Grade-taking

Grade-taking is a social system under which individuals rise in status and authority by performing a series of ceremonies, typically involving the killing of valuable pigs. Grade-taking was the system of leadership in pre-colonial societies of northern Vanuatu, and is still actively practiced in some areas.

With each grade, a participant acquires a named rank, and the right to display certain insignia or perform certain rituals. The specifics vary between cultures. Lower grades are typically taken in one's youth and involve the killing of only one or a few low-value pigs. However, at the highest grades hundreds of pigs may be killed, including valuable 'tusker boars'. Although there is a clear hierarchy of grades, they do not necessarily need to be taken in strict sequence, and individuals with sufficient resources may occasionally skip grades and move directly to higher levels.

Grade-taking is primarily a male activity, but in some areas there are parallel grade-taking systems practiced by women.

The concept of a "chief" - an individual with specific authority over a community, rather than a ranked assortment of men with varying degrees of power and influence, was introduced to Vanuatu following contact with Europeans. Having a high rank in the grade-taking system is not technically the same as being a chief, though the two concepts are widely conflated, and chiefs tend to be individuals of high rank in the grade-taking system.

Individuals of high rank in grade-taking societies generally wield authority only within their own local communities. Although some may sit as representatives on national and regional Councils of Chiefs, there is no traditional concept of a "paramount chief" with authority over an entire region.

In the languages of the Torres and Banks Islands, the grade-taking system is known under various names, all descended from a same root *suᵐbʷe. The spelling suqe [suk͡pʷe] is more frequent in the literature, due to the special attention given to the Mota language since works by Codrington.

On the island of Malekula the grade-taking system is known as nimangki, and in some areas it is extremely elaborate, with up to 35 grades.

Grade-taking is actively practised in Anglican and Catholic areas on Pentecost Island, and in traditional kastom villages, although it has been suppressed in areas dominated by the Churches of Christ. On Pentecost the practice has no special name, but is referred to simply by terms such as "pig business".

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