-_m
but which seems to be a carryover from the old religious sytam.
there was more openness in discussing old legends and hero taleq
not
seen by Marshallese
as having religious connotations,
which today are
ut which in the
context of Micronesian culture and world view, seem to reflect
religious beliefs and practices.
For example,
fhe pre-Christian
If on the sixth day after b@rial, people are
successful in hiding around the grave, they would see the soul]
coming out and flying off through the air to Mili, southeast
of the deceased
@f Majuro.
This,
then, is an example of a pre-christian belief which has accomodated itself to
their current Christian philosophy.
Nowadays, many Protesant denominations, as well as the Catholic Church, are
active in the Marshall Islands.
These include representatives
churches and also Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and others.
the mainline
In regent years, the
Seventh-day Adventist Church through its educational and healt&
become prominent in the Marshalls.
programs has
It appears that the religiqus beliefs and
practices are an expression of the general Gemeinschaft nature of
fhe Marshallese
society, that is, a reinforcement of interpersonal relationship&, more than a
means
of
salvation
of
the
individual.
Traditional
healers]
(magicians) continue to function covertly beneath the umbrella of
and
Rijoubwe
christianity.
One Marshallese informant in Majuro flashed a potentially tantalizing line of
investigation
into their
beliefs
by
mentioning
that
the
rekson
why
some
Marshallese would not destroy or allow others to destroy rats on c@conut trees is
because they feel rats are “their relatives, like others also congider sharks as
their relatives."
Is this a vestige of a totemic belief system? Ald what are the
implications of this and similar beliefs to the introduction of
Health behavior
changes through a comprehensive health care program?
The major value system seems to be woven around their traditional socia!
strucutre, their family system, and material goods and power as pefceived by them
in conquering nations, the latest of which is the United States.
Consequently,
anything "American" is superior and desirable from items of fool, to items of
dress, to disco music and dancing, etc.
In fact much of what
broadcast on
Radio Majuro is American rock, to say nothing of the proliferatign of “discos."
Their perception of what is “American" is gleaned largely from Amefican films and
from
observing
American
expatriats
such
as
volunteer
worMers,
American
missionaries, American armed services personnel and their familiés.
It appears that an American, if accepted because of his
respect for the
social structure and culture, becomes in the eyes of the Marshallese a type of
super-iroij, in other words, a highly respected leader potentially on the level