Vanuatu - The Nowon and Votwos of Ureparapara

The Nowon and Votwos of Ureparapara are the central architectural elements of pre-European contact Ureparaparan culture, and are inextricable with the Sok graded-society (commonly referred to as the Sukwe in reference to other of the Banks Islands). Nowon and Votwos architectural forms were built adjacent each other and were the overt manifestation of social power, authority, leadership and peacemaking; functioning as meeting places and for ceremonial dancing, pig-killings of the Sok, reverence to ancestors and oratory addresses by community big-men. Typically located along the mid-slope plateau (100-150m above sea level) of Ureparapara’s steep outer volcanic flanks, each ceremonial-complex was associated with the hamlet or village settlements that existed across the island prior to sustained European settlement. The influence of some of these places was felt across the island.