Traditional canoe to be built at arts fest

This year’s Flame Tree Arts Festival on April 24-27, 2008, will feature the construction of a traditional Carolinian canoe—a sacred event opened to the public only in recent years—in keeping with this year’s theme, “Fatta I Irenciata, Abwáári Yaasch Schówammwir, Showcase our Inheritance.”

Henry John Yarofalpiy, the son of master navigator Pius Mau Piailug of Yap State, will demonstrate the construction of a meta’bwil, or trolling canoe, using techniques passed from father to son through generations.

“As I am growing older myself, I have realized that keeping knowledge in oneself’s clan and family or culture is the factor that allows for our culture to fade into adapting many Western ways,” said Yarofalpiy. “It is now my desire to give the community, children and anyone interested a chance to learn, witness and gain knowledge in the building of a traditional canoe.”

The Flame Tree Arts Festival venue will be the highlight of what is anticipated to be a six-month project which will include the weaving of ropes from coconut husks fibers, selecting and harvesting of a breadfruit tree for the hull and other parts of the canoe, and actual carving and assembly.

“During my childhood, my father paved the way for my brothers and me to learn the survival importance and value of the canoe,” said Yarofalpiy. “In the many years of being educated by our father, thru chants and storytelling, I have grown to pay great tribute, respect and honor of the canoe as part of our daily survival.”

The Flame Tree Arts Festival is Micronesia’s largest annual arts and culture celebration. This year’s festival will be held at Civic Center on Saipan on April 24 and April 25 from 6-10 p.m., April 26 from 9 a.m.-10 p.m., and April 27 from 9 a.m.-11 p.m.

“We are honored to have Mr. Yarofalpiy share his traditional knowledge of canoe building at this year’s festival, and we invite both residents and visitors to come and experience this part of traditional navigation for which Micronesia is world-renowned,” said Commonwealth Council for Arts and Cultural Executive Director Cecilia Taitano-Celes.

To read more of Yarofalpiy’s story, register for a booth, or learn more about the 2008 Flame Tree Arts Festival, contact the Commonwealth Council for Arts and Culture at 670-322-9982/3 or visit the official Flame Tree Arts Festival site at http://flametreeartsfestival.googlepages.com. [B][I](PR)[/I][/B]