The Alag is a mischievous spirit associated with the annual Coming of the Light ceremonies on Erub (Darnley Island), celebrating the introduction of Christianity there by a group of missionaries who arrived in 1871 onboard the Surprise. Performers dress in Alag costumes, either in the traditional style with pandanus masks and dried banana leaf capes, or, more often today, wearing colourful cloth to disguise their identities. Each year in theatrical displays, people try to run and hide from the Alag figure, who is intentionally menacing and who carries a stick made from a banana palm stem, or coconut leaf rib, to symbolically beat anyone he catches.