World War II was gaining momentum. German troops were rushing to Moscow, and Japan had already captured most of northern and central China and invaded French Indochina.
On the morning of December 7, 1941, an air armada (according to various sources, from 350 to 440 aircraft) took off from six Japanese aircraft carriers, which headed for the American military base Pearl Harbor, located on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. The Japanese pilots and sailors were tasked with neutralizing the US Pacific Fleet in order to ensure freedom of action for the Japanese army in Southeast Asia.
The blow was unexpected and overwhelming. The Japanese sunk four ships of the line, two destroyers and one minelayer. Four more battleships, three light cruisers and one destroyer were seriously damaged. 188 American aircraft were destroyed, and another 159 were badly damaged. The Americans also lost almost two and a half thousand people killed and more than a thousand wounded.
The success exceeded all the expectations of the Japanese command. The US Pacific Fleet was practically paralyzed for a full six months, allowing Japan to take most of Southeast Asia with relative ease, including Hong Kong, Burma, the Dutch East Indies, Malaya, Singapore and the Philippines.
The Pearl Harbor tragedy triggered the involvement of the United States in active hostilities. President Franklin Roosevelt delivered a speech to the American Congress and declared war on Japan. US warships and submarines were ordered to begin military operations in the ocean against the Japanese fleet …
The Pacific Ocean is very large. Controlling its expanses of water is very difficult. And in order to successfully solve combat missions, the American army had to create small garrisons on the islands, which occupied, from a military point of view, an advantageous position.
The local population of many of these islands was very far from modern civilization and was already stuck in the Stone Age. Often, the islanders had not yet seen people with white faces at all, and now they were watching the aliens with great interest.
The pale-faced, from the point of view of the natives, did not work at all - they did not cut bows and arrows out of wood, did not plant sweet potatoes, did not grind grain in mortars, did not weave baskets. Instead, the aliens lined up in even columns and for some reason stood and marched in rows, and the "leaders" of the pale-faced shouted at them various unknown words.
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However, at the same time, the pale-faced had everything - strong steel knives, clothes, shoes, tents, lighters, flashlights, cans with sweet jam, bottled fire water and the like. To obtain all these benefits, the Americans just marked mysterious stripes on the ground, threw some kind of "ropes" (wires) on the poles, put on headphones and shouted incomprehensible words into some iron boxes. Then they shone fires or searchlights into the sky and waved flags - and iron birds flew in from the sky, bringing them all these wonderful things packed in boxes. The aliens called the boxes "cargo" (English "cargo" - "cargo"). Some of the wonderful things from such boxes also fell on the islanders - for helping them as guides, as well as in exchange for coconuts, shells and the favor of young natives.
The islanders were amazed - they prayed to their gods in a variety of ways, but the gods in return never sent them so much good and useful. It turned out that they were praying either incorrectly, or to the wrong gods …
And then the war ended, and the Americans flew away in winged cars and sailed away in iron boats. The islanders were left alone with their memories of that magical time and great wonders.
The happy life suddenly ended. Cargo no longer fell from the sky, no matter how much the islanders asked their gods about it. And then they began to think, what are they doing wrong?..
The islanders considered it quite obvious that all beautiful things appeared as a result of some magical action. After all, none of the local residents have ever seen the Americans make them - they got everything ready at once.
But if this is magic, then to get all these wonderful things you have to do the same as the pale-faced. Namely - to lay the landing strips, hang the ropes, and then, putting on special devices (headphones) on your ears, shout words into an iron box and wait for all abundance to fall from the sky again …
When some time later anthropologists appeared on the islands, they discovered there strange and completely unprecedented religious cults. The natives made clearings in the jungle, built wicker towers with antennas, waved flags of painted mats and, wearing headphones made of halved coconuts, shouted something into bamboo microphones. Pillars were stuck everywhere, connected by hemp ropes. And on the paved paths were planes made of bamboo and straw mats, very similar in appearance to real ones. The swarthy bodies of the aborigines were painted in military uniforms with the letters USA and orders, and the aborigines themselves diligently marching, holding sticks like rifles. After all these "magical" actions, the islanders were located close to the airplane models they had created and peered into the sky with tense expectation.
The islanders await a cargo from the sky.
These religious activities and beliefs of the Pacific islanders are collectively referred to as the "cargo cult." And although on different islands (and sometimes even in neighboring villages on the same island) the list of "magic" rituals could be different, on the whole it all came down to a single basis - in anticipation of "gifts from heaven", the islanders diligently reproduced the actions of soldiers of the Second World War. The actions of the very real once "aliens" …
It is curious that in one case the cult was called the "religion of John Froom." This name came about due to the fact that one of the Americans made fun of the local islanders and said: “Why should you work? Soon John will arrive from America (… John from America) and he will bring you everything like that! " Distorted, the phrase "John from …" and stuck to the quality of "John Froome".
The naive natives believed this American and waited. Now John Froom is essentially the messiah, who, according to legend, will definitely fly to the islanders on February 15 (it is not known what year) and will bring everyone as much cargo as needed. In the meantime, the priests of the cult of John Froome claim that they communicate with their messiah "on the radio" with the help of a woman with wires wrapped around her waist, who falls into a trance and begins to utter incomprehensible words, then interpreted by the priest …
The natives as American soldiers.
Long years of strange religious worship and anticipation passed … and now the gods heard the islanders!
In the 1960s, the Vietnam War broke out, and the United States again deployed military bases in the Pacific. The cargo was delivered again.
On some islands, this even led to clashes with local residents, who were completely sure that the boxes placed at American bases were their (islanders) cargo, which they begged from their ancestors, and the aliens only had to perform exclusively functions of its delivery …
But the Vietnam War also passed. The bases were turned down once again. The cargo flow has ended again. However, having already convinced themselves once of the "correctness" of their faith, the islanders began to perform familiar rituals with even greater zeal in order to see the long-awaited load as soon as possible.
And indeed - after a while they were lucky again. After another devastating tsunami that swept across the Pacific Ocean, humanitarian aid began to be dropped on some islands from helicopters and aircraft. The islanders again became convinced of the "correctness" of their religion!..
Be that as it may, in some places the cargo cult has survived to this day - for example, the cult of John Frum is still preserved on the island of Tana, located in the southern part of the New Hebrides archipelago.
John Froome cult village.
This is not to say that the cargo cult is associated exclusively with the events of the Second World War. After her, he only received the greatest distribution and fame. Similar cults have arisen earlier.
The first cargo cults were recorded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The earliest of these is the Tuka movement, which originated in Fiji in 1885.
Thus, the "dance of spirits" similar to the cargo cult arose during the contact of Indians and Anglo-Americans at the end of the 19th century. During a fever, the prophet of the Payute Indians Vovoka had a vision that prompted him to teach the Indians special rituals, the main part of which was chanting and circular dancing. The adherents of the new teaching were expected to get rid of the white people, who were supposed to disappear, and the souls of the ancestors of the Indians, along with huge herds of buffalo, were to return to earth by rail.
This movement embraced most of the tribes of the western United States. The most violent supporters of the movement were the Lakota Indians. Despite the peaceful nature of Wovoka's sermons, some Lakota leaders have interpreted his ideas in their own way. They assured that everyone who wears the shirts of the spirits decorated with protective amulets becomes invulnerable, and the soldiers' bullets will not be able to harm them. The US government sent troops to suppress the uprisings of adherents of this doctrine, and after the tragic events in December 1890, when hundreds of Indians died, belief in the truth of Vovoka's prophecies was undermined and the performance of the rituals gradually ceased …
Other early cults also arose in Papua New Guinea ("Tarot cult" and "Vailal madness"). During the Vietnam War, part of the Hmong people believed in the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ, who would come dressed in camouflage at the wheel of a military jeep to take them to the Promised Land. And some Amazon Indians carved models of cassette audio players from wood, with the help of which they "talked to spirits" …
All these religions are united by one important point - they arose as a result of events associated with the meeting of representatives of two civilizations, fundamentally different in terms of development. A less developed civilization, not being able to understand and explain the achievements and capabilities of a more developed civilization, eventually builds a kind of cult in which objects of a developed civilization acquire a religious and mystical meaning. And the same meaning is given to certain imitations of such objects that become "objects of worship." However, these "objects of worship" in this case are not the result of fantasies and inventions of adherents of such a religion, but have absolutely real material prototypes that had some very specific (not religious!) Functionality.
ANDREY SKLYAROV