ABSTRACT

Villagers from the Marovo Lagoon in the Solomon Islands have for the past couple of years been experiencing unparalleled high-tide flooding and saltwater inundation of a natural freshwater spring. Knowledge from their ancestors said that winds came and ceased after so many moons. From this knowledge follows all other things, such as tides, rain, fish in the sea, and so on. Because of this, everything has its times and the ancestors knew how to mark those times. This knowledge was passed on to the current generation who, until recently, could see all this with their own eyes. But now people are not sure – the weather is not straight any more. People from the Marovo Lagoon are, on occasion, given cause to wonder whether the ancestors tricked them and whether matters were ever as straight as they were led to believe (Hviding and Borrevik). 1