Traditional Dance, Yap

March 22  –  TRADITIONAL DANCE:

The day after arrival, we were invited to two traditional dance performances, both outdoors.

The first was in a grassy area between a Traditional Women’s House and a Men’s House, where we used the stone money as back rests! The audience was almost all local families; perhaps 2 percent visitors.

Singing, clapping, shouting, and full, colorful grass skirts swishing in unison. The dances and songs told stories, as all island dances do, and we wished that we knew the language but settled for soaking in the ambiance.

Women, men and children all participated; young and old alike.

The second dance performance, the next afternoon, was also at a traditional dancing ground and would be the “last chance” for the families to see those dances until next Spring, sort of a “hanging up of the costumes” ceremony.

                                        We were lucky to have arrived in time

Yap Island

March 21, 2010 — Yap Island

We have been anchored at Yap Island for ten days now! Our four day/four night voyage in Irish Melody from Lamotrek to Yap began nicely, with Irish Melody sailing “wing and wing” with main on starboard, jib on port and wind directly in back.

The rest of the time was a starboard reach with wind in the 20’s, finishing up with rather rowdy wave trains from two directions pushing us onward

From Dave: “The two produced choppy seas and occasionally generated a couple of “rogue waves” which sometimes would jump into the cockpit. One such wave put at least a half barrel of water into the cockpit leaving 2 inches sloshing around plus a big splash down the companionway and onto Linda who was sleeping in the quarter berth… talk about an “ol’ wet hen”! No worries, though. The cockpit drained and Mom put down several towels to soak up the water and went back to sleep. After that, however, we kept the companionway hatch closed, and the next morning we were coming through the Pass to the Yap anchorage. The sea is full of surprises. On a passage like that the boat doesn’t just rock with the waves, it randomly lurches back and forth on all 6 degrees of freedom (including rotation). Consequently, we both didn’t realize how tired we were until we went ashore to check in. Our energy was pretty much drained and we were ravenously hungry. After checking in we had huge lunches at a nearby small restaurant and ate nearly everything in sight. A day later with big meals my food intake has finally caught up…”   We were happy to arrive in this calm harbor, as we always are, and after a full night’s sleep we were ready for exploration.

We had a St Patrick’s Day Party aboard Irish Melody with the other 3 boats in the anchorage; 9 yachties all together. Dave put up a string of green LED lights around the cockpit, there were green munchies and decorations, and Linda made a Mexican 7-layer dip with slices of baby bell peppers that looked every bit like shamrocks on top.   And Dave played his fiddle, of course.

Linda's Money, Women's House

Stone Money, Yap

March 19, 2010 — Stone Money, Yap, Micronesia

For many many decades, I have dreamed of visiting the islands of Yap in Micronesia, and here I am. I am truly grateful. My cousins Dave and Doris Holmes used to send me Christmas presents from Micronesian Trust Territories right after WWII. They were my favorite presents! I still have the grass skirt, and the story board depicting Yapese Stone Money, and the dreams of all those years of someday visiting Micronesia.

Yesterday we rented a car with our friends on the Australian sailboat “Black Billy”. We spent 9 hours driving on main roads and back gravel roads, taking two hikes of a couple hours each in the jungle on two of the many ancient stone paths that criss-cross the island.

We visited a dozen beautiful, wooden “Meeting Houses” with ocean views. They feature tall, peaked thatched roofs on raised stone platforms surrounded by stone money. Think huge stone millstones, from 2′ to over 9′ in diameter.

Most were quarried in Palau, almost three hundred miles across the open ocean. For hundreds of years they were transported to Yap by sailing canoes pulling rafts with several heavy stones, often at a loss of both stone money and lives.

They were of shimmering limestone, “crystalline calcite”. They are now black with age but originally they were sparkling yellow. How beautiful they must have been! The hole carved into the center was so that a log could be inserted to carry them.

Some weigh up to 8 tons. The largest pieces were carved the latest, with iron tools provided by “His Majesty David O’Keefe”, an Irishman who shipwrecked on Yap in the 1800’s then provided a sailing ship to transport Stone Money in exchange for copra. I seemed to have taken photos of over 60 pieces… some so tall that Dave, standing in front, could barely reach to the top.

And some that I began to call “change”, only a couple of feet tall but still VERY heavy and impressive. Some of the smaller but earlier pieces, carved out with shell tools, are the most valuable.

Stone money pieces are all so different that now that several hundred years have gone by, each major piece even has a name! They change ownership sometimes, for purposes such as asking forgiveness, bestowing honor and land transactions, but almost always remain where they have been placed.

They stand upright in “Stone Money Banks” on jungle roads; along a path to a MeetingHouse or a Men’sHouse; on the raised stone platforms surrounding a MeetingHouse, and many times in front of homes of chiefs and others who have enough status to own them. We admired hundreds of pieces, and evidently there are thousands on this island, the only place in the world that such a thing exists. For more info and photos, google Yap Stone Money. I just spent a fascinating hour doing just that!

Path with a Stone Money Bridge

Photo to right: A “Stone Money Bank”

Stone Paths & Meeting Houses, Yap

The men’s houses, women’s houses and meeting houses of Yap are a marvel.  Dozens are still in use.  Many are historic but many are still being built today using traditional materials and construction.   While we were visiting Lamotrek Island, a baby girl was born in the Women’s House, surrounded by love and caring.  It seemed like most of the women in the entire island were there, especially in the mornings, making communal food for the young woman and her family and helping to care for the new babe.

Men’s houses are a meeting place for village leaders, a work shop for the building of outrigger canoes and and elaborate fish traps and a place for men and older boys to spend their free time.  They are beautiful structures, built with high peaked roofs,  set on imposing stone platforms and usually surrounded by stone money.

Wide stone foot paths, raised up from the surrounding land for good drainage, connect all of the villages. Many paths are still in good condition and we loved walking on them through the jungle, usually ending at yet another beautiful Meeting House.

Lamotrek — So hard to leave

Hi everyone — 07 Mar 2010 — Lamotrek Atoll

We’re overwhelmed with love and friendship from the generous families on the island of Lamotrek. We said our good byes this morning amongst families begging us to come back some day, but sadly, we think that we never will. They expressed appreciation for our help in the school and fixing various things, and we expressed appreciation for the gifts of six hand woven lava-lava’s, 2 thu’s, so many fresh flower leis and head bands that we couldn’t count them plus papayas, bananas, freshly cooked fish, taro, and more. We shared lots of school supplies here… much needed and much appreciated, AND we have a lighter boat. In thanks for each lava lava, we came up with flash lights, sheets, towels, canned food, fishing supplies and more, with our appreciation for the artistry and work it took to hand weave the beautiful fabric on local hand crafted back-strap looms.

Most of the homes in Lamotrek have coral sand floors covered with mats woven of coconut fronds. The school has a few up to date computers (Apple) and a large solar/inverter system to power them. The batteries look like they came from a ship, weighing several hundred pounds each, I think. They don’t have internet, but they can do email like we do… through their High Frequency radio on a closed system linked throughout the Federated States of Micronesia.

After burning the midnight oil for 3 nights (first Linda and then Dave) we delivered two DVDs this morning of video/slide shows that we prepared for the schools and families. There are very few DVD players on island and the only computers are in the teacher’s room at the school, but they will crowd around to see themselves and remember the “Culture Day” festivities.

Culture Day: Micronesia is serious about preserving their traditions and throughout the year they teach them in the schools. Friday was “Culture Day” and the whole island participated in the festivities. It started with the raising of the flag and singing of the national anthem. Then various school kids demonstrated island crafts and skills, and they all sang a song about respecting their customs and elders. Canoe building is alive and well here and is a big part of the demonstrations including construction, rigging the sail, demonstrating how to right an overturned sailing canoe, and a big emphasis on “star path” navigation which requires countless hours of memorization. Unlike the Marshall Islands canoes (which have plywood sides), the construction starts with a dugout log. Then they build up the sides and ends which are lashed together and glued all with natural materials. They make their own rope from coconut fiber. We were gifted with a multi strand hank that must have taken weeks to twist — that after soaking the fiber in sea water for 2 months to soften it. The finished canoe is painted… the only non-traditional material used.

All the participants and many of the “spectators” were adorned with leis, flower headbands, and yellow turmeric powder on faces and shoulders. The younger girls all wore fiber skirts. And, of course, we yachties (four of us) were given leis and flower bands for our hair… several each. We took lots of pictures and videos for the DVD that we were asked to make for the school. We’ll be glad to show that DVD and more to you as we cross paths this summer/fall.

We were glad to hear that Northern California had a nice “February good weather wave”. We always love it, too. The weather here is… you guessed it… warm, sunny with a few puffy clouds and a light, refreshing breeze. A few days ago I (Dave) made waffles (with wheat germ and fresh chopped up apple) for the yachties in the anchorage, a total of five of us, before they needed to continue on. We’ll see them again in Yap or Palau.

The islanders are just as delightful as our favorite friends in the Marshalls, Solomons, and Fiji. This will be one of our most remembered places.