CHUUK HANDICRAFTS

Local carvers are famous for using beautiful local woods to carve warrior masks and busts. And the Chuukese love stick is part of a legendary practice of courtship unique to this island group. You can find at hotel gift shops and at the SMPOLL Memorial Center located at the very back of Bank of Guam and LMB Store in Weno.

Love Stick

Traditionally, all young Chuukese men would own a wooden love stick on which they would carve unique design. If a man loved a woman and wanted to know her true feeling for him, he would visit her home late at night after she’d gone to sleep. He would push the wooden stick through hatched wall of her hut and poke her to wake up and get her attention. Since each man’s lovesick ha a unique design, the woman would know the owner of the stick even without being able to see his face. If the woman loved the man, she would pull the stick into her hut and then sneak out to meet him in the dark of the night. However, if she did not feel the same, she would push the stick back signaling to the man that she did not love him.

Devil Mask

Once upon a time, there were ghosts on Satawal. These ghosts were very harmful and scary. They attacked and killed the people of Satawal. The Satawal people suffered so much. One day, they decided to do something to chase away the ghosts from their island out into the ocean. The people of Satawal started cutting down big trees and made devil masks. They wore the devil masks to use to chase the ghosts away. Together, they joined hands with the masks on their face and cornered the ghosts to the beach with roaring voice. The harmful ghosts became scared and turned into sand right on the beach. This is how the beach PIAF was formed. After the event, the ghosts never returned. Again, the people of Satawal were very happy. They became free by the favor of the devil mask and they were very grateful. It originates in the tradition of the people and believed that there is power of charm against misfortunes in a devil mask.