Celebrating Ni-Vanuatu Bislama Language Week

Join us for the official launch of the Vanuatu Bislama Lawis Wik 2025 – a celebration including official speeches, singsing (waiata, songs), tok stori (whaikōrero, storytelling), and Tanna Naio making, a traditional head piece from Tanna Island in Vanuatu.

When | Āhea

Sun 27 Jul 2025, 10.30am–1.00pm

Where | Ki hea

Rongomaraeroa, the marae, Level 4

Cost | Te utu

Free event, with museum entry

Marking the first official launch of Vanuatu Bislama Language Week in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The 3rd Melanesian pidgin creole language to be included in our Pacific Language Week Suite to the Ministry for Pacific Peoples.

We welcome the High Commissioner of the Republic of Vanuatu, His Excellency Jimmy Nipo and the Wellington Vanuatu Community in marking this special occasion for the Ni-Vanuatu Communities across the country, and within the larger diaspora of Te Moana Nui a Kiwa, our Wan Solwara. (One Salt Water).

Programme

10.30am: Opening speech from His Excellency Jimmy Nipo, High Commissioner of Vanuatu
10.35am: Speech from Wellington Vanuatu Community President, Roy Stephens
10.40am: Speech from MPP Representative
10.45am: Sing sing String band and community
11.00am: Tanna naio making station starts with Vanuatu community
1.00pm programme finishes.

About Tanna naio

To the Ni-Vanuatu people, Tanna naio is a body adornment worn during ceremonial kastom (custom) practices and celebrations. Tanna naio is a head piece made up of colourful feathers bound by string along a stick, worn by women and men as an embellishment, symbolising prestige, beauty, and cultural identity.

Only the Paramount Chief of the village will wear Tanna naio made from the large tail feathers of a rooster, marking his distinct and significant status, showing his position, power and placing within the tribe.

Vanuatu woman with her face painted with tribal motifs looking at the camera wearing a colourful head piece with colourful feathers and sparkly tinsel.

Vanuatu woman wearing Tanna Naio, 2024

Bislama Language Week

In collaboration with the Ministry for Pacific Peoples, this week-long celebration focuses on the Bislama language, one of the official languages of Vanuatu.

Bislama is a creole language that originated from English and various Melanesian languages, and it serves as a common language for many people in Vanuatu and is spoken widely, as well as French, English, and over 110 distinct dialects, making Vanuatu the most language-dense country per capita in the world.

In New Zealand, Bislama Language Week is observed to honour and celebrate the linguistic and cultural diversity of the Ni-Vanuatu (local or native from Vanuatu) community. It provides an opportunity for Ni-Vanuatu diaspora in New Zealand – as well as the broader population – to learn about the language, its history, and the cultural practices of Vanuatu.

Three women in brightly coloured dresses are greeting each other on a Pacific Island.

View: Photographs of Vanuatu by Glenn Jowitt

Photographer Glenn Jowitt (1955–2014) is best known for his images of Pacific people and their cultures, both in New Zealand and in the Pacific Islands. Look through his photographs of Vanuatu taken in 1997 and 2004.

Malakula dance costume

This costume comprising a lingesges (mask), nubang (penis sheath), vivang (ankle rattles), and bugho (belt), and was made by Erna Meleun and worn in June 2005 for naluan mekam - a dance performed through the night as part of a grade-taking ceremony in Lamap on Malakula Island, Vanuatu.

A large piece of bark cloth with patterns drawn on it in a darker dye.

Nemasitse bark cloth from Vanuatu

Nemasitse is bark cloth that was made on the island of Erromango in Vanuatu until the early 20th century. Women made several types of nemasitse that were both decorated and plain. Some were used as floor coverings or blankets. Decorated pieces were worn as ceremonial garments.