UNIVF:RSITY OF HAWAl'I LIBRARY ELAK SRA ONAK PROJECT Volume one, Issue two September 2004 ACKNOWLEDGMENT TIW proj«t u funded i11 whole or in part by tlte US National Park Savka and tM Kosru State Govan1M11t, DepartJMnt of Agriculture Land & Fisheries ,. INTRODUCTION The Elak Sra Onak Project is happy to present to you the Volume one, Issue two Elak Sra Onak Book. This issue is a continuation ofvolume one. This issue is specifically discusses four of Kosrae's areas of Culture. These four areas are: Ideology which presents mostly on the Religious activities, Beliefs, Changes is religion such as new churches and conversions, other aspects of ideology such as stories about people and events in different times, and ideas about the proper way people should act toward one another. Another area is the Cultural Transmission which discusses how culture is passed on to new generations, formal and informal education ofways ofmaking a living, values, and social structure, how are schools organized in Kosrae, who are the teachers, how are they trained, where does the curriculum come from, how do school activities relate to informal education in homes and other places, what are Kosrae's games and how do they reflect Kosrae culture. The last section talks about Social Structure and Changes which will present to you, how has Kosrae changed, what are some of the things that are causing the changes today such as the video cassette recorders(VCRs), the ctrcumfrenttal road or the new airport, who are the people who introduce changes, how is change accepted by different people in each village, how does each village react to change, the role of institutions and their acceptance or resistance to change. 1 UNIVERSITY OF HAWAH I IADA D V Chapter One IDEOLOGY OF KOSRAE HISTORY Kosraeans Belief in Goddess Sinlaku Way before Savedra sighted Kosrae in 1529, there lived this Goddess called Sinlaku in Kosrae to whome everyone in Kosrae looked up to as their God. Kosraean people believed · that this Goddess controlled and provided everything on the island. In time of personal needs, she provided, in time of trouble, she helped out. People of Kosrae prayed to this Goddess for anything. Coming of the Gospel to Kosrae History revealed that some three hundred twenty three years after Savedra sighted Kosrae, the Missionaries arrived with the Gospel or the Good News to the people of Kosrae. This was a big turning point to the life of the people of Kosrae. This was the time that Sinlaku fled the Island. After receiving the Gospel and beleived in it, people said that the old Goddess fled because she was out powered by the True Gospel. It is beleived that Sinlaku fled to Yap but there is no solid evidence of it. 2 In 1852, Missionary Reverend Benjamin Snow with the assistance of the Hawaiian Missionary set food on Kosrae and introduced to the people of Kos~ae the Christianity way, emphasizing strictly on Protestant. This was the first Religion that was introduced to the people of Kosrae. From then on, and after the. Good King George accepted the Missionaries and the Gospel, the Missionaries set up their Church in Kosrae. Major changes in island life took place~ islanders were converted to Christianity and this is when people in Kosrae began to change tradition as to how they dressed, dance and sing, and how many husbands or wifes one could many and even what holidays to celebrate. Islanders were also asked to stop using magic and to strictly follow the traditional religious beliefs. The Missionaries started mission schools and began to put the native language into writings in religious books. This is one of the Church building m Kosrae. Believers gather in this Church builting to worship iiiiii:;;;;;;;;;;;;.;;;;;.. and celebrate special occa­ sions such as Christmas, New Year. Thanksgivmg and etc 3 Important Dates regarding the Gospel in Kosrae: In 1866, the first two stone Churches were built in Kosrae. In 1871 , the first Kosraean pastor got ordained. In 1905, Kosrae Congregational Churches became independent. In 1941, the Bible got translated into Kosraean by Miss Baldwin. Religious Activities Therefore, religious activities started after the Gospel was received and got accepted by the Good King George and the people of Kosrae. History reveals that there were six Kosraean women who were converted first into Christianity and later on additional people followed. Services were conducted by the Missionaries until 1871 when the first Kosraean Pastor was ordained and started preaching in Kosraean language. The word "Church" in Kosrae? Church is used by Christians in two different, but closely related ways. It can refer to all of Jesus' followers, viewed as a community and it can also refer to specific institutions or even be used to refer to the building in which they meet. When someone is converted into Christianity in Kosrae, that person becomes a Church member; he or she is a member of that community of followers of Jesus. 4 Church Structure in Kosrae Within the organi7.ation of the Church, there are the ordained Pastors, Deacons~ the Lay Ministers and the general members. The wifes of the Pastors and the Deaconeses are also committee members of the Church. These are the people who constitute the Church as a community of Jesus' followers. After the Missionaries established the Church in Kosrae and ordained the first Kosraean Pastor in 1871, the organization grew and developed to this point where all the five communities in Kosrae has their own Church Organization and Church building. The Church All: all the Churches in Kosrae make up the Church All where there are representatives from each of the five Churches in Kosrae. As the Church in Kosrae grew and developed, there were Church groups sprung up as strong supporters who helped in spreading the Gospel. Some of these groups are as follows: 1) The Etawi Matu: This is the adult endeavor, age 35 and up 2) The Etawi Fusr: This is the youth endeavor, age 14 and up 3) The Etawi Srisrik: This is the younger kids, age 1 and up 4) The Gospel Choir: This is the mixture of youth and adult 3) The Women Christian Association: All women teen & adult 4) The Brother/Sister in Christian: Boys & girls age 8 & up S) The Youth groups from different sections 5 Responsibilities of the Church The Church is the group with which we worship and it has the responsibility to preach the Word of God and to administer the sacraments. The Church also has a responsibility to encourage its members to make spiritual progress and to show their faith by their behavior, both through their ethics and their good works. This responsibility includes administering brotherly correc· tion when someone errs. Traditionally the Church has felt the responsibility to discipline, and if necessary exclude, members whose public lives are not in keeping with the message of Christianity. Belief of Heaven and Hell Christians believe that there will be a judgment day where evecyone's life will be evaluated. Christians believe that those who depend upon Christ for salvation can be assured that they will pass this judgment The two different outcomes for eternal hfe are heaven and hell. Christians believe that in the end, everyone will end up in either heaven or hell. Kosraean kids are raised with this belief of heaven or hell because it is being taught in Sunday school and through the Sunday sennons. 6 SECTION TWO Cultural Transmission Kosraean Culture Although the Micronesian islands have similarities in Culture and Tradition, they also have their unique ways of performing their skills and with this they develop and build different forms and looks. A very good example of such is the canoe building~ both Kosraeans and Pohnpeians build canoes with basically the same skills but the form and looks are not the same. And even handicrafts making are made from the same local materials but the the final product doesn't look the same. Therefore, around the Federation, a local man could easily tell whether a canoe is a Kosraean or Pohnpeian made just by looking at it. Kinds of Cultural Skills 1) Food preparation 7) Fishing 2) House building 8) Chant 3) Weaving 9) Format of Special Event 4) Canoe building 10) Local games 5) Local Medicine 6) Farming 7 These are the important skills that and islander must possess in order to live. These skills were developed long time ago by our ancesters and are still in use today. Passing of Skills to New Generation Because of the importance of these skills to the lives of the islanders, they have to be taught to the new generations. The question is, how have these skills passed to other people or kids in the society? Remember, there was no formal education where there is a teacher infront of a group of students. Kids learn skills through observation and practice. To observe, the elders of the families would demonstrate the skills during special ocassions such as funeral, wedding, or celebration of an event. Native plates, baskets and food preparation including butchering of pigs, underground oven, and others are done at such time. The format of the flow of traditional activities are also being observed by the younger ones during such event. There is no set instruction for specific skilJ for the younger kids to learn from. Nowadays, cultural skills such as weaving and carving are included in the school activities as extra curricular activities. 8 Games & Sports I. Fishing: Fishing was done way before the coming of the Missionaries and was passed on by the ancestors to the new generation.