Kagoshima University Research Center for the Pacific Islands, Occasional Papers No.34, 1-13, 2001
Part 1, Section 1, Report 1. The Progress Report of the 1999 Survey of the Research Project“Social Homeostasis of Small Islands in an Island-zone”

1

YAP DAY: CULTURAL POLITICS IN THE STATE OF YAPToru AOYAMA

Abstract
This paper focuses on Yap Day, a legal holiday of the State of Yap in the Federated States ofMicronesia, and examines its background, history and current state. By discussing the activities related
to the Yap Day celebration, particularly Yapese dances, in the context of the cultural politics in Yap
State, the paper also attempts to identify issues underlying Yap Day, including the ethnic division between Yapese and Outer Islanders, the commercialization of the celebration, and the impact of tourism
on Yap Day.
Keywords: cultural politics, dance, Micronesia, Yap Day

Background
The State of Yap is one of the four states comprising the Federated State of Micronesia(FSM), located in the Caroline Islands. The territory of the State stretches east and west over
1,300 km but its total land area amounts only to 119 square km. The Yap Islands, or Yap Properas they are customarily called, are a major island group of 101 square km, whereas the 140-odd
remaining small islands and atolls, lumped together as the Outer Islands, amount to mere 18
square km. Ulithi, Woleai, and Satawal are the major island groups in the Outer Islands. The
State capital Colonia is located in Yap Proper and has an international airport and harbor facilities in its vicinity, thus making Yap Proper the administrative and commercial center of theState. Administratively, Yap Proper consists of ten municipalities, which generally correspondto the domains of influence of traditional chiefs called Pilung.
There are four indigenous language groups in Yap State: Yapese, Ulithian, Woleian, andSatawalese (G RIMES 1996). The distribution of the languages generally corresponds to the ethnodemography of the four major island groups. Although all Yap languages belong to the MalayoPolynesian family, Yapese and the other three languages, which are close to the language ofChuuk to the east and mutually intelligible, are completely different. Therefore, communication
between Yapese speakers and people from the Outer Islands can be achieved only through theuse of the language of the former administrator, English. Yap State recognizes both indigenous
languages and English as official languages. It is apparent from this linguistic diversity that Yap
State consists of multiple ethnic groups. And this diversity, the gap between Yap Proper and theOuter Islands in particular, has a significant consequence in the State's cultural politics.
According to the 1994 census (Office of Planning and Budget 1996), the population of Yap
State in 1994 was 11,178 persons, of whom 6,919 (61.9%) reside in Yap Proper and 4,259(38.1%) in the Outer Islands. Of the total population, 5,379 (48.1%) are ethnic Yapese, whereas
4,705 (42.1%) are ethnic Outer Islanders. More importantly, in addition to almost all of the ethnic Yapese, 11.9% of the entire population of ethnic Outer Islanders (561 people) reside in Yap
Proper. They usually come to stay in Yap Proper in order to obtain employment, higher

2Toru AOYAMA

education, or medical treatment, which are not readily available in the Outer Islands. A trip between Yap Proper and the Outer Islands is far from convenient. Although a small passenger
plane flies between Yap Proper and the major island groups of the Outer Islands, the most of thepeople prefer a cheaper field-trip ship which runs from Yap Proper to all the populated Outer
Islands about ten times a year, each trip taking about two weeks.
Traditionally Outer Islanders have been subordinate to Yapese since the times prior to thecontact with Europeans (LESSA 1950; S HERWOOD 1975: 147-155). In the relationship calledsawai, the people living in the Outer Islands were obliged to engage in a regular tributary tradewith Yap Proper. The sawai system was very hierarchical, with two villages in Yap Proper,
Gachpar and Wanyan both in Gagil municipality, standing at the summit, Ulithi in the middle
and the other Outer Islands below. The relationships were often expressed in pseudo-familial
terms. The Outer Islander “sons” were expected to offer local produces, show filial respect andfulfil obligations to their Yapese “fathers.” The “fathers” were in return obliged to provide protection and care for the “sons” in the form of food and other goods and shelter during the stayof the “sons” in Yap Proper.
Although since the early twentieth century the sawai system has ceased to exist, the fatherson relationship between Yapese and Outer Islanders survived and persists until today. Not only
are Outer Islanders prohibited from obtaining land in Yap Proper, they are also forbidden to perform their dances there, and men may not wear a colored loincloth (only a white one is allowed).

Yap Day
Yap Day is a legal holiday of the Yap State, set down for March 1 “in recognition of the
traditions of the peoples of the State.” in the Yap State Legal Holidays Act (Yap State Code section 802). The Yap State recognizes, in addition to two national holidays, four State holidays, but
Yap Day is the only holiday that is pertinent to the traditions of Yap State. The Yap State Legal
Holidays Act (amended most recently in 1996) defines the State holidays and their specific nature. Among the four State holidays, Yap Day stands first on the list and its provisions are mostextensive, indicating the importance attached to this day in the State’s politics. It must be notedthat although March 1 is designated as Yap Day, activities for the celebration of Yap Day may
be held on a different day or days other than March 1.
More importantly, the Act prescribes the establishment of a committee on Yap Day to supervise and coordinate activities. This committee of five is composed of two members of theCouncil of Pilung, one representative of the Yap Women’s Association, and two members appointed by the Governor, although in actuality the committee meetings do include people otherthan the five members to execute the task.
According to the Act, the committee must:(1) promote and encourage activities which recognize and represent the traditions of thepeople of the State,(2) supervise activities conducted on and on behalf of Yap Day,(3) provide awards for superlative performance in activities and accomplishments recognizing and representing the traditions of the people of the State, and(4) provide awards for production in the areas of agriculture, marine resources andhandicrafts.
Furthermore the committee is authorized by the act “to raise and receive funds from any source
necessary to carry out its responsibilities”.

Yap Day: Cultural Politics in the State of Yap

3

Thus, briefly, the objectives of the committee defined by the Act are threefold. They are toorganize activities pertinent to the traditions for Yap Day, to promote better skills in the fields
of agriculture, marine resources and handicrafts, and to raise funds to carry out the first two objectives. The responsibility as well as power given to the committee in local politics is immense.

The Origin and Development of Yap Day
The origin and development of Yap Day are not well-documented but their outline can betraced. According to a former member of the Yap Lands Congress (1959-68, later Yap District
Legislature, predecessor of the present Yap State Legislature), the precursor of Yap Day (thename may have been different) as a holiday was first created by the Yap Islands Congress, on
the initiative of the American administration, to preserve Yapese customs, tradition and culture,and the date March 1 was chosen because this coincides with the driest and most pleasant seasonof the year. This person clearly remembers the atmosphere of the first celebration of the day.
Festivities were held for two days at the Community Center in Colonia. People came in their traditional costumes and some Americans joined in as well. The activities included foot races,
swimming, and canoe racing. It was a rare instance when people from all the villages in Yap
Proper gathered at one place irrespective of their traditional affiliation. Yap Day presented thefirst real opportunity for the people of Yap Proper to reassess their identity and start thinking
about themselves not in terms of a village but of the larger entity which was to become the Yap
State.
When Yap District Legislature was established in 1968, it officially codified Yap District
Day (Yap District Code section 7201), so that it became legally the immediate precursor of Yap
Day in the present Yap State Code. The section reads: “March 1 is established as Yap District
Day upon which day there shall be special attention paid to the traditions of the Yap Districts.”
There was as yet no specification of the activities of the day or mention of the committee.
In March 1979 the Governor of Yap District approved an amendment made by the YapDistrict Legislature to Section 7201 which changed the name of the holiday to Yap Day, fully
anticipating that Yap District would soon become Yap State when the Federated States ofMicronesia constitution became effective on May 10 of the same year (Yap District Law 6-5 section 1). It was on this account that Yap Day in 2000 was celebrated as the day’s twenty second
anniversary. The amendment also for the first time created a committee of six people on Yap
Day and specified activities on the day. The committee then would supervise activities for Yap
Day and also provide awards for superlative performance and production in the areas of agriculture, marine resources and handicrafts.
Compared with the present holiday act, there are two differences in the 1979 amendment.
First, only the areas of agriculture, marine resources and handicrafts were chosen as the subjectof award. The emphasis was clearly put not on cultural but on productive activities in a traditional field. Second, the amendment stipulated that the Yap State government should exclusively
fund expenses related to Yap Day by appropriating general funds of the State Legislature to provide for the committee’s activities.
In 1986 the Yap State Legislature finally repealed the Section 7201 and established the present Section 802 with a minor amendment, reducing the number of the committee to five (Yap
State Law 1-223). An amendment made in 1989 was more significant in that the committee wasfor the first time authorized to raise and receive funds by itself in addition to the funds from theState Legislature (Yap State Law 2-62). This change in turn was changed in the following

4Toru AOYAMA

amendment (Yap State Law 3-7), in which the fund from the Yap State government was abolished. Thus from then until now the committee has had to raise all the necessary funds by itself.
The same amendment also stipulates that the committee should “promote and encourage activities which recognize and represent the traditions of the State” besides production in the areas ofagriculture, marine resources and handicrafts. This amendment no doubt had the coming termination of the Compact in mind and attempted to prepare the committee for financially independent Yap Day activities. It also paved the way, unwittingly or not, to the possibility of combining
Yap Day with tourism, by broadening the scope of the Day’s activities. 1)

Yap Day Celebrations in 1990 and 1999
In spite of these amendments the Yap Day celebration itself had been a relatively unpretentious event for many years. For the first years it was held at Colonia and remained a one day
celebration with some sports activities and dances. Later its site was moved to Abay, a large
open field of the former US Coast Guard Loran station site, which fell into disuse and was converted into the Micronesian Maritime and Fisheries Academy in 1990, to accommodate an increasingly larger audience.
According to the Yap State Bulletin dated 23 Feb 1990, the program of the Yap Day Fairin 1990, as it was called in the bulletin, included the “hundred dash” and bicycling, games of juggling and tug of war, skill contests such as coconut husking and basket weaving, award announcements and five dances. The whole program was held at Abay and completed in one day,March 2, starting at 9:30 am and ending at 7:00 pm. Although bicycling seems to be outside of
the traditional context, the contents of the other games and skill contests were all closely related
to tradition. Thus the basic structure of the program clearly reflected what Yap State Law stipulates. Moreover the importance attached to the dances is apparent from the time allocated tothem, five hours in total in the nine and half hour program.
The article tells the reader that the Yap Day celebration is an occasion in which the peopleof Yap can give their traditions recognition, which they have failed to do in the past. It also suggests that Yapese cultural and traditional values are precious and must be preserved for future
generations. Here the emphasis is laid on the function of Yap Day as a means of preservation of
traditions. Precious traditions had been neglected, and Yap Day is an occasion to revive them.
It must be noted, however, that Outer Islanders were represented neither in opening speeches nor
in dances. This was also the case in 1999. The “Yapese” culture still does not fully include thecultures of Outer Islanders.
The Yap Day celebration in 1999 was the first time when the celebration became a threeday event with more dances and canoe sailing on the final day. Reportedly, the commencing
date, Sunday February 28, was chosen so that school children could participate in the celebration
activities. It is true that the Yap Day committee has been making an effort to infuse traditional
culture in the younger generation through their participation in the Yap Day celebration.
Tourism, however, is another factor to be considered, for at least in the last two years, the commencement of the Yap Day celebration coincided with one of the two days, Sunday andWednesday, on which the direct flight from Guam arrives at Yap.
The celebration program consisted of six parts: opening ceremony, award presentation, ch
ildren’s cultural games, traditional dances, canoe sailing and booth-based activities. All except
for canoe sailing at the Colonia Harbor took place in Abay, where a makeshift pavilion for guests
was erected facing the dance arena along with other pavilions for spectators and dancers, and twoYap Day: Cultural Politics in the State of Yap

5lines of booths for exhibition and selling goods extended from both sides of the pavilion complex
in a broad semicircular shape. The opening ceremony held in the pavilion started with the invocation by a Catholic priest and ended with the benediction by a Protestant minister, ensuring theChristian blessing necessary for an official activity in this predominantly Christian society. In between, speeches were made by members of the Council of Pilung, the Speaker of the State
Legislature and the Governor. The speeches were made entirely in Yapese except for one brief,
preliminary announcement in English which explained to the audience that no English would be
used in the rest of the day because the celebration was meant not for tourists but for Yapese. The
decision not to use English in favor of an indigenous language may be justifiable, even thoughcertainly does not help tourists understand the details of the celebration. But the use of Yapese
also excluded from the celebration the Outer Islanders who did come to see it.
Among all the items in the program, apparently the most keenly anticipated one by both
local and overseas audiences was traditional dances. According to the official program (and there
were in fact several last minute changes), the year 1999 celebration included the following
dances:Opening dance: 1 teamBoys’ standing dance: 1 teamGirls’ sitting dance: 4 teams
Boys’ and girls’ mixed standing dance: 1 teamBoys’ and girls’ mixed bamboo stick dance: 1 team
Women’s sitting dance: 1 team
Women’s stick dance: 3 teams
Men’s sitting dance: 2 teams
Men’s standing dance: 1 teamChildren’s cultural games are in fact games designed to develop children’s skills useful for traditional living. They include:
Target shooting by school boys
Basket weaving by school girls
Tug of war by school boys
Ball weaving by school girls
Ball ducking by school boys
Children’s games
Juggling by school girls
As mentioned above, booths were set up around the dance arena in Abay. Some of them attachedto the pavilion were organized by the Yap Day committee as part of Yap Day activities, such as
an agricultural exhibition and a handicraft display including a large selection of items sent fromthe Outer Islands, making this the sole representation of the Outer Islands in the Yap Day celebration. Other booths were, apart from those representing international organizations such as
Peace Corps and Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers, mostly commercial ones selling foods,
soft drinks and toys. These commercial booths, though trifling in scale, are often criticized by
Yapese as commercializing Yap Day. They are regarded as a nuisance and barely tolerated only
as far as they do not obscure the real purpose of the celebration. Whether tourists may find them

6

Toru AOYAMA

convenient or even attractive is beside the point. The fact that many Yapese are still apprehensive about the booths business at the dance arena may be explained by the traditional functionof Yapese dance, which will be discussed later.
On the final day of the celebration, canoe sailing was conducted at the Colonia harbor.
Regrettably, canoe sailing does not have a significant position any more as it did in early Yap
Day celebrations, which could boast the attendance of six or more canoes. In contrast, in 1999
there was only one canoe that took part in the sailing session, because, particularly in Yap
Proper, skilled navigators and canoe builders have become aged and their knowledge has notbeen transferred well to the younger generation. In the Micronesia-wide movement for reviving
traditions, Yapese long-distance canoe sailing is widely publicized. But this is mostly undertaken
by Outer Islanders.2)

Yap Day 2000
Compared to the Yap Day celebration in 1999, the celebration in 2000 on the surface madelittle change in the format of the program, but there are a few differences worth noting. The firstwas the attendance of distinguished guests representing foreign governments and corporate bodies, probably because the beginning of the new millennium was regarded as special. According
to the press announcement (“Yap Day Activity Ends” 2000), the opening ceremony was to be attended not only by the usual State government officials but also by the President of the national
government, ambassadors from the United States and Australia, and a representative of theJapanese government, together with people from the business sector including the Presidents ofContinental Micronesia and Mobil Oil Micronesia. The celebration also received coverage by thefilm team from a reputed travel guidebook publisher based in Australia. Although the scheduledattendance of the three diplomatic guests as well as the Governor of the State failed to happen,
their intended presence made this Yap Day celebration something beyond an event of concern
and attraction for the people of Yap State. It had become an international icon of Yapese culture.
The absence of the Governor also resulted in an unintended consequence. The Lieutenant
Governor had to stand in for the Governor and made an opening speech (“Yap Day 2000 Cele
brated” 2000). The irony is that, as an Outer Islander himself, he found himself in a position to
speak not in Yapese, which was the only language used in the 1999 Yap Day celebration, but inEnglish, and thus he initiated a celebration in which none of his fellow Outer Islanders were represented.
The year 2000 celebration also broke away from the past convention of choosing a venue
that does not belong to a specific village, such as Colonia or Abay. It was held at the village ofTamor in the municipality of Tomil. The idea of rotating the site of the Yap Day celebration
among the municipalities, thus making the celebration closer to the people, has been around forsome time. But because of the difficulty in accommodating a large audience, it was realized only
once in the past, also in Tomil, which has a relatively large open space at the municipality center.
Apparently, however, the chiefs in Tomil were well prepared for this grand occasion. The construction of the community house and the new municipality office building were only completed
in 1999, for the former community buildings were destroyed by a typhoon in 1996 and again,
after reconstruction, by a fire (Yap Networker 15 Oct 1999). By hosting a prestigious celebration
the chiefs of Tomil no doubt found an occasion to demonstrate their wealth of traditional culture.
The spectators, however, were divided between those who thought the new venue enhanced theauthentic atmosphere of the performance and those who thought the buildings hampered them inYap Day: Cultural Politics in the State of Yap

7watching the performances (Yap Networker 10 March 2000).
The celebration started on Wednesday, May 1 and continued for three days, reportedly attracting about 600 people a day. Again it seems that the first day was chosen because it is oneof the two days on which the direct flight from Guam arrives at Yap. The format of the program
was almost unchanged from the previous one, consisting of six parts. The highlight of the program was again dances. Apart from the tayor dance performed by Yap Women’s Association,
which was considered to be part of the opening ceremony, eight dances were performed from thefirst day to the morning of the third day (Yap Networker 17 March 2000). Two women’s sitting
dances from Tomil and one men’s dance from Rumung tell the story of Angumang, the legendary sailor who first used stars for navigation. A women’s sitting dance from Maap told the storyof the first arrival of an airplane on Yap. Two women’s dances from Fanif and a dance by thestudents of St. Mary School concerned Christian themes. A women’s sitting dance from Rull was
accompanied by chants in the language of an outer island, thus being unintelligible to a Yapese
audience.
In the afternoon of the third day, canoe sailing was demonstrated at Colonia Harbor, providing tourists with an opportunity to experience a canoe ride. Unlike the previous year, when only
one canoe operated by Yapese sailed, one more canoe operated by Outer Islanders joined in thedemonstration on Yap Day 2000, resulting in some accomplished canoe sailing. This clearlyshows how Outer Islanders can contribute to the Yap Day celebration and make it a celebrationof the people of Yap State in its full sense.
Finally, in the evening of March 4, the Yap Visitor’s Bureau hosted a farewell barbecue
party, which was originally planned as a Yap Visitor’s Bureau Social Event in the evening of thefirst day (Yap Networker 17 March 2000). Apparently, the date was changed impromptu to accommodate the need of those diplomatic guests who could not make it on the first day. The
party, with a contribution from local tourist operators, included a barbecue, a mini-bar, and traditional dances form three municipalities. The dance from Rumung was gaslaw, and the dancesfrom Dalipebinaw and Weloy were both stick dances by both men and women. Gaslaw, a typeof men’s standing dance with humorously sexual gestures, is a rare performance on Yap Day,and indeed was not shown in the main program at Tomil.

Yapese Dance
Dance is without doubt the most elaborate art form in Yap and the most appreciated in Yap
Day celebration, both by local and overseas audiences. Dances performed during the celebration,and discussed in this paper, are mostly the kind of traditional dance called churu’ by Yapese,
which are more formal and ritualistic than others (TUN 1996). Yapese dance is a group dance accompanied not by musical instruments (except for the sound from sticks and hand claps) but achant, which is, in general, a form of story-telling about historical events or the legendary pastof the community. The gesture and bodily movement of the dancers visually represents the story.
According to the basic form, dances can be classified into three types: standing dance, sitting dance and bamboo stick dance (often simply called bamboo dance or stick dance). Any ofthese forms of dance can be performed either by a group of women or men, although recently
a bamboo stick dance has been performed by a mix of both sexes as well. Typically a group ofdancers is arranged in a row or two stretched in front of the audience. A dance starts with a deep
shout by the leading singer, which is shortly responded to by the chorus of all the dancers, whostart the first movement of the dance. A dance typically lasts a half hour to one hour.

8Toru AOYAMAAs the chant is the integral part of the dance, it can be said that in most of the cases a dance
represents a “history” of the community. However, not all the chants tell a history of the village
which performs the dance. This is because for Yapese a dance is like any other property that canbe bought and transferred from one village to another in exchange for stone money and other traditional valuables. Dances have been exchanged not only among the villages in Yap Proper but
also between the Outer Islands and Yap Proper as a result of the sawai trade in the past. In thesecases, the language of the chant is unintelligible to Yapese, and, because of the corruption of thewords, also to the Outer Islanders (TUN 1996). Nevertheless the dances of Outer Islands origin
are highly regarded just like those of Yap Proper origin.
The ritualistic character of a dance lies in its connection with an exchange ceremony called
guyuwol, in which not cash but traditional valuables are involved (LINGENFELTER 1975). As thisinvolves a host village and one or more invited villages, guyuwol can be rightly called an intervillage ceremony, in which the invited villages bring in dances and the host village provides
stone money. Traditionally a guyuwol was held for such occasions as the installation of a newchief in a village, the opening ceremony of a new public building, or the funeral or commemoration of a dead chief. It gave an opportunity for making a show of generosity and wealth by thechief of the host village and for reestablishing inter- and intra-village relationships with thechiefs at the center. Furthermore, this close association of dance with an inter-village exchange
ritual may explain why Yapese even now consider it necessary for a dance to be performed in
the setting of at least a semblance of ritual exchange and are apprehensive of a slightest suggestion of commercializing it.
Although a grand scale guyuwol in the past, which could last for more than a month, became extinct, small scale guyuwol are common, even in vogue. Nowadays, public but not necessarily traditional events provide an occasion for guyuwol. Before independence, United Nations
Day (October 24) was the most important of such events. After independence, Yap Day replacedit. High School graduations, completion of a public building, and reception parties for visiting
dignitaries are also occasions for guyuwol.
Dance performance is a community-based activity in that the repertoire of dance is ownedby the village and the villagers decide which dance is to be performed for what occasion. Whenthey dance, as in a theatrical production involving a whole company, every person in the village
must participate in the production to a certain extent. In fact, villagers, in particular women, arebound by tradition to join in dances and other village activities. If a woman does not participate
in the dance practice, she may well suffer a penalty, which includes repairing the stone paths,
cleaning the community house area, and paying local valuables (Yap Networker 6 August 1999).
Finally, it must be noted that a dance is not complete without dancers in traditional attire.
Traditionally Yapese women wear grass skirts and men loin cloths. However, the attire for adance is a special one and dancers make a considerable effort to decorate themselves elaborately
with the help of their family and community members.
Yapese dancers in this extremely elaborate traditional attire are looked upon even by otherMicronesians with awe and perhaps a little envy. A visitor from Palau was quoted by the Yap
Networker (3 March 2000) as saying that “Yap is the most traditional island in the whole Mic
ronesia” and that he wanted to see the traditional costumes and dances because he does not see
much of those in Palau. Another Palauan appreciates the fact that Yapese maintain their cultural
practices because his people are “on the verge of losing [their] traditional practices". Thus, Yap
Day serves as a showcase of Yapese preservation of the Micronesian tradition when tradition isYap Day: Cultural Politics in the State of Yap

9regarded as diminishing rapidly in other parts of Micronesia. For most spectators this is most
keenly felt in noticing the fact that in traditional attire women do not cover their breasts.

Financing Yap Day
As discussed earlier, since 1996 the Yap Day committee has been obliged to finance its own
activities to organize the Yap Day celebration. Apparently this is not an easy task. According toan informant, the committee spent about US$ 15,000 for the year 2000 Yap Day celebration. To
secure the amount of money needed, they eventually had to resort to financial support from theYap State legislature, which has legally no obligation to give it, to the amount of US$ 7,000. A
further US$8,000 was made by donation from large corporate sponsors, including FSM
Development Bank, Mobil Oil Micronesia, Mid-Pacific, Moylans Insurance FSM, Black Micro,
Merrill Lynch, Micronesian Petro Co., and Safe Way Market, and by a raffle and donations fromsmaller corporate sponsors and individuals.
A raffle is one of the committee’s main two revenue sources besides donations,. According
to an advertisement placed by the Yap Day Committee in the local newspaper (Yap Networker
25 February 2000), one ticket costs US$5, whereas the grand prize is a round trip for two between Yap and Guam with four day accommodation at a five-star hotel in Agana, Guam (probably worth over US$3,000). The first prize is US$1,000, the second prize US$700, and the thirdprize US$250. The prize money would cost the committee in total US$1,950, assuming the grandprize was donated by a sponsor. Thus at least 390 tickets must be sold just to break even. It appears to be unrealistic to expect the raffle to significantly contribute to the committee’s revenue.
On the other hand, there are two main expenses in the Yap Day activities. The first is theprize money for the award presentation in the fields of agriculture and handicraft (Yap Networker
22 October 1999). Nine categories were set for the agricultural awards in 2000: home gardens,
container gardens, savanna restoration, timber trees, betel nut trees, pigs, mixed gardens, sweet
potatoes, and bananas. The first to third prize winners received US$20 to 200 according to thecategory and the total amount of the prize money was US$1,750. For the handicrafts award, although the details of the prize money were unknown, three men from Yap Proper and anotherthree men from the Outer Islands won the prizes, which makes this exceptional in Yap Day activities. Since the award presentation for the Yap Day 1999 celebration had been postponed andwas incorporated in the Yap Day 2000 celebration (“Yap Day Activity Ends” 2000), the total
amount of the prize money for the two years may have reached US$5,000.
The other main source of expense is the payment for the dance teams. The committee is responsible for programming the Yap Day celebration including dance performances. However, although the dances to be performed are suggested by the committee, as a dance is performed on
the basis of a village, the Council of Pilung exercises the authority regarding which dance is tobe performed by which village. More importantly, the Council of Pilung also sets the fee for adance and periodically increases it. According to an officer at the Historic Preservation Office,the fees in 1999 were US$500 for a marching dance, US$600 for a men’s or women’s sitting
dance, and US$650-700 for a men’s standing dance. If we apply these figures to the Yap Day
celebration in 2000 in which at least eight dances were performed, the total expenses paid for thedance fee may have amounted to about US$5,000. Then it can be estimated that the committee
must have spent as much as US$10,000 for the dance performance and award presentation alone.
The payment for the dance performance is not only a problem of finance. It is also a culturalproblem because a dance for money is a deviation from the traditional notion that a dance10Toru AOYAMA

performance is a community-based activity carried out in the context of an inter-village ritual exchange. The point was driven home in a letter published in the Yap Networkers (3 December1999) concerning the FSM President’s visit to Yap State in 1999. The writer contrasted the ways
people in Yap Proper and in the Outer Islands organized themselves to welcome the President.
That of Yap Proper was called “We will show hospitality at a price,” in which the cost of dance
performances, meal and gifts was charged on the Yap State government. That of the Outer
Islanders was called “Giving with a thankful heart,” in which the food, dances and gifts were all
prepared at the people’s own cost. The writer lamented the loss of traditional hospitality among
the Yapese, who are known to others as a people who adhere to their own customs and tradition.
There is no denying that an outright show of a formal dance for money is still not the norm evenin Yap Proper. But the letter aptly demonstrated that accepting money for a dance in one way
or another has been firmly established among Yapese.
It is clear that the Yap Day celebration is at a turning point in that it cannot be accomplishedby community spirit alone. The Yap Day celebration in 2000 could not have been held successfully without the funds from the State legislature. But the support from the government cannot
be expected in the future because the government’s own revenue will be drastically reduced
when the Compact is terminated. Thus, there is little doubt that we may see stronger connection
between Yap Day and tourism and more corporate sponsors from tourism industry in future Yap
Day activities.

Tourism
3)

Until recently tourism was a long unexplored industry in the Yap State. In fact, Yap State
had always been cautious about the influx of visitors. It was as recently as 1986 that Yap Proper
was ready to receive in earnest a constant flow of tourists (“The Limtiaco Company” 2000).
Since then, the number of tourists marked a record high of 4,404 (among 14,564 visitors) in 1995
(Department of Economic Affairs 2000). Although it is still minuscule compared with the number of tourists visiting other popular resort islands in Micronesia such as Guam (1,362,600 in
1996) (Economic Research Center 1997), this is a significant increase from the numbers of all
visitors (at 1,475) in 1985 (Asian Development Bank 1997). Citizens of the United States (48.2%
in 1995) and Japanese (27.4%) represent the two major groups in the tourist inflow to Yap State(Department of Economic Affairs 2000). Since 1995, however, the number has sharply declined
to 3,396 in 1997 and 2,411 in 1998, among 7,353 and 6,127 visitors respectively (Departmentof Economic Affairs 2000). The decline was attributed to the reduced number of flights connecting Yap and Guam and a prolonged recession in Japan (Yap Networker 2 January 1999).
With a limited resource base and the impending termination of the Compact grant, it appears that the Yap State government cannot afford to let this budding industry dwindle. In 1998
the government established the Yap Visitor’s Bureau to promote Yap as a tourist destination
through brochures and a tourist promotion campaign. Formerly tourism promotion had not beenhandled independently but under the jurisdiction of the Division of Commerce and Industries. It
is because of this increasing need to attract more tourists that Yap Day and Yapese dances havebecome officially recognized and systematically promoted as tourist features.
The Bureau has been actively engaged in tourism promotion through publishing brochures
and organizing tourist campaigns, in which Yap Day and Yapese dance are well represented. A
glossy travel guidebook “A Visitors Handbook to the Islands of Yap State” is an excellent example (Yap Visitor’s Bureau 2000). One of the Bureau’s latest efforts is the creation of theYap Day: Cultural Politics in the State of Yap

11handsomely designed Website, “Welcome to Yap.” (http://www.visityap.com/). In this site, Yap
Day is featured in a dedicated Webpage, where the potential tourist is enticed to visit the “Mysterious Isle of Stone Money” to witness an “authentic expression of the rich culture of Yap” in
Yap Day celebrations.
As Yap Day becomes increasingly intertwined with the agenda of cultural tourism, it seems
inevitable that the Yap day celebration will come under pressure to change, mainly on two
grounds. The first is practical one. If the Yap Day celebration is to see more tourists at the site,
the Yap Day committee will be required to provide tourists with more services and facilities onsite, including detailed information in English on program items. The presence of commercial
booths also need to be recognized, preferably in a regulated manner, as a legitimate provider ofneeds of tourists.
The second ground is more important and fundamental, concerning the reconsideration of
the orientation of Yap Day itself. Outer Islanders have been excluded from the celebration foryears. However, if Yap Day ever should play a central role of cultural tourism in Yap State, thecelebration need to be the true representation of the cultures (plural) of the peoples (plural) of
Yap State in the eyes of others from outside and the anomaly of the exclusion of Outer Islanders
needs to be redressed. Outer Islanders’ participation in dancing and canoeing, in which they
excel, would be a welcome change in the program of the Yap Day celebration, even though there
still remains a logistic problem of bringing teams of Outer Islanders to Yap Proper and accommodate them.

Conclusion
Yap Day was and is not merely an innocuous merrymaking. It was started by the American
administration as a symbolic holiday with only residents of Yap Proper in mind in order to integrate people living in a village-based society into a larger social and political entity. Although
it was successful in achieving the original objective, the limitation of Yap Day in not incorporating the residents of the Outer Islands was not resolved even after the independence of Yap State.
In the meantime, the introduction of cash economy since the TTPI era has radically affected Yap
society. The idea of dance as a community-based activity still persists but in reality dance is increasingly “sold for money.” Even more important is the fact that Yap Day cannot be successfully carried out any more without a large amount of cash coming from the corporate sector.
Then since the late 1990s the ever increasing influx of foreign tourists is beginning to affect cultural politics in general and Yap Day in particular. The consequences of this whole process stillneed to be noted but it will not take long.
We have identified three focal points of tension around Yap Day, which can be summarized
as follows. First, despite its status as a State legal holiday, the Outer Islanders are not allowed
to perform dances due to their traditionally lower status. Second, it is difficult to maintain thepretence of the celebration being a result of voluntary communal work in the light of the huge
expense involved in the celebration activities. Finally, the ever-increasing presence of foreign
tourists puts pressure on the way the celebration is organized. The eyes of others from the outside would eventually make the cultural identity of Yap itself undergo the process ofreconfiguraion.
If Yap Day is to become a real “centripetal force” for the peoples of Yap State, it appears
that change in inter-island relationships and attitudes toward the outside world is unavoidable.
This must include the participation of dancers from the Outer Islands, thus making Yap Day truly

12Toru AOYAMAa celebration of the cultures of Yap State, and also the introduction of managed commercialization of Yap Day in exchange for better services for tourists.

Notes
1)

2)

3)

The latest amendment to Section 802 was made in 1996 (Yap State Law 4-31). Apart from
specifying the term of membership of the Yap Day committee, it made it possible for thecommittee to organize the Yap Day celebration on a day or days other than March 1 at one
or more locations in the State.
For instance, the celebrated sail of the traditional Yapese canoe Mathawmwal from Yap
Proper to Palau in 1994 was navigated by the expert navigator Mau Piailug and his crewfrom Satawal (Yap State Bulletin 13 May 1994).
For a recent survey on the tourism development in Yap Proper, see K UWAHARA (2001).

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