Culture of Nauru
The displacement of the traditionalcultureofNauruby contemporary western influences is evident on the island. Little remains from the old customs. The traditions of arts and crafts are nearly lost.
Arts and crafts
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Theinhabitants of Nauruwear the usual tropical clothes: short trousers and light shirts. Fishing still follows a traditional method: the island anglers wait in small light boats for fish to arrive. The custom of fishing by trainedfrigatebirdshas been preserved.
Nauruan folk songs existed as of 1970,[1]whileOh Bwio Eben Bwiois a noticeable folk song.[2]
Whilst the traditional culture rapidly gives way to the contemporary, as elsewhere in Micronesia, music and dance still rank among the most popular art forms. Rhythmic singing and traditionalreigen[n 1]are performed particularly at celebrations. At least, a historical form of a Nauruan dance calledfish dancein English was record in a form of photographs.[4][5]Known contemporary dances are the frigate bird dance and the dogoropa.[6][7]
Craftsmen make articles of clothing and fans ofKokosfasernand the sheets of the screw tree and use geometrical samples, which resemble those of the Indonesian culture. Also the wood of thekokospalmeis used for the production of arts and crafts.[citation needed]
Language and education
[edit]The language of Nauru,Dorerin Naoero,is a Micronesian language. English is understood and spoken widely.
Education is compulsory from 4 to 16, in all the schools on the island. TheUniversity of the South Pacifichas a centre in Nauru located in the Aiwo District and offers pre-school teacher education, nutrition and disability studies and will offer the Community Workers Certificate. The campus offers Audio and video conferencing facilities, library and computer laboratory as well as internet and email access via USPNet are available for students. For secondary and university education, most Nauruans' children must go abroad. During its prosperous years these children were sent to Australia but now were sent to Fiji.
The official national holiday is the independence day on 31 January, butAngam Day,26 October, is considered as an additional national holiday.
TheNauruanwords of the national anthem were written byMargaret Hendrieand adopted in 1968 upon theRepublic of Nauru's independence.
Sport
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The most popular in Nauru isAustralian rules football.A 12-team senior league operates in the country, seeAustralian rules football in Nauruand it is a popular spectator sport. Nauru has competed internationally in Australian rules football at theArafura Games,Australian Football International CupandBarassi International Youth Tournament.Thenational team,the "Chiefs", ranked 8th in the International Cup in 2002 andgold medalat theArafura Games.
Nauru's national basketball teammade the headlines internationally at the1969 Pacific Gameswhen it beat theSolomon Islands,which have almost 60 times of Nauru's population, andFiji,which has almost 100 times of Nauru's population.
Nauruans also playsoccer,softball,tennis,sailing,and swimming.Golfis accessible inMenen Hotel.[8]There are only a few sport grounds in Nauru. The only stadium is inYaren,but it is obsolete and fails to meet international standards. A larger and more modern sports stadium is being built inMeneng,however lack of money has caused the project to stall. The current stadia are:
- Aida Oval
- Denig Stadium in Denigomodu
- Linkbelt OvalinAiwo
- Menen Stadium in Meneng
- National Stadium in Yaren
A traditional 'sport' is catching birds (Black Noddy) when they return from foraging at sea to the island towards sunset. The men then stand on the beach ready to throw their lasso. The Nauruanlassois supple rope with a weight at the end. When a bird comes over they throw their lasso up, it hits and or drapes itself over the bird, which then falls down and is seized and are roosted as pets.
Eakabarereis a traditional form of Nauruan wrestling.Weightliftingis also one of the more traditional sports in Nauru.
Radio
[edit]The island features in the 1941 radio playDrift.
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^Viviani, Nancy (1970).Nauru: Phosphate and Political Progress(PDF).Canberra:ANU Press.p. 158.
- ^"Songs & Rhymes From Nauru".Mama Lisa's World.
- ^Fabricius, Wilhelm (1992).Nauru: 1888-1900: An account in German and English based on official records of the Colonial Section of the German Foreign Office held by the Deutsches Zentralarchiv in Potsdam(PDF).Canberra:Australian National University.p. 271.ISBN978-0731513673.
The Nauruan dances which I have seen are not notable for their wealth of distinct figures. They are accompanied by singing and consist in tripping to and fro, swaying the body, slapping the thighs and chest and making turns.
- ^Hunting the Collectors: Pacific Collections in Australian Museums, Art Galleries and Archives.Newcastle upon Tyne:Cambridge Scholars Publishing.2014. p. 159.ISBN978-1443871006.
- ^Oates, John F. (1999-10-19).Myth and Reality in the Rain Forest: How Conservation Strategies are Failing in West Africa.Berkeley:University of California Press.p. XI.ISBN978-0520222526.
- ^The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: Australia and the Pacific Islands Vol.9.Milton Park:Taylor & Francis.2017. p. 450.ISBN978-1351544320.
At the Pacific Festival of Arts in 1985 and 1988, sixth-graders at the Nauru Primary School presented the frigate bird (iti), a Nauruan dance. The students practiced daily for two months. The boys clapped and sang while the girls danced, por-traying te birds' flight and perching.... In 1994, at the Children's Convention in Fukuoka, Japan, ten eleven-year-old boys and girls from Nauru performed thedogoropa,a dance with sticks, which men and women from Nauru had performed at the Festival of Arts in 1980.
- ^"Let's Meet the World: Nauru".Expo 2012 Yeosu Korea. 2012-08-07.
- ^Nauru Business Law Handbook Volume 1: Strategic Information and Basic Laws.International Business Publications, USA. 2013. p. 108.ISBN978-1438770598.
See also
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