19 Oct 2013

Sea Spirit Cleansing

Today we set off by Zodiac to land on the island of Nissan. The original name of this island (which is a part of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville) was Nehan, the name given to the people and main language spoken here. We were met on the beach by elders who sprinkled us with water in a ceremony similar to that at Bipi. The sprinkling of water is a custom that symbolises the removing of sea spirits from a person so they can come onto the land. We were then each presented with a pendant of fragrant herbs and leaves before setting off on a walk. Nissan is the first true atoll we have visited on this expedition and it has an unusually deep lagoon of 60m.