From my journal: March 6, 2010
We just had quite an eventful week with two kemems (1st birthday parties), and a spelling bee and field day that I organized for Education Week. (I’ll post more on the spelling bee later. )
The first kemem was really big, the biggest I’ve been to yet. It was for the adopted daughter of the school principal. The party was held at the school so there would be enough room for all the people, maybe a couple hundred at least; probably most of the people in Ine came. Now that the school has solar power, it’s a good place to hold such events at night. I’m happy to see the new solar being put to use because originally I was skeptical that there would be much call for it. But the school provides a good community meeting place that does not have religious affiliations.
We were served a ridiculous amount of food: fish, pig, steak, turkey, ham, hot dogs, rice, biro (preserved breadfruit), banana bobo, potato salad, donuts, and something new and tasty that I’d never had before (and that I’m still not entirely sure what it was). It’s called something like “hearis” and Mama said it was something collected from the oceanside when the tide is low that is not an animal and is scraped up from a hole. I have no idea, maybe coral? I know they eat coral in some form. But whatever they collect, they smash and grind then put in a small baggie and boil, the same way they serve biro. Whatever it was, it was tasty. Along with our food, we had cold Kool-aid with ice!
At this kemem I got a really nice jaki, a woven mat. It’s really big and I have yet to figure out how I’m going to get it home along with all my other stuff, but it’s beautiful and really well made so I’m sure I’ll find a way. It is a tradition at birthdays that anything belonging to the birthday person can be taken by the guests. The hosts plan for this and set things out to be taken. At this party, they set out a jaki and a blow-up kiddie pool and a bunch of candy. All the kids went for the candy and pool, while Elise and I went for the jaki. My mama plowed through all the kids and sat in the pool and wouldn’t budge until all the kids let go. So now we have a kiddie pool inside our house. I let Elise have the jaki because she really wanted it. But the family had made extra to give to the pastor, so they gave me one which I thought was so generous and unexpected.
A kemem has less to do with the birthday of the child and more to do with how much the family has to give to the community. The better off the family, the more elaborate the party, the more food, and the more things that are given away. The night before the kemem, people go to the house to sing and give small things to the family like dollars, soap, or mosquito coils. The second kemem was smaller and I only went the night before because my stomach wasn’t feeling so hot, probably from something I ate at the first party.
