The Habele Outer Island Education Fund in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) received a 2022 Community Collections Grant (CCG) from the American Folklife Center to document traditional lavalava cloth weaving on the Ulithi Atoll. Undertaken through the Library’s Of the People: Widening the Path! Initiative, the resulting collection consists of 23 oral histories documenting the knowledge and artistry of women from the Outer Islands of Yap who weave the beautiful and highly valued lavalava cloth, which remains an essential element in maintaining cultural traditions and community relationships among contemporary Remathau (People of the Sea).

The year-long fieldwork project, conducted by Ulithan researchers Modesta Yangmog and Regina Raigetal, recorded in-depth audio interviews with 20 master lavalava weavers, photographed the weaving process and, when appropriate, the community spaces and workshops where weaving takes place. Both researchers come from the Ulithi, a string of the scenic outer islands of the FSM in the western Carolina Islands, and both are themselves respected lavalava weavers and knowledgeable about local customs and traditions. They are also fluent speakers of Ulithian - the Micronesian language spoken on Ulithi and neighboring Fais Island and thus were able to conduct their interviews in the language that best encapsulates the history and complexity of the weavers’ culture. In addition, the collection includes two interviews in Woleaian (a Lamotrekese dialect) and one in Satawaese. (English translations are included for each interview.)

On the Ulithian atoll, lavalava skirts are still regularly worn and are especially appropriate for ceremonies and special events. Lavalavas are much more than clothing: they carry with them important spiritual and social functions and play significant roles during rites of passage. This collection focuses on the public aspects of lavalava weaving and use. Some of the beliefs and practices associated with lavalavas are sacred and not intended for public knowledge and thus were not included in this study.

The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) is a nation of hundreds of small islands and atolls strung across nearly 1,800 miles of the central and western Pacific. More than half of the population resides on the four state capital islands; the remainder living across a much greater number of smaller, more scattered islands interspersed between these contemporary political and economic centers. In Yap State, the western most of the FSM states, the language and culture of the many small islands beyond the reef of Yap Proper is quite distinct from that of the Yapese. These many small islands-mostly low-lying atolls-run east from Yap toward Chuuk Lagoon in neighboring Chuuk State and are home to a people who have been called “the Outer Islanders” or “Neighboring Islanders.” These people also self-identify as Remathau or People of the Sea. The Atoll of Ulithi, situated about a hundred miles northeast of Yap has a unique coordinating position within the Outer Islands’ own cultural systems, as well as an important historical role mediating the larger relationship between the Remathau and the neighboring Yapese.