And as many as were convinced (of the truth) did lay down their weapons of war, and also their hatred and the tradition of their fathers. (Helaman 5:51).

As late as the 1990’s it was the custom on the island of Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu to bury newborn babies with their mothers if the mothers passed away as the result of childbirth.  The custom presumably arose from the difficulty of being able to care for motherless newborns.

About 1992 a baby boy was born in South Santo.  The mother died.  Following custom, the villagers prepared to “wash the baby with leaves” prior to burying the mother and child.  A woman in a neighboring village who had recently learned about Christianity went to the Catholic priest and objected to what was about to take place.  The Catholic priest, whose name was John, intervened, asked for the baby, and informed the villagers that what they were about to do was not right.

The baby was given to the priest, who offered the baby to a woman who had been unable to bear children.  She and her husband had adopted the seven children of her husband’s brother, though the children continued to live with their parents.  The woman was delighted to finally have a baby of her own.  She named it John, after the Catholic priest.

Thus it was that my friend Marius Baba acquired a new baby brother when he was about 10 years old.  The two brothers have continued to be close.  They live next to one another, and Marius employs John in his construction business.

The Catholic priest’s intervention in the burial of the baby put an end to that custom practice.

It was at about the same time that the last known case of cannibalism took place on the island of Malekula.  Christianity has brought these people a long way.  However, there is one more “tradition of their fathers” that needs to be disposed of, but no other church says anything about it.  That is the tradition of ignoring the need for marriage.  I applaud the strides that churches have made in improving the lives and customs of these people, but I’m puzzled about their selectivity in choosing which commandments need to be kept.