"The spider is a special spider. It was a spider
man. There was a spider-man in our mythology who introduced natural
birth to Palauan women. Because way in the olden days they didn’t
how to allow a baby to come out, so they always did a Caesarian section,
cutting open the mother using very crude instruments made of splintered
bamboo. So there was a spider man maybe god-sent, to tell the people
there’s a natural birth process. So it is to remind us of that
mythology.
"The figure with many faces is called Chad,
which means 'man.' He is like a human being. And then these ones are
just guarding faces, to guard the bai. Just guards. Even
if the chiefs are not in the bai, they are present. They
are always here."
