Cultural Background of the Marshall Islands

Marshallese society has always been stratified, and despite increasing Westernization and the introduction of a moneyed economy, social status still comes as much from one's kinship as it does from one's own achievements. Chiefs continue to wield a great deal of authority over land ownership and usage.
Food cultivation on the islands has always been catch as catch can. Fish and seafood provide the bulk of the nonvegetable dishes, with tuna a staple of the catch. On land, breadfruit, coconut, arrowroot, yams, taro and pumpkins are the traditional mealtime mainstays. With the increasing Westernization of the Pacific, North American junk food has been increasingly dominating more traditional staples; on the rise too are the related health problems of obesity, diabetes, high blood-pressure and alcoholism.

In travels between the islands, early inhabitants learned to read the patterns of the waves and the positions of the stars, and they made stick charts to record and pass on their observations to less experienced navigators. By tying flat strips of wood together in imitation of the wave patterns and attaching cowry shells to the sticks to represent particular islands and atolls, the experienced navigator could memorize the patterns for when he was out at sea - the charts were not actually taken on the journeys. Although few modern Marshallese know how to read the charts, many still make them for their popularity as souvenirs.

Another craft once common in the Marshall Islands (but growing less so) is canoe building. The walap canoes of old could reach a length of 100ft (30m) and carry up to 40 people, with supplies for open-sea voyages that could last more than a month. The smaller and faster tipnol was used mainly for fishing inside the lagoons, while the korkor, a small outrigger sometimes fitted with a sail, was also used within the lagoons.