Strange customs in Palau, Oceania

On Palau Island in the South Pacific, there is a strange custom. That is woman's money, also known as Udoud ra Belau. Women's money is a strange thing in the history of human goods exchange, and it has extraordinary significance to the people of the Palau Islands. These strings of women's money are often used in traditional customs related to baby births, deaths, marriages, and even building new houses and elections. This peculiar method of trade has been practiced in Palau for centuries. Captain Henry Wilson of the British Sea Fleet was the first person to record it, and Britain also conquered Palau in 1783. Palauans have a complex social system to cope with this peculiar exchange habit. No one knows when or by whom this beaded woman's money was introduced to Palau. Foolish people think that this custom is similar to the "box money" given by her family when the bride gets married in Chinese custom.

The Germans first brought currency into Palau in the form of the Deutsche Mark between 1899 and 1914, but they still retained traditional women's money. The Japanese then introduced the Japanese yen to Palau between 1914 and 1944; at this point, the German mark was completely replaced by the Japanese yen. In Palau's history, the yen became the first currency to intervene in traditional exchange practices, becoming an alternative to women's money. After World War II, the US dollar replaced the Japanese yen and has been used by Palauans to this day.

The local elders once lost their control during the Japanese rule, and later regained control of traditions and customs, so women and money became active again. In today's Palauan society, women's money cannot be used to buy things, but it is an extremely important protagonist in traditions and customs. The value of women's money in the eyes of Palauans does not diminish with the passage of time.

Although many young people in modern Palauan society do not know the type and name of women's money, they all understand the importance and social value of women's money. If you put a precious gold necklace and a string of women's money in front of Palauan women, most Palauan women will choose women's money. For a Palauan woman, wearing a string of women's money around her neck shows that she comes from a rich family or is married to a rich man. It means that she is valued by this family, so she has the right to wear women's money. Women usually wear a single woman's money strung by a black string; but when there are important occasions, they will wear a whole string of women's money, called "Iek." Never compare gold with women's money in front of Palauans, because it may be rated as shabby and vulgar by the locals, especially the older generation.

Unmarried girls can wear them with their parents 'woman's money; married women usually wear them with their husband's woman's money or with the woman's money lent to them by her husband's family. Women can also own their own women's money, usually inherited from their family's family or left behind after their husband's death. Most elderly women and large families will have a considerable amount of women's money.

The most valuable woman's money is the large yellow bracelet part called "Bachel Berrak". This yellow bracelet is cut one by one from the original stone, perforated, and then worn one by one into a necklace, so it is the most valuable kind of woman's money. When encountering emergencies where money is particularly needed, Palauans will sell their women's money in exchange for US dollars; a large piece of women's money with a rich history can be sold for US$30,000. However, it loses some value if it is sold in an emergency, which can only be achieved in traditional exchanges.

In Palau, there are many legal lawsuits about women's money, which shows its importance to Palauans. If a Palauan sells a piece of woman's money belonging to an entire family to someone else, or if a woman refuses to return the woman's money to her husband's family after divorce, the owner of the woman's money can take legal action.

A complete collection of women's money sometimes appears in a family. The Idid family on Coro Island owns a series of collections; in 1966, photographer Douglas Osborne, who specialized in women's money, once photographed this series of women's money. At that time, the elders who owned these women's money once resold some and exchanged them with others for different women's money, but today these women's money is called Idid money. Palauans do not like to show off their women's money, and traditional customs also prohibit people from looking at or touching women's money from other families; at the same time, Palauans do not want others to find out that they have a few women's money.

Women's money in Palau was once regarded as an antique and stopped being used for a long time. The reason women's money disappears for years is because people hide it or burn it and scatter it around the house. Some of the women's money disappeared due to a fire or the sudden death of the owner. The amount of women's money originally owned by Palau is untestable, and the amount currently in circulation is like a mystery.

For many centuries, Palauans have tried to copy women's money with stones and ceramics, but the authenticity of the counterfeit and the authentic goods is extremely easy to identify. Many merchants also introduced similar coins from other regions to Palau after understanding the value of women's money. However, this type of coin has never been recognized by Palauans, although they also included such coins in their collections.

The first counterfeit goods appeared in 1900, when many women's money was made from glass bottles by foreigners. These Cheldoech women's coins, which are very similar to the real ones, are blue or green and transparent. Cheldoech Women's Money was lost in 1920 and was completely out of circulation. Many people still wear this kind of woman's money and many people collect it; currently Cheldoech Women's Money has become an antique collection.

In the past six years, Palauans have begun to introduce new varieties of female money from other Asian countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines. These foreign women's money, similar to Palau's precious primitive women's money, was found in ancient tomb sites in these countries. Antique dealers in these areas pointed out that in recent years, many Palauans have bought these women's money from them and brought it back to Palau. Perhaps these foreign women's money has long been circulating in the market. Most of the local ancient relics were illegally excavated, and local people are only interested in the gold and porcelain unearthed at the same time as the woman's money. Most of these sites have been identified as cemeteries dating from 500 BC to 500 AD. The unearthed cultural relics were not made locally. Everyone believes that these precious cultural relics were passed down from China or Egypt. Many elderly Palauans who hold this type of women's money are very disappointed because these women's money are not unique in Palau; although these "new" women's money is similar to the authentic products in terms of materials and provenance, it does not have Palau's historical background and name, so it cannot be used on the market.

Because Palauans keep women's money very secret, even local Palauans do not know much about the amount of women's money in existence; the elderly only recognize certain unique forms of women's money. It is difficult to make a list of all Palauan women's money, especially after the introduction of "new varieties" of foreign women's money. All Palauans swear that what they have must be authentic, not to mention the fact that these women's money really looks similar. Gradually, foreign women's money will become more valuable over time, and will gradually be accepted by Palauans, because at least they are not counterfeits, and may come from the same place as the real Palauan women's money.

Each authentic Palau woman's money has a color name, a shape name, and an individual name. Many women's money have the same individual name. The name of a woman's money is determined by its style, size, and work.