In honor of Jesus Camp this week, I am going to bring you an amazing new religion each day- so you can learn to appreciate our lord and savior.

Today's religion is:

Cargo Cults- The John Frum Cult

The U.S. island hopping campaign in the Pacific during WWII necessitated the temporary establishment of military bases across a string of tiny pacific islands- Melanesia. The native inhabitants previously had little or no contact with modern materiel soon found manufactured goods literally falling from the sky.

(Melanesia- Vanuata, home of the John Frum Cult circled)

Traditional Melanesian beliefs hold that ancestors will one day come back to life, bearing unimaginable wealth and secure the long-term future of their community. If you had a lot of material goods to give as gifts to Islanders, you were considered blessed by the ancestors and were thus seen as a prophet. So the American serviceman and all of their complex and technologically advanced cargo were seen as traditional island prophets endowed with valuable gifts from the ancestors.

When the war ended and the bases were deserted. Not understanding that the source of the equipment was from the American war effort and not the ancestors, many native societies formed cults to bring back the supplies.They conducted rituals imitating behavior they have observed among the holders of the desired wealth, presuming that their deities and ancestors will, at last, recognize their own people and send the cargo to them instead.

The most famous of these Cargo Cults is the John Frum Cult, still popular on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu. John Frum is depicted as an American World War II serviceman, who will bring wealth and prosperity to the people if they follow him. He is sometimes portrayed as black, sometimes as white.

The John Frum Cult followers constructed all the superficial trappings of the military bases to bring back the cargo from the ancestors; they built runways with bamboo airplanes to lure the planes back. Men sat watch with coconut and bamboo radio headsets. Soldiers marched with wooden rifles.

(Straw airplane created by John Frum followers)

In 1957, a leader of the John Frum movement, Nakomaha, created the "Tanna Army", a non-violent, ritualistic organization which organized military-style parades, their faces painted in ritual colors, and wearing white t-shirts with the letters "T-A USA" (Tanna Army USA).

The power of John Frum appeared to be confirmed by the post-war influx of tourists to the region, who brought with them a degree of material prosperity to the islands that has validated the cult and contributed to its longevity.

The followers believe that John Frum will come back on a February 15 (the year of his return is not known), a date which is observed as "John Frum Day" in Vanuatu.