Angam Day is a

holiday A holiday is a day set aside by custom or by law on which normal activities, especially business or work including school, are suspended or reduced. Generally, holidays are intended to allow individuals to celebrate or commemorate an event or tra ...

recognized in the

Republic of Nauru Nauru ( or ; na, Naoero), officially the Republic of Nauru ( na, Repubrikin Naoero) and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in Oceania, in the Central Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Kir ...

. It is celebrated yearly on October 26. Scene at Arenibek

Etymology

The Nauruan word ''angam'' means "jubilation", "celebration", "to have triumphed over all hardships" or "to have reached a set goal" or "coming home".

General

Angam Day is a day of celebration and a time of reflection for the Nauruan

people A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

. Twice in its

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

, the Nauruan population fell below 1,500, and the Nauruan ethnic group have been considered in danger of extinction. On both occasions the Nauruan population recovered. Upon eclipsing a population of 1,500, a number considered to be the minimum required for the survival of a race (decided by the administrators of Nauru its chiefs after much deliberation), Angam Day was declared. The first Angam was in 1932 and the second occasion in 1949.

History

Before Angam

As early as 1902, an influenza epidemic took toll of no less than 219 lives. At the time of the initial phosphate operations during 1905 the population was about 1,550. With the introduction of labour for the phosphate operations, a sudden downward trend in brought by the newly introduced labour. This spate of epidemics included many casualties among the Nauruan people. During 1907, infantile paralysis which systematically killed the Nauruan population. The first goal came about in 1919, just after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, when the war-time occupation of

Nauru Nauru ( or ; na, Naoero), officially the Republic of Nauru ( na, Repubrikin Naoero) and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in Oceania, in the Central Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Ki ...

and other Pacific islands was continued by forces of the British Empire, who had, in contravention of international treaty obligations, wrested these colonies from

Imperial Germany The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

. Nauru came under a

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

mandate, administered by

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

. Brigadier-General Thomas Griffiths, the Australian Administrator, held a census. Later, in a meeting with local chiefs, he declared that the population of Nauruans was alarmingly low and that if the Nauruans were to survive as a race, the population should be no less than 1,500. It was declared that when the population of 1,500 was reached, that day would be called ''Angam Day,'' would be a public holiday, and would be commemorated every year thereafter, as a prize to the mother. Furthermore, the baby who completed the set target would be the Angam Baby and would receive gifts and honour.

First Angam

After thirteen years, the Nauruan population reached 1,500 to much jubilation and celebrations. The first Angam Baby, Eidagaruwo, was born on October 26, 1932. Her name expresses the feeling of “reaching home” or “attaining a goal”; it was given to her by the Administrator and Chiefs. That night large bonfires were lit on the beach on every district and chiefs judged who had the biggest bonfire.

Aiwo District Aiwo (rarely Aiue, in earlier times ''Yangor'') is a district in the Pacific country of Nauru. Jarrit Morpak is the city's mayor, elected in 2008. It belongs to Aiwo Constituency. Geography It is located in the west of the island. It covers an ...

had the largest bonfire with blue flames, made by stoking the fire with copper wire. It turned out there was to be more than one Angam. During the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese occupation of Nauru and other Pacific territories during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, 1,201 Nauruans were evacuated to Truk (now Chuuk). Of the 1,201 evacuees to Truk only 737 returned after the

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

, and of the about 600 left behind on Nauru, a total of around 400 survived. The Angam girl, Eidegenegen Eidagaruwo, did not make it back from Truk as she had died of

malnutrition Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is "a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients" which adversely affects the body's tissues a ...

and

yaws Yaws is a tropical infection of the skin, bones, and joints caused by the spirochete bacterium ''Treponema pallidum pertenue''. The disease begins with a round, hard swelling of the skin, in diameter. The center may break open and form an ulce ...

like most of the other Nauruans who had died in Truk.

Second Angam

The aftermath of WWII showed the Nauruans that, to survive as a race, they would have to strive to increase their population for a second time. The race for a new Angam Baby was on. On March 31, 1949, the people of

Boe BOE, BoE or Boe may refer to: Abbreviations, acronyms or initialisms * Bank of England, the central bank of the United Kingdom * Bank of English, a representative subset of the 4.5 billion words COBUILD corpus * Barrel of oil equivalent, a uni ...

celebrated when Bethel Enproe Adam was born to parents Kenye and Clarence Adam. Since then, the Nauruans have been able to celebrate Angam once again. Even though Bethel Enproe was born on a different date, October 26 is still held as the official Angam Day.

Modern Angam Day Celebrations

In 2017, at 91 years old, Muriel Cecil was the oldest Nauruan. She spoke on behalf of fellow survivors of the war underscoring in simple terms the hardship of war yet the blessings of God in bringing them back home from Truk Island. Muriel donned a replica of the dress she and other female returnees from Truk wore on their return to Nauru in 1946 after two years in exile.