Comparing the cults

Comparing the cultsKnowledge of the local history of millenarian thought and action is invaluable for understanding millenarian efforts in particular populations.Thus, before we examine the demise of the Cemetery Cult, we want to draw attention to important differences between it and the Noise and how our knowledge of local millenarian history helps illuminate them.Researchers often have very little such information.But in the Manus case we know a lot about the cargo millenarianism that preceded the Cemetery Cult-that is, the Noise.The most important thing we know is that the Noise emerged quickly and failed rapidly.The most striking ways in which the Cemetery Cult differs from the Noise look very much like reactions to the latter's swift rise and fall.We cannot say unequivocally that people were reacting consciously to that experience, but it is hard to avoid speculating that experience of the Noise had a profound influence on the thought and behaviour of participants in the Cemetery Cult

Anthropological Studies and Insights · Indian and Buddhist Studies · Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs · Psychology