Star Date #26

Chief was high up in his tree village. Making the last preparations for a coming of age type ritual that involved people jumping from the tree tops with self made bungee cords attached to their feet. Trying to prove their valour by getting their face as close to the ground as possible, without smashing it.

You might look really cool and fearless jumping down and getting your face within inches from the ground. You really don’t look like much at all when you miscalculate and kiss the floor.

The ritual is basically identical to that of the people of Pentecost Island, in the Pacific island country of Vanuatu. There, young men trying to transition into manhood wrap vines around their ankles and jump off of wooden towers up to a hundred feet tall to prove their masculinity.

The tree people’s version doesn’t differ all that much, although they jump from a designated tree top platform that’s especially made for the occasion, off limits but kept clean all year. And that masculinity wasn’t really part of the equation.

The tree people’s ritual symbolised a triumph of any human being over fear and apprehension, and was enjoyed by men and women alike.

The other difference was that the ground was crawling with liquor snakes.