PI00005527

Pwo Ceremony Traditionally, navigators learn the way-finding knowledge from fathers or uncles within their family and eventually, when ready, may pass through the traditional initiation of navigators', Pwo Ceremony

PI00005530

Getting the right wood. As a learning facility and a roof to protect the canoes, the right types of logs that takes into account its overall strength and durability are harvested. Straight logs are selected and fell for all parts of the canoe house. Immediately after felling logs, they have to be debarked and in most cases soaked in the salt water for natural protection.

PI00005538

The Navigator's Float The canoe is the navigator's float or means of getting from one place to the other. The art of canoe building is therefore an essential component to the system of seafearing. In other words, to become a "pwo" navigator, one has to climb the latter. You need to learn how to build the canoe house, then you need to know how to build a canoe. Like the schools of navigation, the art of canoe building also has several schools. The last few remaining of canoe building schools are less then five in the central Caroline Islands.

PI00005536

Ready woven leaves Once the thatch roofs are done, they are place underneath the structure for easy access. This is so that when the thatching takes place, it is easy for those throwing the thatch to just pull out from underneath the structure.

PI00005533

Placing upper beams Once the posts are secure, the builders can start to place the upper beams to construct the canoe house. Lashing them can be an individual task.

PI00005531

Shaping the logs After the logs have been soaked in salt water, the master builder has to try and get each logs as straight as he could. This requires using hand tools such as the adze. This process is required as in some cases, the cross beams must connect perfectly especially if the connections are sitting on top of one of the main posts. Thus, a straight line is drawn on the curvature side of the log and then slowly carved away. The adze tools that are used today, unlike the original shell blades are now made from vehicle springs that are sharpened and lashed to a handle to allow of better precision when carving.

PI00005537

Roofing When canoe house's main structure is in place, it will then be ready for roofing. Young men will climb the structure to start tying thatches to the beams. This is an easy task for the younger people to do thus, they are given the responsibility to climb the structure and thatch it up. It is also normal practice to place the more experienced ones at the end of the structure to ensure the ends are lined up nicely.

PI00005535

Weaving thatch roofs Once the structure is in place, the community gets involved in weaving thatch roofs. Men would climb coconut trees, pick the fruits, and cut few leafs. The coconut fruits are given to the weavers.

PI00005539

Sail measure "Urusou" is what it is called when we measure the sail of the canoe. The straight post or sail frame is the male one while the curvy one is the female. The male frame is shorter by about 3 feet or equal to the top length of the canoe while the female is a bit longer. The sail of the navigators "float" the canoe must have a proportionate sail that is measured off the canoe length and height.

PI00005529

The Canoe House In the remote central caroline islands where the indigenous lifestyle of the seafearing system is still practice, it all begins at a very young age and evolves around the central facility known as the canoe house. Every navigator knows to protect his canoe when he is not voyaging. A local canoe house is an important asset and central facility of learning all about navigation. It is said that one has to first learn the stories that are told in the canoe house, then from there begins the long journey toward becoming a complete "Pwo" Navigator.

PI00005534

Collecting thatch materials Several materials can be collected for thatch roof, however, the easiest and most available is the coconut leafs. Here again, is the idea of given the simple tasks to the younger kids who are learning these skills from very young age. Here, the young kids will collect the coconut leafs and take them to the elders who will weave them as they observe. In so doing, the kids are picking up the skills and at some point will start weaving the themselves.

PI00005553

Chosen apprentices After apprentices have gone through series of training including learning names of stars and other wayfinding methods, and the Master Navigator is satisfied, he will select his new initiates.

PI00005552

Shares for all traditional schools of navigation Before any content of the bowl is shared . The Grand Master will first take out a bail for the new initiates. He will then start to take the shares of each of the schools of navigation.

PI00005551

Pay respect To show respect to the sacred bowl now containing food for all traditional schools of navigation. The initiator must first bless it all the while chanting a special chant to protect himself. The first offering of a young coconut is open.

PI00005550

"Roras" wrapping students Each student is given a specially woven cloth to tie around his waste indicating the ceremony to begin.

PI00005549

Herbal medicine for protection The Grand Master will get young coconuts tipped a prepared herbal medicine and give to each student to drink for protection.

PI00005548

Bracelet "Rou Rou" The bracelet made from young coconut palm leave to be tied on the wrist of each student to be initiated. A small herbal medicine wrapped in a piece of cloth also accompanied the palm leafs bracelet. Both items are put on with specific chants to empower the items as protection charms.

PI00005547

Covering bowl with payment tribute The bowl is covered with lava lava given as form of payment of knowledge given to each student by the teacher.

PI00005546

Bowl blessing Prior to the actual pwo ritual, the first step is for the Grand Master Navigator who will bestow the rite of passage to first bless the food bowl. He chants to his ancestors, great navigators of the past, and above all "yalulwei" the navigation deity. Often carved from breadfruit tree signifying the importance of the tree in canoe building. The Grand Master Navigator prepares himself to administer the pwo ritual to new master navigators. This pwo ceremony is conducted for master navigators under the school of Weriyeng

PI00005545

Umw, the underground oven One the new apprentice has learned all the needed skills and knowledge from the canoe house and ready to be initiated. His master will then announced for his to be "pwo". The pwo ritual community engagement begins with the preparation of the underground cooking oven known as umw. The women will go harvest the best of their sweet taro and breadfruit are harvested to be placed in the umw.

PI00005544

Pwo The word "Pwo" comes from the pounding stone for breadfruit. It is a Chuukese word that can mean both the actual pounding stone or the action of pounding "kon". Pwo is a sacred initiation ritual where student navigators become a master in Micronesia.

PI00005543

Young apprentices lashing a bigger outrigger arm that will be use on a voyaging canoe.

PI00005542

Lashing outrigger Here the young apprentices are learning to connect the outrigger piece to the main canoe structure via the outrigger arms.

PI00005541

Hasu pachu One of the primary stages of canoe building is hasu pachu or when the ending pieces of the canoe are connected not in its final form or finishing stage yet. This is important because once the ending part of the canoe is put in place, it provides the master carver the opportunity to look it the canoe from a distance and determine the height and length of the canoe. Building the side planks also requires more than one person for lashing. As was shown in the video, the Central Caroline Islands, because of lack of large logs, have to build by several pieces being lashed together. As was shown in previous video, here the young boys are lashing the planks together. It should also be noted that this is not the final stage which means the thickness of the planks are rather large but so long as they are nicely fitted, they can and will be trimmed down during finishing carving of the canoe.

PI00005540

Attaching outrigger The coconut fiber is used to lash the outrigger component of the canoe. After the outriggers are lashed on, some other components of the outrigger system are put in place by allowing more than individual to construct these important components. The outrigger arms are often measured as half the canoe size while the outrigger itself is 1/3 of the keel bottom. Much like the canoe house, lashing a canoe often takes two people to ensure it is appropriately laid and tied perfectly.