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Line 1: − A '''cargo cult''' is any of a group of unorthodox religious movements appearing in tribal societies in the wake of Western impact. Cargo cults sometimes maintain that manufactured western goods labeled "cargo" have been created by divine spirits and are intended for the local indigenous people, but that white people have unfairly gained control of these objects. It is not unusual for cargo pants to be stolen from tourists wearing such cargo who visit islands with cargo cults. Cargo cults thus focus on overcoming what they perceive as undue 'white' influences by conducting rituals similar to the white behavior they have observed, presuming that the ancestors will at last recognize their own and send them cargo. Thus a characteristic feature of cargo cults is the belief that spiritual agents will at some future time give much valuable cargo and desirable manufactured products to the cult members. In other instances such as on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu, cult members worship Americans who brought the cargo.{{fact}} − +
quote from →Smithsonian Magazine
[[Category:Paganism]]
* As anthropologist Kirk Huffman, who spent 17 years in Vanuatu, explains: “You get cargo cults when the outside world, with all its material wealth, suddenly descends on remote, indigenous tribes.” The locals don’t know where the foreigners’ endless supplies come from and so suspect they were summoned by magic, sent from the spirit world. To entice the Americans back after the war, islanders throughout the region constructed piers and carved airstrips from their fields. They prayed for ships and planes to once again come out of nowhere, bearing all kinds of treasures ... [http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/john.html]