Prior to its colonization by both Britain and France in the 19th century, the Pentecost Island (named after the day of Pentecost in which it was spotted by the Portuguese explorer Pedro Fernandes de Queirós) and Vanuatu as a nation were apart of the indigenous Melonesian culture of the Pacific island region. 

 

Over the course of the 19th century, the French and British established missions to convert the indigenous people to Christianity (prior to this, the indigenous people practiced a form of animism, which is the belief that spirits inhabit the natural world and demand reverence). The conversion was fairly well received; however, it resulted in the loss of the pre-established identity of the people. In the mid 19th century, many missionaries discouraged the practice of Naghol (land-diving), which was a highly ritualistic rite of passage that was engrained within the culture.

 

It was not until the 1970s that anti-colonialists fought to change the negative view of the practice by stating that Naghol was a way for the people to express their cultural identity.