Man House - Hidden Art of Yap

The island of Yap is located in Micronesia, between Palau and Guam.  Mary and I had travelled to Yap to see manta rays after a week of diving Palau.  On a surface interval Gordon, our divemaster, took us to see a Man House.

Each village has a man house, sort of a community dwelling like a city hall, where official business of the village is conducted.

On our visit Gordon relayed a story that the night before the elders of the village had held a council, at the man house, to discuss the the fate of two teenage boys.  They had apparently damaged someones property and it was up to the elders to determine how the boys would be punished.

Gordon told us many stories about the man house and his village.  What I found fascinating was that each man house is built according to the timeless tradition of construction.  A large tree is felled as the middle support beam and the structure is lashed together with twine or rope.  No nails or fasteners are used at all.   What is really remarkable is that each log is fastened with a different ornamental knot.  As I began to study the lashings I discovered that each one of them was truly a work of art in its own right.  No two were the same and the attention to detail was extroardinary.  

Perioidically the village men will gather to re-lash the poles with fresh twine and pass along the tradition to another generation.  I asked Gordon how old the support beam was in this man house and he said at least 300 years old.

The artistic knots of the "Man House".