CULTURE
Palau's
social organization is highly complex and competitive. The race
for money, prestige and power, the main thrust of which used to
be for political power within a clan or village, was the focus
from which most events occurred, such as sports competitions and
wars.
Palauan
villages were, and still are, organized around 10 clans reckoned
matrilineally. A council of chiefs from the 10 ranking clans governed
the village, and a parallel council of their female counterparts
held a significant advisory role in the control and division of
land and money.
Men
and women had strictly defined roles to play in the continuity
of the village. The sea was the domain of men who braved its fury
to harvest the fish necessary to sustain the village and wage
battle. Inter-village wars were common, so men spent a lot of
time in the men's meeting houses mastering techniques of canoe
building and refining their skills with weapons. Women, on the
other hand, held sway in the home. They cultivated vegetables
and harvested shellfish and sea cucumbers from the shallow reefs.
Until
the late 1800s Palauans were tattooed, with more ornate designs
on women of high clan. Men wore their hair in tight buns and rubak,
the important chiefs, wore bracelets made from the vertebrae of
dugongs.
Even
today, despite the influence of generations of explorers, traders,
soldiers and administrators from several nations, Palauans still
maintain the cultural traditions that make it unique in the Pacific.
[Source:
Palau
National Communications Corporation]
