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The ritual stems from a local legend of a wife, who flees from her husband, Tamalie. She climbs a tree and Tamalie follows hers up. She ties vines to her legs and jumps down, Tamalie does not and dies. People perform this ritual as they believe it gives them good harvest for their crops.
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Missionaries came to the area and tried to persuade the natives to stop land-diving due to it being very dangerous.
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Kal Muller was the first outsider to complete the land-diving ritual. He was a journalist and was only allowed to jump because he had spent so much time with them.
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Anti-colonism caused land diving to be seen in a new light as a way to demonstrate their cultural identity.
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When Queen Elizabeth II visited Vanautu, the British government convinced the Anglican villagers to perform a jump. However the vines were not elastic enough due to the wrong season and the vines snapped. The person broke their back and later died in hospital.
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Commercial filming of the ritual was banned by the Vanautu Cultural centre to protect the culture.
