Drinking circle is a tradition where islanders (men) come together in the evenings to drink their daily collections of tuba. Tuba is fermented alcohol from the Coconut Tree where it is in abundance on the islands. Every evening, men would gather in front of the men’s houses to drink… and basically have fun.
These drinking circles are meaningful and of course suppose to be fun. They are meaningful for men would come and discuss daily issues pertaining to community matters on a regular basis. It is also a way of getting these men relaxed after long days of labor, either looking for food (mostly fishing) or working on big projects like house building, canoe buildings, etc.. Usually after the gathering, men would team up and head for more drinking and this is where family secrets (magics, know hows, traditions, etc..) passed down to the younger members of a family or clan.
From my own observation, islanders are pretty good drinkers. They don’t usually go “SARDINES” when drunk. Sardines is the name given by islanders to drinkers that go crazy and do crazy stuff while drunk. I guess the comparison make sense because the sardines that Islanders know are the canned ones without heads…. lol.
One interesting phenomenon is the changing from consuming the domestic Tuba to the importing Yeast. As you can see on some of the pictures used in this blog, the container I assumed is full of Yeast. I guess it is similar to tuba cuz it is also a fermented kind. ;)! I think so! hehehe. On the picture to the left, it looks like our boy from Hatiewa Mr. Paulino is leading this drinking circle. I have to find a photo of him fishing cuz I really do not feel like it is the right thing for me to post him being the leader of this group. lol. But thanks to Paul for taking care of our folks back home.