The “Omengat” As Memorable Day

The “omengat” (hotbath) is a very important Palauan tradition which celebrates a woman's success of birthing her first born child. The woman is covered with yellow coconut oil “Reng” and wears coconut cups, grass skirt and the decorations on her hair that represents her father’s clan. When she comes out to stand and ready to show herself, the husband’s relatives will prepare themselves to use the herbal plants soaked in hot water to splash onto the woman’s legs.

Music is played from a live band while friends and family dance to celebrate the woman’s first born child ceremony. People dance, eat, sing, and most importantly, they are there to welcome the woman on her new chapter of life. I believe that Palauan Hot Bath Custom these days should be the same from long time ago, therefore, traditional knowledge differed depending on place, traditional gender role and clan practices. Hot bath is a very unique Palauan tradition that has been going on a long time ago passing on to generations to generations of each clan.

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I chose this topic because it is one of the most interesting customs in Palau. I was just a child when my mom brought me to hot baths. I was wondering why the woman comes out covered with yellow coconut oil and just everything about the ceremony. As I was grown older, I began to ask questions on how the Palauan Hot Bath works and why is it important to us. The person i interviewed is Evangeline Ngirchechol because she is one of an old Palauan lady I know that has participated on many hot baths and has more experiences.

Evangeline Ngirchechol also stated that, Palauan Hot Baths nowadays are different from long time ago. Due to her experiences, she, and herself also had a hot bath a long time ago on her first born child. She said that during her time there were no live band and people drinking alcohol or dancing like they own the stage. Before the “Omengat” or coming out, the women have to bathe, known as “Omesurech.” This “Omesurech” lasts from between 4 to 14 days. According to their clans, the highest ranking clan members require the most number of days. The baths are to heal the women and to lighten, or remove dark spots on the skin and smooth stretch marks. “These historical medical and aesthetic reasons are completely intact, as verified through interviewing locals and a doctor at a renowned clinic.” (Besebes) During the bathing of the women, she cannot take a shower or bath using soap and tap water but rather use coconut oil to make her body smooth. The women’s family prepares food for the lady who is bathing her and the women.

All meals must be prepared for her because it is the role of the women to simply rest and relax. The needs of the newborn child are handled by the family relatives but except for the breast feeding. Nowadays, “imitations as well as authentic Palauan money are frequently observed being worn around the neck by some women and children. In the past, only high-ranking women wore Palauan money necklaces since Palauan money was owned mostly by high ranking families.” (Rechebei) The Palauan money is called “Bachel” which the women’s husband relatives need to tie the necklace on the women’s neck to show the true meaning of Palauan Culture. During the hot bath, it is very important that the women have to wear the Palauan money because it was found a long time ago that people from Palau have been using it. “Palauan Money is generally allowed by clan or lineage and rarely by individuals since Palauan is social structure based on sharing and cooperation within an organized pattern.” (Rechebei) The women’s husband needs to provide money in order to support their family. Palauan Hot Bath before was totally different from today. Women wore grass skirt that is made of “Chermall” a hibiscus tree. Today, mostly women wears grass skirt made of yarn that is also good but it does not show the true meaning of a Palauan. These skirts have their own descriptions such as the color, materials, and names depending on their family clans. The grass skirt made of a hibiscus tree is brown but people can change its color to different colors. Some change to red, green, yellow, orange or any color they want. However, women from the past did not wear coconut cups because it is part of the Palauan culture. They come out without their coconut cups to present their body to the audience on how they look. The people will witness the women’s body and can tell that the women have neither a great body nor bad. But as of today, the people joining hot baths do not think clearly and their behaviors are way too much. They will be breaking the tradition and talking about a lot of negative things to make the women feel uncomfortable coming out without wearing coconut cups. When fixing the women’s hair, they need to put up the most important part of her hair which is called the “Besiich”.

Every women comes from different clans and in Palauan culture, they need to wear the “Besiich” from their own clans. Representing on how, where, or what clan did she come from. There are many kinds of decorations they use which are really interesting because it is all different. Some use flowers, turtle shells, “kemril a dudek” and many more that are just so amazing. The changes in the food prepared for and at the ceremony is where one can most easily identify tradition blending with the effects of globalization. Long time ago, just the women of the father’s clan would have attended, but today the event has grown to include sometimes as many as several hundred people, not all of whom are relatives. “Prior to the new mother’s public presentation, the distribution of food provided by the kinswomen in the new mother’s clan plays a central role. The food is highly traditional in terms of the new mother’s clan providing the fare in beautiful arrangements and large quantities.” (Fadiman) Many women talked about the making of food. Today, the ceremony has to have plenty of foods and must have the large fruit and vegetable stand or bouquet arranged. The bouquet is mostly filled with coconut, apple, banana, pineapple and many more fruits and vegetables. Therefore, this paper is about how, what and why the Palauan Hot Bath Custom works. The most important part of this topic is getting to know why the woman has to have a baby shower. How is it going to help her and what are the things they uses to splash on her whole body. When she comes out the people are gathered around to witness her special memorable day. Every part of the women’s hot bath such as the decorations on her hair, the necklace, earrings, the turtle bracelet, coconut cups, belt on her belly, grass skirt and the yellow coconut oil are being used during the day because it is the role and tradition Palauans have been using since ancient times until today. There are some people that do not follow the culture and be breaking the rules because nowadays time has changed. I believe that someday, I will understand all these different kinds of practices they use on Palauan Hot Bath Custom so that I will be able to get myself ready when my time comes.