Day 41: National Mask Festival
This morning, we woke up around 3:30am, got ready (still no working shower) and took the shuttle to Ranguna Beach where the National Mask Festival kicked off with the traditional Kinavai event. We arrived at the beach and set up our seats under a blanket of darkness, and waited for the dawn to come. All the people from the surrounding villages were out with us, too! The little kids were excited, and everyone surrounded us, waiting in anticipation. Before dawn began to break, we heard them: the two tribes chanting and drumming as they sailed from Matupit Island and approached the shore. In the boat were many men and a tambuan or dukduk – a man dressed in tree-like-looking garb and mask. The two tribes reached ashore at two different spots on the beach and basically competed in their chants. Finally, they approached each other and competed in chanting and dancing on the beach for a short period of time. We were told that the significance of this ritual was to celebrate the arrival of the tribal Micronesian people on these islands.
After the ritual, we shuttled over to the resort for breakfast, and then headed to the festival grounds in the intense heat. There, each tribe came out and sang traditional songs while they danced with their masks on. The masks were pretty cool, and we really enjoyed seeing the different tribes and their variety of masks. At the break, we found out that the second half of the Kinavai ritual was happening in a remote area in the mountains so we asked Valerie, our hotel guide, if the shuttle could take us there (only three of us went). When we finally found the location, it was pouring rain and we had basically missed most of the ritual. We did catch the end of it, though, where the tambuans and dukduks all lined up and shell money (considered equivalent to the Kina – the local currency) was thrown at them. We couldn’t quite get an answer as to the significance of this ritual, but I did find out that women were supposed to keep a fair distance, as this was a ritual for men.
Since we had missed lunchtime, we went straight to the festival grounds and waited for the rain to stop. While we waited, someone in one of the stalls turned up some music and all the kids (and some adults) started up an impromptu dance party in the field! It was so nice to see everyone having so much fun! Life can be so simple and they showed us how to be carefree and happy, just having a great time dancing in the rain! Next time it rains, turn up the music and start dancing.
Sadly, the rain didn’t stop, and the rest of the day’s events were cancelled due to the downpour. So instead, we went back to our hotel to find out that the shower still wasn’t working and that we were being shifted to a (much much nicer) room at no charge. Yay! We finally showered and then went over to the resort for dinner and drinks. Afterwards, we spent some time relaxing in our nice new room before going to sleep.
Earlier in the day, on the ride back from the second Kinavai ritual, we saw a man walking on the street get soaked by a car driving by through a huge puddle… and the man just laughed! Back home, that man would probably have been cursing the driver of the car. That one little event really made us think about our automatic reactions to things. We have so much compared to most people in the world, so why are we so easily angered? Today, before you react to something, just stop and think for a minute, and see if it’s serious enough that you will remember it tomorrow. Because the words you say in anger are like nails in a fence: you can remove them but they will always leave a mark. Remember: we are better off than 80% of the world’s population – that’s something to be thankful for every day.
This morning, we woke up around 3:30am, got ready (still no working shower) and took the shuttle to Ranguna Beach where the National Mask Festival kicked off with the traditional Kinavai event. We arrived at the beach and set up our seats under a blanket of darkness, and waited for the dawn to come. All the people from the surrounding villages were out with us, too! The little kids were excited, and everyone surrounded us, waiting in anticipation. Before dawn began to break, we heard them: the two tribes chanting and drumming as they sailed from Matupit Island and approached the shore. In the boat were many men and a tambuan or dukduk – a man dressed in tree-like-looking garb and mask. The two tribes reached ashore at two different spots on the beach and basically competed in their chants. Finally, they approached each other and competed in chanting and dancing on the beach for a short period of time. We were told that the significance of this ritual was to celebrate the arrival of the tribal Micronesian people on these islands.
After the ritual, we shuttled over to the resort for breakfast, and then headed to the festival grounds in the intense heat. There, each tribe came out and sang traditional songs while they danced with their masks on. The masks were pretty cool, and we really enjoyed seeing the different tribes and their variety of masks. At the break, we found out that the second half of the Kinavai ritual was happening in a remote area in the mountains so we asked Valerie, our hotel guide, if the shuttle could take us there (only three of us went). When we finally found the location, it was pouring rain and we had basically missed most of the ritual. We did catch the end of it, though, where the tambuans and dukduks all lined up and shell money (considered equivalent to the Kina – the local currency) was thrown at them. We couldn’t quite get an answer as to the significance of this ritual, but I did find out that women were supposed to keep a fair distance, as this was a ritual for men.
Since we had missed lunchtime, we went straight to the festival grounds and waited for the rain to stop. While we waited, someone in one of the stalls turned up some music and all the kids (and some adults) started up an impromptu dance party in the field! It was so nice to see everyone having so much fun! Life can be so simple and they showed us how to be carefree and happy, just having a great time dancing in the rain! Next time it rains, turn up the music and start dancing.
Sadly, the rain didn’t stop, and the rest of the day’s events were cancelled due to the downpour. So instead, we went back to our hotel to find out that the shower still wasn’t working and that we were being shifted to a (much much nicer) room at no charge. Yay! We finally showered and then went over to the resort for dinner and drinks. Afterwards, we spent some time relaxing in our nice new room before going to sleep.
Earlier in the day, on the ride back from the second Kinavai ritual, we saw a man walking on the street get soaked by a car driving by through a huge puddle… and the man just laughed! Back home, that man would probably have been cursing the driver of the car. That one little event really made us think about our automatic reactions to things. We have so much compared to most people in the world, so why are we so easily angered? Today, before you react to something, just stop and think for a minute, and see if it’s serious enough that you will remember it tomorrow. Because the words you say in anger are like nails in a fence: you can remove them but they will always leave a mark. Remember: we are better off than 80% of the world’s population – that’s something to be thankful for every day.
Kinavai ritual at dawn
Dukduk
Tribal mask
Performance of traditional dance
Dancing in the rain!
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