Throughout history, human beings have constantly asked themselves the why and how of their own existence, of their past and future, of their conditions and if it is possible to improve them or even of the meaning of life itself or of reality. And among the different ways through which we have tried to answer these questions we can find that of faith: religion.

Many faiths and cultures have emerged, lived and in many cases disappeared. Although today a majority of the population tends to believe in one of the five most prevalent religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism or Buddhism), the truth is that there is still a great variety of religious beliefs beyond these options.

These include a few very minority ones that have emerged from the contrast between cultures and disparate levels of technology, as is the case with the cargo cults . It is about these kinds of cults that we will talk throughout this article.

What are cargo cults?

Cargo or cargo cults are a set of spiritual and religious cults or beliefs that are mainly present on the islands of Oceania (and generally specific to Melanesia), specifically those populated by indigenous people with limited contact with the rest of the world and limited technological development.

These are a series of religious denominations which, despite being heterogeneous and different from each other in many respects, share the fact that they are based on the first contacts between the natives and the explorers, the military, the travellers and the shipwrecked coming from much more technologically developed territories (usually European, American or Japanese) and the set of possessions that came with their cargoes.

Generally in this type of belief , the cargoes themselves are considered to be goods sent by the gods or spirits to facilitate their existence , and the foreigners who arrive with them are seen as deities or sent by them to provide them with goods. This contact is not always positive, since in some cases the non-division of the loads and goods or the unequal distribution are taken as an offense or an act of greed and disobedience by those who should deliver them, and sometimes insurrections have been formed.

The vehicles in which they arrived also receive a certain veneration , something that in the end makes a lot of sense: the arrival of food parachuted from the planes could mean a big change for the local population, who watched in wonder as the food was delivered to them from the sky by objects or flying entities whose nature they found difficult to understand. In sense most of the cults of the shipment presents rituals and customs like the elaboration of replicas of parabolic antennas and airplanes, in order to attract their arrival when imitating the actions of the Europeans, Americans and Asians with whom they had contact.

It is important to bear in mind that although the hope and belief in the future arrival of shipments may lead one to believe that they maintain an attitude of laziness and inactivity (and in some cases a focus on the arrival of shipments can be observed) in reality many of these peoples are tremendously active, and must be so in order to survive. The cargo cults have also led to the incorporation of numerous rituals and customs adopted from the observation of Europeans , in the hope that their replication will allow the arrival of new goods.

Where do these kinds of beliefs come from?

As we have indicated, most of these beliefs have their origin in the first contact between the inhabitants of a relatively isolated tribe or culture and the arrival of European or Asian explorers, military personnel or shipwrecked persons on their territory (especially relevant were the contacts and shipments arriving at the time of World War II). In many cases, previous cultures highly valued the role of the ancestors and their spirits, and sometimes the arrival of foreigners was taken as a symbol or a return of these.

But these outsiders also carried possessions that did not exist and were unknown to the natives: they came in large wooden or metal ships, or (in later cases) in planes that they saw and heard flying over their territory, and they carried food, tools or weapons that they had never seen and that were more efficient or useful than those they had previously possessed. Thus, and especially when the native population began to exchange or receive these goods they identified them as a divine gift or gift and began to worship the cargoes that were so useful.

Likewise, the emergence of the cargo cults allowed them to explain the role and existence of other beings that until then were non-existent for them, by trying to integrate foreigners into their explanation of the world without generating dissonances with pre-existing beliefs . Even the presence of a motor noise can be interpreted as a sign that the spirits are making an act of presence.

Moreover, similar to what happened initially in South and Central America when the Europeans arrived on their shores, on more than one occasion the newcomers themselves began to see benefit in such beliefs and even encouraged them to obtain different types of advantage or to keep the native population from revolting. This led to the strengthening of the cults of charge or cargo, although over time some of the peoples with this type of belief caught the advantage and inequality of foreigners when sharing their goods and have ended up distrusting them.

Two examples of cults of office

As we have indicated previously, there is no single cargo cult, but it is possible to find a wide diversity of peoples and beliefs that are part of this type of cult. Below we can see some examples of this.

Tanna Island: The Cult of John Frum

In this Melanesian island we can find several different cults of the charge. One of the best known is the cult of John Frum, who was considered the king of America.

Probably an American aviator (it is speculated that the name comes from “John from America”) arrived during the Second World War, this figure that is represented dressed in military uniform is considered a deity that once came to the island with great gifts, but after a while and after having predicted the departure of the white man from the island he left this promising to return. The general belief is that one day he will, leaving the Yasur volcano, loaded with new goods.

Even today, the inhabitants of the island carry out different rituals, and even march with sticks that resemble guns and the American flag every February 15th, waiting for the return of their god.

Madang and the worship of missionaries

Another of the best known cargo cults is the one present in Madang, on the northern coast of Papua New Guinea . In this case, the inhabitants of the region, seeing that the practices and beliefs of Western missionaries provided them with more developed tools and skills (in addition to receiving different cargoes), began to seek to learn the Christian ideas and beliefs to try to discover what their secret was.

However, in their quest to acquire and learn Western Christian beliefs, the locals acquired a different interpretation by mixing them with their search for cargo: they considered that the figure of Christ provided the inhabitants of Europe with the cargo , but that nevertheless the missionaries themselves wanted to keep it for themselves.

Later on, World War II would come, when they would be invaded by the Japanese. Since the Japanese threw the missionaries out and the latter were seen as obstacles or oppressors, they were initially welcomed, although the plundering that this army carried out ended up making the native inhabitants stop valuing and being interested in contact with foreigners, even after the latter withdrew.

Bibliographic references:

  • Harris, M. (2016). Cows, pigs, wars and witches. Alliance Publishing, pp. 150-172.
  • Jebens, H. (2004): Cargo, Cult and Culture Critique, ed.