Pohnpei Culture Day 2003

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Here the girls do a typical traditional Pohnpeian dance where they sit and sing/chant while rhythmically clicking dokia sticks from a shrub locally called ketieu (Ixora spp.). Their dokia sticks have been died violet-red to match their mwarmwars (head leis). Traditional Pohnpeian dances feature the women sitting and the men standing. The men have war paddles, the women their dokia sticks. The mwarmwars are bougainvillea blossoms strung together, the skirts are from the inner bark of hibiscus (Hibiscus tiliaceus). The hibiscus has been died yellow, possibly with local ginger root. A couple skirts are died to match the mwarmwars. Their bodies are coated with coconut oil.

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