Footnotes

[1] The common belief among older and knowledgeable people today is that there was a superior god, called Anij laplap (ÿgreat god¨). This is not borne out by any of the early ethnographic references dealing with Marshallese religious customs. While there was Lowa, who created the world and then left, and while there was Wullep, Lowa¨s son, and a god conceived to be very powerful, neither of them match the concept put forward as Anij laplap. It appears that the concept of Anij laplap as it is perceived today, is modern, derived from or guided by Christian teaching and superimposed on the traditional belief structure. [back]