church, throw your western money into the sea, and cast out the missionaries. Go back to your parties and circumcision ceremonies. If you do all these things I will return on a great white ship from afar, loaded with everything you ever wanted.” They did as he said, returning to traditional practices such as the men partying and drinking Kava on a Friday night. They have continued living this way even though they’re still waiting and praying for the spirits return. When Charles said to the chief “You’ve been waiting for 60 years for your prophet to come back, aren’t you getting a little frustrated?” He replied “Well, how long have you been waiting for Jesus to come back?”
Exploring the history of the islands, Charles found out that when the Americans arrived on the islands in World War two they brought lots of goods, and the islanders believed they must have controlled some kind of magic to have all this junk. The ships that travelled around the islands carrying gifts, became known as ‘cargo cults’ and the islanders prayed for this kind of magic.
As he moved through the islands he learnt that the magic he looked for was based around the concept of ‘mana’. Mana is a supernatural power which flows through all living things; it flows through rocks, and islands, and is concentrated in human skulls, which explains the head hunting that went on in the Northern Solomon Islands. The more exalted the victim the greater the mana, and the more skulls you could collect the more powerful you were. The islanders described mana as a force you could draw to yourselves and use for good or evil.
Charles had been told lots of stories, explored the history of the islands, and seen how myths influenced the way islanders lived, but he still hadn’t seen magic in action.
That is until he visited a village in New Georgia where the chief told him not to go into the mountains and blow on a stone, which was a petrified head of a snake. The chief had sold the mountain side to a logging company, and if he blew on the stone it would create a rainstorm, and they would have to stop logging for a couple of days. Defying the chief’s request, they made their way up to the mountain, and blew on the stone and indeed a rain storm started up. As they ran down the mountain there was thunder and lightening and the heavens opened. This may have been proof of the existence of magic, or it could have been a coincidence.
To try and find further proof magic existed, Charles tracked down the last of the islands shark callers, Celestine, who had a special relationship with a particular black shark. He was sure he would show him a miracle.
At midnight one night they paddled out in a canoe to the middle of lagoon. Celestine jumped in the water, and Charles took a deep breath and pushed off from canoe and circled beneath it. As he had to keep coming up for air, he realised Celestine was still under water and had been for many minutes. He saw a light, and pushed himself towards it. He saw the light was coming from Celestine sat cross legged on a bed of crushed coral, but he wasn’t alone, he saw a shadow of a black shark circling Celestine. He would like to have gone down further, but felt himself being pulled to the surface again for air.
He wasn’t sure what he had seen, and didn’t realise what had happened until weeks later. After leaving the islands, he was asked on numerous occasions if he had seen the shark spirit, and he answered no. Late one evening in the company of a group of friends, however he answered yes, he did see the shark god, and he was able to visualise what he had seen that night. Charles said:
“The story became whole finally, and I grew more certain every time I repeated it, now there was no doubt. Yes it was a shark… Yes an ancestor could still be summoned from the darkness”
He realised myth is about belief, it was true because he believed it, he says:
“Myth for me is like love, it’s a decision, what it answers is the kind of longing, what it demands is faith, what it opens is possibility.”
You can find Charles tale of his journey, his interpretation of what he discovered, and the difficulties he faced, including arriving at a time when civil war had raged through the islands, in his book: The Shark God: Encounters with Myth and Magic in the South Pacific.
Charles Montgomery became interested in myths at ten years old when he discovered his Great Grandfather’s diary in the attic. His Great Grandfather, Rev. H. H. Montgomery, wrote stories about the Anglican’s church attempts to Christianise the South Pacific in the 19th century. He described a place which was full of myths, magic and violence and danger.
Charles found “the images followed him into his dreams” and he was fascinated by the idea of myths. A myth, he suggests, doesn’t mean a fib, but a story that helps us learn about our relationship with the world, and tells us how to live. He wanted to understand the stories his Great Grandfather told, and to see if there was anything left of the lands he had described. Following in his footsteps, he travelled to the Melanesia islands in the South Pacific 120 years later.
Charles recounted myths he had been told on his journey, such as a sorcerer who could change himself into an owl and fly around the islands at night. If he didn’t like you, he would pull open your stomach, rip your guts out and replace them with sticks and leaves. You would feel fine the next day but in a few weeks you would start coughing them up, and wouldn’t live long after that.
Another tale was from an island where terrible sorcerers lived. They would leave curses wrapped up in a leaf lying in the road, and if you stepped over it your penis would disappear. I wondered what would happen if a women walked over them.
What fascinated Charles was how these myths influenced the way the islanders lived. The chief of one village told him the story of a visitation from a spirit saying “you must understand what guides us.”
Back in 1940’s when the island was essentially a Presbyterian theocracy; a Spirit came in the middle of the night, in a big white hat with his eyes in the shadows, and appeared before the elders. He said “You have to stop going to church, throw your western money into the sea, and cast out the missionaries. Go back to your parties and circumcision ceremonies. If you do all these things I will return on a great white ship from afar, loaded with everything you ever wanted.” They did as he said, returning to traditional practices such as the men partying and drinking Kava on a Friday night. They have continued living this way even though they’re still waiting and praying for the spirits return. When Charles said to the chief “You’ve been waiting for 60 years for your prophet to come back, aren’t you getting a little frustrated?” He replied “Well, how long have you been waiting for Jesus to come back?”
Exploring the history of the islands, Charles found out that when the Americans arrived on the islands in World War two they brought lots of goods, and the islanders believed they must have controlled some kind of magic to have all this junk. The ships that travelled around the islands carrying gifts, became known as ‘cargo cults’ and the islanders prayed for this kind of magic.
As he moved through the islands he learnt that the magic he looked for was based around the concept of ‘mana’. Mana is a supernatural power which flows through all living things; it flows through rocks, and islands, and is concentrated in human skulls, which explains the head hunting that went on in the Northern Solomon Islands. The more exalted the victim the greater the mana, and the more skulls you could collect the more powerful you were. The islanders described mana as a force you could draw to yourselves and use for good or evil.
Charles had been told lots of stories, explored the history of the islands, and seen how myths influenced the way islanders lived, but he still hadn’t seen magic in action.
That is until he visited a village in New Georgia where the chief told him not to go into the mountains and blow on a stone, which was a petrified head of a snake. The chief had sold the mountain side to a logging company, and if he blew on the stone it would create a rainstorm, and they would have to stop logging for a couple of days. Defying the chief’s request, they made their way up to the mountain, and blew on the stone and indeed a rain storm started up. As they ran down the mountain there was thunder and lightening and the heavens opened. This may have been proof of the existence of magic, or it could have been a coincidence.
To try and find further proof magic existed, Charles tracked down the last of the islands shark callers, Celestine, who had a special relationship with a particular black shark. He was sure he would show him a miracle.
At midnight one night they paddled out in a canoe to the middle of lagoon. Celestine jumped in the water, and Charles took a deep breath and pushed off from canoe and circled beneath it. As he had to keep coming up for air, he realised Celestine was still under water and had been for many minutes. He saw a light, and pushed himself towards it. He saw the light was coming from Celestine sat cross legged on a bed of crushed coral, but he wasn’t alone, he saw a shadow of a black shark circling Celestine. He would like to have gone down further, but felt himself being pulled to the surface again for air.
He wasn’t sure what he had seen, and didn’t realise what had happened until weeks later. After leaving the islands, he was asked on numerous occasions if he had seen the shark spirit, and he answered no. Late one evening in the company of a group of friends, however he answered yes, he did see the shark god, and he was able to visualise what he had seen that night. Charles said:
“The story became whole finally, and I grew more certain every time I repeated it, now there was no doubt. Yes it was a shark… Yes an ancestor could still be summoned from the darkness”
He realised myth is about belief, it was true because he believed it, he says:
“Myth for me is like love, it’s a decision, what it answers is the kind of longing, what it demands is faith, what it opens is possibility.”
You can find Charles tale of his journey, his interpretation of what he discovered, and the difficulties he faced, including arriving at a time when civil war had raged through the islands, in his book: The Shark God: Encounters with Myth and Magic in the South Pacific.
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