Banks-Torres District (Vanuatu)

Banks Islands, Torres Islands and Rowa Islands

Last modified: 2001-09-08 by santiago dotor
Keywords: vanuatu | banks | torres | canton | leaf: fern | boar's tusk | scroll | text: pidgin |
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by Pascal Gross

• Description

See also:

• District Flags (Introduction)
• Vanuatu

Other sites:

• Vanuatu 1989 Districts and Islands Map (165 kB) (Texas University's Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection)
• Vanuatu 1998 Districts and Islands Map (258 kB) (Texas University's Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection)

The text on the scroll reads Long God yumi stanap, pidgin for "We stand beside God", which is also the motto on the National coat-of-arms.

Santiago Dotor, 22 October 1999

Though you are correct with your translation, what it really means is "In God we Stand", not really we stand beside God. "In God we Stand" signifies the fact that christianity is the base for the country, that the Ni-Vanuatu people have God as their guide and is their "guiding star". "We stand beside God" does not really mean that they have God as their most supreme nor that they abide by God's rule.

Marlene Kalmet, 22 November 2000