Chewing Betelnut

All the ingredients to fix a chew. on the left is the lime container with the lime inside (white powder) the betelnut in the middle and the pepper leaf on the right.

Betelnut

On my Island, It  is tradition to chew betenut because the guardians of our islands had given the ingredients to us as gifts, and to honor the, we practice it everyday. I do not know why other islands have started chewing betelnut, and have made it such an infamous act. The chewing consists of a betelnut, a pepper leaf, and some lime. The story of the guardians offering the gifts is that they were sailing on their boat in the heavens when suddenly the boat hit the tip of the tallest mountain on our islands and and the people in that village went to help them. and in return they gave the people lime which is made of some type of coral which is cooked into the white powder the betelnut tree and the pepper leaf vine. So Yapese actually are the original chewers in the Micronesian region. chewing has some rules to it, people can not chew unless they have grown their own tree and leaves and get their own lime. and one must never spit around or throw their chewing remnant around otherwise someone perform voodoo on it as punishment for being ridiculously  messy. there is always a "specific dumping site for each family". Last but not least women can not chew unless they are married which their husbands can provide them with chew. That is the story. I don't know why the other islanders have begun chewing without respect for other people who might be disgusted by them.

Traditional Dances

Like all kinds of dancing, to dance means there's a story or something behind it.
But, I like to think that Traditional Dancing on my home is more than that. Its is a story which keeps traditions and people alive. It keeps a community together as one and keeps the children from turning to bad influence because it is a daily thing and there isn't time to do other things rather than being home. but, in these modern times it has become much harder to keep people and traditions together. Here is a video from YouTube that will show you how much practice and togetherness a dance portrays when there is a performance held somewhere. Click on the highlighted words please:
Video link

Origins of the People

Back on my island people believe that nature define who people are. In believing this, They substitute each plant to clans, in which every person must take from their mothers. To explain this easier, I will use my clan as an example, clan was derived from the little red flower, which is called "Gachyow" back on my island I am sure you see it in every tropical island but as far as my clan is concerned we take after this little flower. although we do not usually talk about our clans publicly due to other people knowing our weaknesses I figured it would be an interesting subject to share. As told by my mother and grandmother this flower is both beautiful and ugly. the explanation is that it can not hide, it is always easy to spot because when fixing the traditional lei it is always on top. It can not be on the bottom you can always see it on the lei. the upside story of my clan is that we are always seen, and so whatever we do we will be acknowledged for what we do. if we do something good it is viewed as a unique and admirable thing again, because we can not hide our deeds, if we were to do a bad thing, we are to be the center of humiliation, whereas no one will ever forget what wrong we have done and that is the downside to the story of my clan and how we are defined. So our lessons are to be careful with life unless we want to be acknowledged too much. 

As I have said each person takes after their mother therefore only a mother and her children are of the same clan, and the daughters pass on the clan name. some clans have gone extinct because some mothers only bore boys and then they can not pass on the clan name and ways. some clans are cursed with their own ways. As said by the people of my island, clans have both good and bad sides, if they claim good deeds, they will be good people for many years and generations, but if ever, they were to do bad deeds, they will be cursed to only good deeds for many years and generations. The people in the clans can not marry each other even if they their ties have become very far. It's the same as marrying your own family. 

Not only do clans derive from plants, some people's clans derive from animals, fish, birds and words. The ones I know are Dolphins, Mice, Bananas, Sharks, Mushrooms, Ginger. but there are many more. My relatives have all come from these clans i have mentioned.

Local Attire and Celebration

Although The Western cultures have influenced our culture in many ways we try to relive our traditions on March 1st every year by celebrating Yap Day where every native must wear the local attire and display local stuff for everyone to see. During the celebration a village or certain villages perform local dances to show off how much talent the village has.

This picture above is of the people of my village about to perform this year, the man leading the dance is my father, each time a dance is to march on to the dancing grounds a man of the village must escort the dance holding the young palm leave to show that the dance comes on good terms and also to chase away negative spirit. This is the every day attire for women back in the day.

This picture is of men's standing dance from another village. This is the attire for men back in the day everyday.


 

Freedom

A fellow blogger mentioned that freedom can not be bought, and I totally agree! it is to be earned, but in my island buying freedom with the stone money means, for example, you have done something terribly wrong like stole from others or killed somebody or something like that, and those people want to kill you or punish you, the stone money is somehow worth your life. It is up to your family to decide if they should trade with the wronged people a stone money for your life. It is rather complicated in these modern times where there's law enforcement and dollar bills. but that is how it was back in the day. There are other currencies used which are sea shells such as pearl shells called "Yaar" when translated into the English tongue it basically means knife. These sea shells are shaped to look like knives with fixed coconut husk handles and they can be used as tools, used as a currency or as a sign of peace offering with other people if there is a conflict. The picture enclosed is a mere picture of the sea shells used as currencies and you can actually buy land and other people with these too. it all depends on the value of the "knife" it must be ancient or one of a kind or in my point of view is should pretty much look ugly and old.

Yap Islands

I am from the Island of Yap, it is an island in the Western Caroline Islands in the Pacific 9 degrees North and a 138 degrees East. The picture on top is a picture of my island I found on the web. It is the smallest island of the   island nation in the Federated States of Micronesia. It is also known as the most traditionally cultured islands, whereas, we have our own currency. It is not the usual kind of dollar bill or coin you will see anywhere, hence the picture on the bottom. It is called Stone Money, although the usual currencies around the world are used to buy things, this type is used to buy freedom or buy allies or even people our getting people out of trouble. It is made out of limestone and was quarried from the neighboring
islands of the Republic of Palau. The stone currencies can rise from 1ft to 12ft tall. The largest of them all is left lying on the ground because it can not stand, due to it's heaviness. I wanted to post information about my  island so that people can know more about the Micronesian islands and the different people from there.