land-diving

Noun

land diving (uncountable)

1. A ritual performed by the men of Pentecost Island, Vanuatu, involving a jump from a tall wooden tower with a tree vine wrapped around each ankle.
   • The island of Pentecost is most famous for land-diving – the precursor to bungee-jumping. A tower is erected from trees and saplings bound by vines. It is quite high, often well over 20 metres. Before the jump the ground underneath is thoroughly softened by digging up the earth.2006, Ted Freeman, Doctor in Vanuatu, Suva, Fiji: Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, →ISBN, page 83