rang tavuha

On probably about 5 different occasions this past week in Port Vila people have said "rang tavuha" to me as I walked by them on the street. This is the 'hello' greeting in the northern Pentecost language, it literally translates to the 'the sun has come' or something along those lines. The first few times it caught me off guard and I just said 'rang tavuha' back, if anything. This last time it happened, I stopped to talk with him. I asked "yu kam lo Pentecost?", you come from Pentecost? He wasn't from Pentecost, but he knew I was from north Pentecost and he knew how to say hello in the language. I'm not sure if he was just being polite or trying to show-off how much he knew about me, time will tell, I'm confident.