Carolinian people

The Refaluwasch people are a Micronesian ethnic group who originated in Oceania, in the Caroline Islands, with a total population of over 8,500 people in northern Mariana. They are also known as Remathau in the Yap's outer islands. The Carolinian word means "People of the Deep Sea." It is thought that their ancestors may have originally immigrated from Asia, Indonesia, Melanesia and to Micronesia around 2,000 years ago. Their primary language is Carolinian, called Refaluwasch by native speakers, which has a total of about 5,700 speakers. The Refaluwasch have a matriarchal society in which respect is a very important factor in their daily lives, especially toward the matriarchs. Most Refaluwasch are of the Roman Catholic faith. The immigration of Refaluwasch to Saipan began in the early 19th century, after the Spanish reduced the local population of Chamorro natives to just 3,700. They began to immigrate mostly sailing from small canoes from other islands, which a typhoonpreviously devastated. The Refaluwasch have a much darker complexion than the native Chamorros. The Refaluwasch from Saipan have the same lineages with Remathau on the outer islands of Yap. Some of the people on the islands are Chamolinians, who are a mixture of Chamorro and Carolinian heritage. The Refaluwasch in the CNMI have a high rate of macrosomia which is where the infant is born abnormally large. Another name for Carolinians that isn't used that much is Repaghuluwósch. Another name that they called themselves in their own language was Falawasch in the 1800s. They may have used this name beyond this century. Saralu is a Carolinian name. This name was used by a man named Clemente Saralu Taisacan who was a Carolinian fisherman of Rota. This was the maiden name of his Carolinian mother. In the 1950s and going back to Spanish era in certain cases used Spanish names. During this time and before it the people had three names. This may still be the case today in the 2020s. They had a Spanish Christian name for the individual. The parents decide what name to give them.