Canoe voyagers relive Carolinian tradition

Dressed in their native wear, Carolinians lined up the shore in Tanapag village eagerly waiting for a group of 50 individuals from the Northern Marianas and the Federated States of Micronesia who sailed for at least one month from the Yap atolls of Satawal and Polowat to Saipan.

The crowd of more than 200 people, foreigners and locals alike, braved the grinding heat of the 2:00 p.m. sun as they watched indigenous dancers frolic in the tune of traditional songs that reverberated around the Carolinian Utt in Tanapag yesterday.

Six traditional canoes carrying 50 voyagers from the CNMI and Yap started berthing off the shores of Tanapag one after the other a few minutes later.

As early as Friday last week, three canoes each from Satawal and Polowat were already berthed on Rota and Tinian respectively. One canoe had to be fixed on Rota due to a minor problem. This almost delayed the voyagers’ arrival to Saipan by one day.

Two prominent figures in the education sector — Northern Marianas College Board of Regent Chair Ramon Villagomez and Regent Vince Seman — participated in the historic canoe voyage, the first in this millennium.

The traditional canoe voyage has become a giant annual event. The voyagers’ arrival on Saipan never fails to draw huge crowd from different ethnic groups in the Northern Marianas.

Carolinians from all over Micronesia have been regularly carrying out the voyage in efforts to revitalize the ethnic group’s culture, as well as to make sure that the tradition is passed on to today’s generation.

The traditional sea journey for this year had been in the planning stage for about six months. Elders said canoe sailing had been resumed two decades ago to relive Carolinian culture.

The oldest participant in the traditional sea voyage is a 52-year-old man, while the youngest is aged 18. The group was joined by the three sons of Dr. Mau Pialug, who provided the voyagers with the map and advise that the climate this year will be best for canoe sailing.

Dr. Pialug is one of the few Carolinian pioneers who restored the Satawal-Saipan voyage route.

The voyage officially commenced at Satawal and Polowat Atolls, two small islands in the outskirts of Yap.

The sailing team stopped by the Wes Faiu Atoll, an islet where the old Carolinians used to collect food for their compatriots on Saipan.

Traditional voyages have been made in the past, especially during the last decade, with landings mostly made in Chalan Kanoa or Garapan where the Carolinian Utt is located.

In 1977, a group of Carolinians from Saipan traveled to Satawal and went back via a canoe.
The Makalii voyage, steered by Dr. Pialug, sailed through the whole of Micronesia before docking on Saipan.

There have also been traditional voyages to Saipan in the early 1900s but these were temporarily stopped when the locals were dispatched during the second World War.