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LAMAKARA - As global public opinion sours towards the United States, Americans wearied by the relentless negativity need only look towards an exotic corner of the South Pacific for solace.
While the US's standing in the world has plummeted under President George W. Bush, a bizarre cargo cult in Vanuatu holds America in god-like esteem.
The Jon Frum cargo cult celebrated the 50th anniversary of its founding yesterday, with a lavish feast in which villagers dressed up as American soldiers and marched up and down in front of a giant Stars and Stripes flag fluttering from a bamboo pole.
Miniature American flags festooned bushes and trees lining the black sand parade ground which forms the focus of Lamakara village, the headquarters of the cult, on the jungle-clad island of Tanna.
Village men dressed as sergeants marshalled the crowd of several thousand cult devotees, while 50 young men shouldered their bamboo "rifles" and came to attention in a perfectly orchestrated drill.
The letters "U S A" were daubed across their chests and backs in vivid red paint as they wheeled and stamped beneath a relentless tropical sun, a "drill sergeant" barking orders in Bislama, Vanuatu's pidgin English.
A tin band and small boys with bamboo flutes and American-style forage caps played the Star Spangled Banner against a background of thunderous roars from nearby Mt Yasur, a live volcano in which the spirit of Jon Frum is said to live.
"For us, America is very good," said village chief Isaac Wan, 67, the leader of the cargo cult, dressed in a smart US naval officer's uniform.
"There's a friendship between Tanna people and America from the war. When they came here looking for people to help them build airstrips and carry their supplies, we gave them a thousand men."
The origins of the cult date back to the 1930s, when Britain and France jointly ran what was then the colony of New Hebrides.
Tanna's inhabitants bridled at colonial rule and the missionaries who badgered them to embrace Christianity, stop drinking the narcotic kava and abandon other customary ways, known in pidgin English as "kastom".
Village elders tell of how a mysterious outsider came to them in a series of apparitions, telling them to go back to their traditional way of life.
The idea of a messiah-like saviour was given a huge boost during World War II, when hundreds of Tannese men were recruited by the Americans to help build roads, airstrips and military bases. They were immensely impressed by the huge amounts of "cargo" - tanks, ships, weapons, medicine and food - brought by the US military.
The shadowy spirit figure they believed in gradually assumed a name and a nationality - Jon Frum is believed to be a contraction of John From America, a reference perhaps to a soldier who showed them particular generosity.
The movement was officially founded on February 15, 1957, to celebrate the release of cult leaders who had been imprisoned by the Anglo-French authorities.
For the last 50 years cultists have clung to the belief that by dressing up as Americans and venerating US symbols they can somehow tempt back the cargo which appeared during the war.
Frequent gifts sent by Americans who have visited the village only reinforce the cult's conviction that one day Jon Frum will return, bringing with him American munificence.
"This is how far we have to go right now to find a country which loves and respects America," said Cevin Soling, a film maker from New York and one of the few foreigners to witness yesterday's celebrations.
In a thatched hut in the centre of the village a shrine to the cult promises that "Jon Promise America - One Day He'll Be Returning".
"When the missionaries came they wanted to destroy our kastom," said villager Rutha Napat, 30. "But Jon Frum told our grandparents to keep our culture alive and that is why we're celebrating this day."
A fifth of the 25,000 people on Tanna are cult believers, with the rest either traditional animists or church-goers.
"I'm embarrassed when people on other islands ask me about Jon Frum," said Christian youth worker Andrew Koda, 23. "The Jon Frum people are like children playing games."
Anthropologists regard the cult, one of many which flowered in the Pacific after the war, as a way for conservative islanders to maintain their culture in the face of colonialism, Christianity and modernity.
"The movement started at a time when there was severe suppression of the old ways by Presbyterian missionaries," said Ralph Regenvanu, director of the Vanuatu National Cultural Council. "When the British and French arrested the leaders, that just made it grow more. These days it's a cultural preservation movement as much as a cargo cult."
WORSHIPPING THE STARS AND STRIPES
ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS: The Jon Frum cargo cult yesterday celebrated the 50th anniversary of its founding with a lavish feast in which villagers dressed up as American soldiers and marched up and down in front of a giant Stars and Stripes flag.
EARLY ORIGINS: The origins of the cult date back to the 1930s, when Britain and France ran the colony of New Hebrides.
THE MYSTERIOUS OUTSIDER: Village elders of Vanuatu's island of Tanna tell of how a mysterious outsider came to them in a series of apparitions, telling them to go back to their traditional way of life.
JOHN FROM AMERICA: The shadowy spirit figure they believed in gradually assumed a name and a nationality - Jon Frum is believed to be a contraction of John From America, a reference perhaps to a soldier in World War II who showed them particular generosity.
WORSHIP THE FLAG: For the last 50 years cultists have clung to the belief that by dressing up as Americans and venerating US symbols they can tempt back the cargo that appeared during the war.
GOD-GIVEN GIFTS: Gifts sent by Americans who have visited the village reinforce the cult's conviction that Jon Frum will return.
