I am sitting in my bedroom, currently listening to the chilling and murderously demonic screams of yet another Xavier tradition. The Halloween possession is taking place tonight. Halloween is generally not a huge deal on Weno, though strong American influence has rendered it somewhat familiar. Some stores hang Halloween signs, and a few people on the streets today were wearing wigs or other costume-ish things. It’s definitely more prevalent within “Xavier culture” as many of the students come from more developed areas like Palau and Guam – places more open to American lifestyles. No one goes trick or treating or necessarily dresses up, but each year the boys construct a haunted house throughout the campus and, like tonight, stage a demonic possession for the freshmen, who are ignorant of the fact that it isn’t real. The validity, or lack thereof, of this game might seem obvious to most westerners, but possession for Micronesians is a very real possibility for two main reasons. The first is that, unawares to me until a short while ago, the Catholic church still supports the idea that people can become possessed by the devil through things like the occult (Ouija boards, etc.) – arguably one of the more medieval and irrational ideas of Catholicism as most of the things considered “occult” or “satanic” are actually just relics of other religious traditions that were and are considered backward and harmful. To me, this sounds just as superstitious as any Micronesian tradition Xavier tries to weed out of the students, but apparently this is still a legitimate Christian belief that a now largely Christianized society is acculturated into. The second, probably more weighty reason is that possession is also an aspect of many island religions as well. Spirits, though not necessarily evil ones, inhabit the body putting its victim in a kind of trance. Sociologically, spirit possession has become more prevalent among Micronesian women, used as an outlet for self-expression. For example, if a woman has something to say about a particular argument or issue within the family, she might become possessed by the spirit of her dead uncle or father so that she might speak through a “man” and thus be listened to. So, spirit possession is a very real thing for many Micronesians, and as such the freshman boys are usually terrified. An upperclassman (a junior this year) will fake a possession – with screaming, flailing, speaking in tongues, etc. and the other boys will act (or in the case of the freshmen, legitimately be) horrified. A few older boys will transport the possessee outside and take a truck down the hill with the security guard presumably to go to the hospital leaving the other boys something to talk about until the next day. As with most traditions, the boys take it very seriously, and while it might go too far, it’s part of the ongoing initiation into the “boys’ community.”

On a less creepy note, earlier tonight four of us went to the Blue Lagoon resort to have dinner. The JVIs went on their semester retreat to Pisar, so the independents decided to have a small retreat of our own. It took us about an hour to get to the resort despite its close proximity, but it was worth it, and actually only cost me about $15. It’s very intriguing, though, to walk into Blue Lagoon or Truk Stop and only see white people, except for the servers and staff. Most of them are here for diving, but it’s interesting that there really are so many of them, but they hide within the confines of their hotels ignoring the actual island they’ve come to utilize. Too be honest, it wasn’t an exceptionally bad feeling to be surrounded by westerners for a few hours if only that it made me feel a little more at home and comfortable being my loud, demanding American self, it’s just both fascinating and tragic that the places where they generally limit themselves to are closed off to most Chuukese people. Even on their home island, they do not have the same kind of access as wealthy, privileged outsiders.