![](\"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/images\/imgupload\/19ed775c7198fe0f82ebdab767ea1259.png\")
<\/p>\n\u201cHere you can try it on, just this once.\u201d Mom smiles; carefully she places the tedious necklace around my neck, across my shoulders. I feel the warm beads pressing against my skin.<\/p>\n
Their vibrancy seemed to cast a spell, darkening the tone of my surroundings, as if it was the brightest thing in the room. The knotted string, resembling a fishing line, scratches lightly against the nape of my neck. Despite their delicate design, they\u2019re quite strong, yet I can\u2019t shake the feeling that the slightest misstep could release the beads from their border. \u201cThis is a lighat\u00fatt\u00far.\u201d She shared \u201cIt’s a Refaluwasch necklace.\u201d I was maybe ten when I tried it on for the first time, I had seen it before but never got the answer to what it was. \u201cI wish I had one.\u201d I thought.<\/p>\n
Everyone in the Refaluwasch (Carolinian) community has a lighat\u00fatt\u00far, or at least they should. It\u2019s a cascade of beads, strung together to form a tapestry of pride and love. This necklace is delicately placed around your neck, draping its intricate vibrant trinkets along the shoulders and across your chest. They\u2019re worn at important events in your or someone else’s life, like a birthday, a graduation, a wedding, and other memorable moments. It\u2019s not typically something you buy for yourself; it’s something you give or you’re given. To grant it to a Refalwausch is to show love or respect, to grant it to a non-Carolinian represents acceptance into our community. Even still as a teenager, I have never received one, or at least never remember receiving one. I was raised and born in the United States; there I found myself surrounded by faraway glimpses of my culture. Despite my closeness to the lighat\u00fatt\u00far, they remained distant, a tradition just out of reach, teasing me with their beauty and dignity. Regardless, seeing family and friends be granted with this necklace, is something that stayed with me my entire life.<\/p>\n
Aunty Ann, Mom\u2019s youngest sister, had a lighat\u00fatt\u00far when she was getting married. I was so excited to see her and her soon-to-be husband; it had been maybe three years since we\u2019ve seen each other. The fragrance of freshly cut flowers followed the breeze, weaving through the clashing of laughter and music. The white of the building and the bouquets were almost blinding, but not as much as the bride’s radiant smile. I was nine; at the time, I was old enough to remember things but still young enough to experience something new. While they said their \u201cI do\u2019s\u201d there it was\u2014the necklace draped along her and her now husband’s chest, linking their hearts together. That was the first time I remember seeing one.<\/p>\n
Ernesta, my sister, is the first to ever be given one out of my siblings and I. I still can recall when my aunty called me asking for my sister\u2019s graduation colors. \u201cRed, teal and white\u201d I told her. Then the day before Ernesta\u2019s graduation, there was Aunty Nei, pulling out a sparkling lighat\u00fatt\u00far, folded in a ziplock baggie, from her clearly overstuffed luggage. Its intense redness looks ablaze; I\u2019m almost convinced that touching it would leave burns on my fingertips, yet the additional white beads among the fiery tone tames the overpowering hue. And then there are the tiny teal beads, resembling a turquoise stone, adding a touch of elegance to the artifact. I was so jealous that day that she had gotten one before me. The next day, I watched my sister get her high school diploma in that same necklace. I was so impressed with Aunty Nei\u2019s skill, I begged her to let me learn too. Aunty Nei is the one who makes almost all the lighat\u00fatt\u00far for our family, it\u2019s basically her job. \u201cWhen making these, you have to have a certain setup.\u201d she stated, \u201cit\u2019s seen as bad luck if it’s not like this.\u201d Placed on the table was a thin scarf with a hibiscus pattern and tassels on each opposing side. I let out a chuckle at the pugua stain on the upper right-side corner of the smooth fabric.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s always a stain\u201d I thought. On top of it was the needle, beads and string organized according to the steps of making a lighat\u00fatt\u00far. It’s important to learn how to make one so you\u2019re prepared to make more for the next generation. That\u2019s how the tradition is passed on. \u201cWho are we making this for?\u201d I asked, \u201cYour god sister, her baptism is this weekend.\u201d She replied, not taking her eyes away from the beads in her callused hands. Seeing it done had evoked a question.<\/p>\n
Had I gotten one from my baptism?<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course you had one at your baptism. What kind of question is that?\u201d Mom rolled her eyes, not giving it a second thought, \u201cit’s in the hope chest; go check.\u201d I hurried down the creaking stairs as my feet smacked against the wooden boards. The hope chest was beneath the stairs, begging me to rummage through it. I kneeled down and placed my hand on the chipped sides. I struggled to lift the massive lid; the scent of aged wood smelled ancient as if I had opened an old book that had gone untouched for years. Stuffed within were newspapers, old concert tickets and dozens of the lighat\u00fatt\u00far, each carefully enclosed in its own ziplock bag. My<\/p>\n
fingers brushed against the smooth surface of one of the plastic bags tucked away in the corner. I pulled it out and examined its contents; there laid a lighat\u00fatt\u00far. My lighat\u00fatt\u00far. The ziplock bag bore the name \u201cBella\u201d written in bold, permanent marker, and with the necklace were photos of the baptism. I reflected on photos I found of me in the church as I griped onto my lighat\u00fatt\u00far.<\/p>\n
Looking into my life as it just began. Reflecting on what, as a child, could my heart and mind process. Being cradled in the gentle embrace of water, feeling a sense of belonging wash over my infant body. The lights blinding my eyes, while an elderly man does the sign of the cross. A cool liquid trickled through my hair, running down my neck, sending an instant shiver down my spine. Above me, a warm glow of candles dancing, casting flickering shadows that somehow whisper praise and devotion. Amidst the soft murmur of prayers and songs, an unfamiliar sensation grazes against the nape of my neck and is heavy on my chest. A Refalwaulsch beaded necklace\u2014a lighat\u00fatt\u00far. This was the first time I had ever received one. The first milestone as a Refaluwasch.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
This essay written by Isabella Yiftheg won second place in the NMI Humanities Council\u2019s recent Marianas Writing Contest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cHere you can try it on, just this once.\u201d Mom smiles; carefully she places the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-411163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411163\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}