Tanna, whose people remain unreached by, or dismissive of, modernity's noisy allure, is still its own place. And the village of Yakel, deep in the interior of Tanna, is truly extraordinary. Yakel is one of several villages on the island to have forsaken modernity entirely. The men wear only nambas, or penis sheaths, and the women grass skirts. Homes are little more than extensions of the forest, with some built among the branches, and others, particularly those used to take shelter from cyclones, created in the hollows between the roots of banyan trees.
Pigs are the equivalent of a stock portfolio.
To wander through the village is to step back into an age not even dimly remembered by Westerners. Yet the inhabitants of Yakel, the only kastom village to allow visitors, are not unaware of the outside world. The village sells a few handicrafts to visitors, and uses the money to buy axes, knives, and other necessaries. It also permits outsiders to attend traditional ceremonies, such as circumcision rites, for a fee. Mostly, though, Yakel seems to move within its own primeval reverie, according to a clock set by the cycles of weather and tradition.