Traditional Money

Demand for cultural wealth items like pigs, yams, mats, and kava for traditional ceremonial uses - from marriages to circumcisions and more - is high in both urban and rural parts of Vanuatu. Those in rural areas overwhelmingly produce their own wealth with planning and hard work using skills passed down for generations, while those in urban centres depend more on money to puchase these items in order to participate in cultural exchanges. Money as a component of traditional ceremonies has made some people defer important life events or forego them altogether, and this impacts their status in society carried into the next generation. This episode looks at the rural suppliers of traditional wealth items in Vanuatu and how they use them today.