Manit Day at St. Joseph’s Elementary School

Friday, September 24, 2010

  

I believe that “manit” means culture in the Marshallese language.  Thus it makes sense that Manit Day is basically a holiday that celebrates Marshallese traditional culture. 

We were invited to both an elementary school and the high school Manit Day activities.  TC and I decided to spend the day at the elementary school, since the high school was having a talent show/Manit Day festivities in the evening (as well as the day). 

The principal of the school, Moten, told us that she thinks it is an important holiday because some of the kids forget simple things such as traditional foods or even the Marshallese names for those foods let alone traditional songs or dances or arts like weaving.  Earlier in the week, the first grade teacher asked her students to name their favorite Marshallese food.  She said some replied, “Rice,” or “Fried Chicken,” or even “Ramen.” 

So we spent all day at St. Joseph’s Elementary School, which consists of grades K-8 under the shade of a small fan-palm tree.  It was great fun watching the different events.  The kindergartners had to race and grab one of the traditional fruits found on the island.  Then they had to say its Marshallese name in the microphone.  They were adorable (as kindergartners often are), but I was reminded that I probably could not handle teaching kindergarten.  I think I’m fairly patient, but I am pretty sure that patience is geared towards teenagers.

This little girl just kept staring us down.  I am sure it was her way of welcoming us.  

Boys running to pick up their object.  

Older kids had to race to pick up a piece of paper, which had a Marshallese name for different objects, then they had to race to pick up that object. 

These girls race to pick up their paper.  

Still older kids raced up to grab a piece of paper, which asked them to write the Marshallese spellings of words.  They would laugh when they would butcher the spelling.  It did make me kind of sad that they aren’t really learning how to spell in their own language.  I had the same thought yesterday when I was asking Ned (a 10 year old) and Lucky (a 14 year old) how to spell Jinerik’s name.  (Now, I don’t know if that is how you spell it, but that’s how it sounds to me.)  Ned and Lucky told me that they didn’t know how to spell it because, “That’s a Marshallese name.” 

This little guy looks as if he about to do a face plant.  Don't worry, he lands on his feet.  He is too young to go to school, so he entertained himself in other ways.  

Of course, this guy can't let his friend out do him.

Another race had girls racing to weave the palm frond plates.  Some girls would collapse with laughter and embarrassment because they didn’t quite know how to get it done.  Others would rapidly weave the plate with pride.  Then they took it to a judge who would say if it was good enough to be “done.” 

You can see the girl on the left is far ahead of the others.

And she gets first place!  She also has a great smile.

After the races, the school had a traditional Marshallese picnic lunch where there was supposed to be nothing foreign – no rice, chicken, kool-aid, chips, soda, etc.  Moten brought TC and I two big plates of food.  We said that one was more than enough since we didn’t want to be taking food from actual students/parents.  That one plate was enough and it was tasty.  We had fish (don’t know what kind), mashed banana and coconut ball (these are the starchy bananas not the sweet fruit ones), pumpkin ball rolled in coconut, preserved breadfruit bar (boiled in salt water, then rinsed in fresh water, then mashed it up and baked it), pandanus (raw, also called the “Marshallese toothbrush,” and bananas (small sweet ones).  Of course, they gave us coconuts to drink.  All the food was delicious. 

Gabriella makes faces as she waits in line for lunch.

Our yummy lunch served on a super biodegradable plate.

Enjoying some pandanus.  It's called the Marshallese toothbrush because it is super fibrous and those fibers get stuck in your teeth. 

You might be wondering if I worry about getting sick from food prepared on small islands (often without refrigeration).  I’m not going to lie - it crosses my mind, but in the end I’d rather take the chance.  Otherwise not only will I miss out on some yummy foods (and probably some not so great ones too), but I risk offending someone or, worse yet, having to waste food. 

After lunch were traditional song and dance performances.  Some were a little slow, but for the most part I really enjoyed them.  It was fun to get photos and video. 

Megan flashes a smile.  She was in the first jumping picture on Jaluit.  She goes to the public school (which had no classes and no organized celebration), so she came to watch her friends at the Catholic school.

This little girl is not yet a kindergartner, but she wanted to join in on all of their activities.  

At the end of the afternoon, Moten gave me a flower headband/crown and brought us two baskets filled with coconuts, papayas, and limes.  We are down to just oranges for fresh fruit, so we were totally excited about the papayas!

We appreciate the generosity of the people of Jaluit!