Ethnobotany cultural ceremony

The spring 2011 ethnbotany class visited Welianter "Oaulik" Samuel in Dien, Kitti to enact the Pohnpeian sakau ceremony.

 The moanindei (menindei) had to instruct students in proper positioning and sitting form.
Betsyna is oarir for "Nahnalek" Mae, Jackleen is oarir for "Nahnkeniei" Himena. Betsyna noted that her clan does not serve as oarir, hence her initial confusion as to how to sit.
After doffing his shirt, Jayheart brought in the sakau and cut the branches.
Cleaning the sakau.
Under the direction of the menindei, Jayheart places the four pwoakoar. Each has their own name, and the order in which the four are laid down is prescribed. All is done under the direction of the menindei.
Jayheart and Anthony join to form a foursome for sukusuk. Four pounders is the right number.
Jayheart on wengweng, Anthony wie sak on the ngarangar.
Hertin and Arnold as oarir, Ceasar takes pwel as "Nahnmwarki."
Mallone as oarir serves "Nahnken" Lewis. 

The menindei corrects Betsyna on the proper way to receive the ngarangar and pass it along to Mae. Hertin displays correct sitting form, not the most comfortable for those not used to this position.
Jayheart works hard delivering the nohpwei cups - five in Kitti fashion. Nahnmwarki, Nahnken, Wasahi, Nahnalek, and back to Nahnmwarki.
Hertin prepares to serve Ceasar.
For the after session, Mallone took over on wengweng.
 
Our host, Oaulik, who made the participatory experience possible.

This event always functions as a cap stone event that brings to a functional close the term in ethnobotany with a plant that is really at the very center, the heart and soul, of a culture.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Plotting polar coordinates in Desmos and a vector addition demonstrator

Image
In an earlier post I noted that Desmos did not directly plot polar coordinates. Not only was I incorrect, but Desmos responded to my blog to correct me! Although I had at some point seen that one could define a function f(x)=3x+5 and then have Desmos calculate f(6), I had not absorbed how this might be used to plot polar coordinates. The above works beautifully . Realizing that I could effectively program Desmos, I applied this thinking to demonstrating how to add two vectors when given the magnitudes m and the direction angles theta. The graph calculates the i and j components for the two vectors and then adds the vectors, graphically displaying the result while also providing information on the magnitude and direction of the vector sum. m1 and theta1 are the magnitude and direction angle for one of the two vectors, m2 and theta2 are the magnitude and direction for the other vector. All four are dynamically interactive and can be changed. The diagram purports to illustra...
Read more

Setting up a boxplot chart in Google Sheets with multiple boxplots on a single chart

Image
The  Google Statistics  add-on for Google Sheets can display multiple boxplots in a single chart. The key is the layout of the data. One column should be the variable by which the data is to be grouped, the other column should be the data to be box plotted. Set up the Statistics add-on with the data to be plotted as the variable, and the grouping column as the "by" variable. In this image I had deselected all but the boxplot option, the result was the appearance of the Moment, Standard errors, and Confidence intervals options. The default is apparently a 95% confidence interval for the mean. The result is multiple boxplots on a single chart with a common scale. The new tab that is created also quotes 95% confidence intervals for the mean. Note that as of 2018 the Google Statistics add-on cannot be found by search in the add-ons. In addition, as of May 2018 the add-on no longer verifies, possibly due to the add-on not having been updated since August 2017. One may ha...
Read more

Traditional food dishes of Micronesia

Image
Clara, Jennette, and Joanie presented ground hard taro cooked in an umw, effectively a hot rock oven. Pohnpeian: rotama. Pingelapese: sero. Mwoakillese: rodma. Mortlockese: Amahd. Kosrae: rodoma. After cooking in an umw the rotama is pounded with the petiole of a palm frond. Rotama is made from hard or swamp taro, known as mwahng on Pohnpei, mweian on Pingalap, pula in Mortlockese, and pahsruhk on Kosrae. In traditional times on the outer islands the women had primary responsibility for tending the taro while the men handled fishing and climbing tasks. Joesen and Noeleen presented fermented breadfruit from the outer islands of Yap such as Woleai and Eauripik. The raw ingredients were actually brought in from Yap, Noeleen prepared the maare.  The leaf wrap is ti leaf - Cordyline fruticosa. Pauleen, Barnson, Trisha, Verginia, Con-ray, and Maylanda from Kitti, Pohnpei brought in mahi umw, koahpnoair koakihr, and uht sukusuk. Above is breadfruit umw, mahi umw, o...
Read more