Unit 9: The Pacific Oceania OCEANIA

Unit 9: The Pacific Oceania 3,450,000 square miles of primitive, isolated islands and how they were affected by contact with the developed world. 700 – 1980 CE

Unit 9: The Pacific Oceania (o-she-AIN-ya) the islands of the South Pacific, including Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia and Australasia (3,450,000 sq. mi.) 700 – 1980 C.E.

Oceania Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia and Australasia

The Pacific Ocean has an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 islands. Micronesia means small islands. Marianas, Guam, Wake Island, Palau, the Marshall Islands, the Carolines and the Federated States of Micronesia. Melanesia means black islands. New Guinea (the largest Pacific island, divided into Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya), Fiji and the Solomon Islands. Polynesia means many islands: New Zealand, the Hawaiian Islands, Midway Islands, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, the Cook Islands, the Society Islands, French Polynesia and Easter Island.

Pacific Islands Nationality Fact Sheet (low islands – coral high islands – mountains and volcanos) Melanesia France: New Caledonia Independent: Fiji/Solomon/Palau New Guinea/Vanuatu Polynesia (high) Chile: Easter Island France: The French Polynesian Islands: Society / Marquesas/ Tahiti New Zealand: Cook Islands UK: Pitcairn Island USA: American Samoa/ Hawaii ( th state) Independent: Samoa/ Tonga (a monarchy)/ Tuvalu Micronesia (low) USA: Guam/Northern Mariana Islands/ Wake Island Independent: Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) The Marshall Islands/ Palau

What you will learn about Oceania. Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia Geographic areas and cultural practices of the peoples of Oceania. Distinct qualities of their art forms. Disruption of their cultural rituals as a result of western world contact. Recent revivals of cultural heritage practices and indigenous arts among the peoples of Oceania.

What you will learn about Australia and Melanesia How Australian bark paintings and its imagery reflect Aboriginal culture. The Melanesian geographic area and cultural influences before and after western world contact. The common cultural and artistic expressions of the ◦ Iatmul peoples ◦ Asmat peoples ◦ Abelam peoples and ◦ Elema peoples. The various rituals and related art objects of the peoples of the Trobriand Islands and New Ireland.

CE NAN MADOL, a city on reefs Micronesia Culture

Pohnpei Island, the largest and most developed in the FSM (Federated States of Micronesia). It is thought to be the most welcoming. Nan Madol is a city constructed on top of multiple coral reefs making over 100 artificial islets. Nan Madol means “space between”, a name referencing the canals that crisscross the islets. A major aspect of life on Nan Madol was the presence of priests and funerary activities. Food preparation, canoe construction and coconut oil preparation were specialties on other islets. Micronesia Culture

NAN MANDOL, Pohnpei, Micronesia Culture Saudeleur Dynasty c CE basalt boulders and prismatic columns This city was built on water over a coral reef. It measured 80 hectares* (197.6 acres). Basalt boulders were assembled to create 92 islets that served administrative, religious, mortuary and residential functions. Pools were formed among the islets to house sea life that is a part in religious activities. * A hectare is 2.47 acres.

NAN MANDOL was inhabited from the 8 th century, and by the 13 th c. the megalithic construction had begun. The Saudeleur Dynasty ruled into the 17 th c. Micronesia Culture

T These basalt prisms are stacked in orderly rows, first one way, then the 90° the other way. They used the natural resource of basalt, a stone which won’t deteriorate like wood, and have created a system that allows air and water to run through the entire structure, helping it breathe. Micronesia Culture

The basalt boulders and prismatic columns used in constructing Nan Madol came from quarries on the main island. Prismatic columns are natural stone formations resulting from volcanic activity. Above right, boulders and columns are corbeled together to form walls. On the left, columns appear to be laid down like “sticks” in alternating rows. Micronesia Culture

Think of “prismatic columns” as sticks of basalt in prism shapes. In their natural state, prismatic basalt columns usually are attached to larger crystalline formations. The prisms were dislodged by building large fires at their bases and suddenly cooling the stones with sea water to cause them to fracture. Moving them to the construction site was done by floating the stones and columns on rafts. Some smaller columns could be passed from hand to hand. Basalt quarry with the columns fractured loose. Micronesia Culture

Similar examples of monumental architecture exist on Lelu, Kosrae. It is often thought that the life and history of Micronesia is about moving and navigating across vast distances of the ocean while actually, complex societies remained in place as technologically sophisticated civilizations. Micronesia Culture

Easter Island Moai Polynesia Culture c CE

Polynesian Culture

Polynesia Culture Moai (mow-eye) stone figures on a platform (ahu) Rapa Nui (new-ee) (Easter Island) c CE volcanic tuff figures on a basalt base (Collage Board image)

The earliest ceremonial life of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) is thought to have focused on Moai (stone statues). Eight Hundred eighty-seven figures are installed on stone platforms (ahu), facing inland. Each kin group produced its own platforms which may have been sites for the burial of important people or for other ceremonial purposes. The figures may represent ancestors. Polynesia Culture

Polynesia Culture Rapa Nui (Easter Island) is a territory belonging to Chile since Discovered by an explorer on Easter Day. Rapa Nui (Easter Island) is a very remote island, hundreds of miles from Chile or any other islands. There is an air strip which can be seen on the view and the map to help you comprehend the layout. Hundreds of Moai figures ring the island as indicated on the map. The 3 volcanos are at each point and indicated by their ivory color.

The hats or head ornaments are called pukao. The eyes are inlaid with coral and shell. Polynesia Culture

Carved on the upper back and shoulders are two birdmen, facing each other. They have human hands and feet. In the center of the back of the head is a carving of a small fledgling bird with an open beak. Ceremonial dance paddles (“ao”) with faces carved into them, running top to bottom of the right ear are 4 shapes like inverted ‘V’ representing the female genitalia. Almost all stone surfaces were carved symbolically. They are called PETROGLYPHS. Polynesia Culture

Petroglyphs (low relief and incising) Birdman cave paintings Polyensia Culture

Images like these can be “printed” or rubbed from the tablets. Polynesia Culture As yet, there is not a sure interpretation of this Rapa Nui (Easter Island) writing, but it is clear that it is based on animal, human and plant shapes. Wooden tablets incised with shark’s teeth.

Polynesia Culture So what happened to Easter Island? Today, the remaining population is only about 5,000. Why? 1./ quarrying to sculpt 887 Moai 2./ using up the timber (palms) to transport the figures 3./ an infestation of rats ate all the new food growth 4./ the loss of population by the slave trade caused the demise of resources and upset the ecological balance that destroyed the rhythm of island life.

Makemake, the main god represented with a bird’s head and human body. His hand is holding an egg. A cult holds an annual ritual race to determine who is the ‘bird-man’. Powerful leaders send a representative to climb the steep slopes down to the sea and swim out to an isle to collect one of the first eggs laid by a sooty tern and bring it back undamaged. The winner’s master then holds the prestigious position of ‘bird- man’ for a year until the next competition. Polynesia Culture

The sacred Hawaiian feather cape Polynesia Culture

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Ahu’ula (feather cape) Hawaii 1700 CE The feather cape is only worn by the Hawaiian elite. It is worn as: 1./ the prerogative of status 2./ for divine access 3./ for protection Hawaiian society is highly stratified. Indicators of stature and prowess such as the feather cape are extremely important in their design, creation and use.

‘ Ahu‘ula (feather cape) Hawaiian Late 18th century CE, feathers and fiber. Leaders and those of highest status are connected to and connectors with the divine. The color red is associated with gods. The cape symbolized the king’s religious responsibilities and conveyed his divinity.

They were not created for purely aesthetic reasons or to specifically demonstrate wealth. They were intended to convey power and social standing in Hawaiian culture and to connect the wearer with the gods.

Helmets (mahiole), capes, figures and items of personal adornment and regalia are created with feather surfaces. The capes are made for specific individuals. Each cape reflects the lineage of the wearer as well as events that occurred during that person’s lifetime. The genealogy, family history and clan symbols are woven into the patterns of the garment. The capes are not meant to be worn by different family members. The capes are not made to be gifts. (Painting said to be by Rembrandt)

Feathers are collected from particular species of birds by specialists. They are bound into small bundles and sewn into a fiber armature. Twining the feathers to a fiber base is a sacred act, incorporating protective and strengthening prayers for the efficacy of the object and the benefit of the wearer. The prayer chant, like the choice of particular fibers and colors, sanctifies creation of the cape. The fiber made sacred by its manipulation, the feather and by source and color. Specialist bird capturers catch the birds, remove a few feathers then release the birds back into their habitat. It takes 100 s of thousands of feathers to make these items. The i’iwi bird

The crescent or other geometric motifs, and ownership and performance of this object bespeak a level of divine association, power and social force that commends respect, dictates behavior and engenders awe.

As in many areas of Polynesia the performance/ presentation of grandeur and even ferocity are intended to overwhelm the viewer and to demonstrate the mana (sacred force) and tapu (protection) of its owner.

Polynesian god-sticks (next)

The Cook Islands Rarotonga is one of the Cook Islands in the middle of the South Pacific. Their wood carvers have a distinctive style. In 1821, The London Missionary Society set up a mission station and began the process of converting the islanders to Christianity. Prior to Christianity, deities that were worshipped by Cook Islanders were in the form of wooden images in human form, slab carving and staffs known as “god-sticks”.

Polynesian “staff god” or “god stick” The staff god is a combination of male and female elements. The wooden core (stick) has a large head at one end and originally terminated in a phallus. (All the natural appearing penises at the ends were removed by the missionaries.) Smaller figures in profile appear to be mostly male. The tapa barkcloth, made by women, protects the ancestral power (‘mana”) of the deity, which is contained within the different layers. Many names for the god-stick: atua rakau, staff-god and staff.

Tapa cloth The bark of the mulberry tree is pounded thinner and strips are pounded together (left). Women rubbing the design on the full cloth.

Tattaw or tattoo British Captain James Cook, the navigator who discovered the remote islands of the South Pacific in 1773, said: “I shall now mention the way they mark themselves indelibly, each of them is so marked by their humor or disposition.” In Polynesia, tattooing is a sacred act. Plus, an islander without a tattoo was seen as a person in the lowest social level.

The religious act of Polynesian tattoo. The act of tattooing was done by a highly trained shaman in a religious ceremony. The person to be tattooed first experienced a long period of cleansing, fasting and abstaining from contact with women.

Staff God Polynesia

Figure: Staff god. Rarotonga, Cook Islands, Central Polynesia. Late 18th to early 19th century C.E. Wood, tapa, fiber, and feathers. See Gardners, 14 th ed, p 1054 The god-stick (Staff God) is in 3 parts. The head is a wooden carved head and expressive human figures attached to the cylindrical shape that is wrapped with fiber and tapa cloth. The middle shape constitutes the sacred element. The third part has been removed, but was originally also wooden carved figures ending in a phallus.

The process of wrapping is ritualistic and spiritual in that it is creating a protecting and insulating material that relates to preserving as well as presenting the “mana” (ancestral power). The same respect and reverence is given to the wrapping as is given to the tattoo ritual.

Deity images with multiple figures attached to their bodies are characteristic of the Rarotonga Islands. The images probably represent clan or ancestors honored for the protective and procreative powers revered for their central role in human fertility. In August of 1821, the entire population converted to Christianity. The entire population turned over their god sticks to the British missionaries.

At one end of the god-stick is a blade-shaped head and arms with a succession of little figures rise from his body, alternatively full-face and in profile. The god-stick (staff) itself terminated in a phallus. But this elaborately carved sexual imagery held less importance for the Rarotongans than the feathers and pieces of shell representing the soul of the god enclosed in yards of tapa bark cloth wound around the center of the staff.

Illustration with dignitary couples in the center. In the open ground in front of them are 8 god-sticks with two more arriving carried on the shoulders of natives.

Melanesia Ritual Mask of the Torres Strait (next)

Mabuiag Islanders in the Torres Strait made ritual masks The Torres Strait is shallow and full of reefs which can make it treacherous to navigate. It is a strait between Papua New Guinea and the northern tip of Queensland, Australia. Mabuiag Islanders made the masks we will study.

The mask has several names: buk/ krar/kara These masks are used during ritual events of significance in personal and social life. Male initiations and funerals. Becoming an adult and then an ancestor are significant and comparable events in the life cycle. These events or passages are associated with archetypal themes that recall culture identity.

Mid to Late 19 th century CE. The mask is made of turtle shell, wood, cassowary* feathers, fiber, resin, shell and paint. They represent mythical culture heroes and associated totems. Various depictions of the masks are human forms, birds, fish or reptiles. This one is a combination of human and animal. *A large flightless bird

The ceremonies often involved performances in which senior men, in masks, together with rustling costumes of dried grass, enacted events from the lives of culture- heroes drawn from local oral tradition.

Cultural memories form the basis for kin and community organization and identity. The elements that influence the creation of the masks are remembering ancestors, the principles and social cultures of the past. The choice of materials such as tortoise shell and cassowary feathers are in keeping with the essential and valued elements of the lives of the Torres Straits.

Melanesian Trobriand Islands shell exchange (next )

An archipelago of coral atolls off the eastern coast of New Guinea. They are part of the nation of Papua New Guinea. Trobriand Islands (currently known as Kiriwina Islands) Melanesia

Yams are power At the beginning of the yam harvest the yams stay on display in gardens for about a month before the gardener takes them to the owner. The owner is always a woman. There is a great ceremony for this every year.

The yams are loaded into the woman’s husband’s empty yam house. It’s a colorful and festive day when the yams are delivered to the yam house in yam baskets. The young people dress up and sing out to announce the arrival of the yams while thrusting out their hips in a sexually provocative motion. This emphasized the relationship between yams and sexuality. A few days later, the gardener comes and loads his yam house. The man is now responsible for the yams.

. No cooking in the inner ring (where the chief’s house, yam house and bachelor houses are).. No looking at another person while eating.. Demonstrate love of choice of husband by biting off his eyebrows and eyelashes. Strict rules of decorum in the village Chief’s house

Islander’s traditional beliefs about love and sex defy common science. The islanders have a strong belief in magic about pregnancy. They think the real cause is from baloma, the spirit of the Tuma underworld (where spirits go to die) inserted into the woman’s body. The yam is the major food of the islands. The yam includes chemicals (phytoestrogens and plant sterols) that are contraceptive. Therefore, to the islanders, sex is not what causes pregnancy. “The Island of Love”

Trobriand islanders exercise very liberal sexual behavior. Children are subjected to sexuality at a very young age and by adolescence are encouraged to seek out partners. As adults this becomes a way of life, and “group marriages” are formed. However, it is considered improper for older men or older women to have sexual relationships with children.

Trobriand Islanders participate in a complex system of reciprocity with other villages called the KULA GIFT EXCHANGE. It involves necklaces and arm bands made of shell. This system encourages mutual trust and brings prestige. Preparing sea-going canoes.

The kula exchange is complex. Each participant is linked to two partners: 1. one to whom he gives a necklace in return for an armband of equivalent value 2. the other to whom he makes the reverse exchange of an armband for a necklace. Although each individual is tied to only two other partners, each contact has an additional connection on either end of the distribution which eventually forms a great circle linking more than a dozen islands over hundreds of miles of ocean. White conus shell/ red chama-shell. KULA EXCHANGE

1. establishes friendly relations with different island peoples and assures peaceful contact. 2. provides inter-island exchange of utilitarian items. 3. reinforces status and authority distinctions, since the chief holds the most important and valuable shells and assumes the responsibility for organizing and directing ocean voyages. 4. exchange history elevates the shell’s value and status. To prepare for the dangerous ocean voyage, elaborate prow decorations are ritualistically attached to their large canoes. KULA EXPEDITION

Prows and splashboards are designed in human, bird and serpents motifs, referencing spirits, ancestors and totemic animals. Adapting to modern times, the kula exchange is mostly by motorboat and mostly for business and political networking. Trobriand Islands prow decorations 19 th and 20 th centuries

New Ireland Island Melanesia (next)

part of Papua New Guinea which became independent in 1975 New Ireland is part of the modern nation of Papua New Guinea and part of the Bismarck Archipelago. The 216 mile long island of New Ireland is referred to as being musket shaped. The narrowest point is about 16 miles wide, the widest is 66 miles. It has a mountain ridge and rain forests. Various countries have claimed it. Germany to develop a copra crop, the French, Australia in 1942, then captured by the Japanese during WWII. In 2012 and 2013, volcanoes erupted and in 2013 they had an 6 point earthquake.

New Ireland, became independent in Malaggan masks are a practical way of capturing the spirits of recent dead relatives or clan members. The median age is 18.7 years. Their art is centered on mortuary ceremonies and feasts to honor the dead. In the Malanggan (the living) ceremony, the masks are a representation of the dead souls that actually enter the sculptures. During the ceremony, the souls leave the sculptures. It had been traditional for the islanders to destroy the masks. That is no longer practical. The masks are now kept for the coming years.

The masks are called tatanua. They are primarily made of soft wood, vegetable fiber and rattan. The crested hair duplicates a hairstyle formerly common among the men. The eyes are made of sea-snail shells. They are painted black, white, yellow and red. These are the colors the people of New Ireland associate with warfare, magic spells and violence. Some are display pieces, while some are worn by dancers.

Malanggan rites are part of an ancestor cult and are critical in facilitating the transition of the soul from this world to the realm of the dead and the rechanneling of energy from the deceased into the community of the living. Mounting the festival is a source of revenue and socializing.

Malangan is a name for art objects. Malangan is also the name of an actual memorial event to honor deceased people on the north coast of New Ireland, an island in Melanesia, now part of Papua New Guinea. Tatanua mask, New Ireland, Melanesia, Papua New Guinea 1900 CE wood, shell, lime, and fiber, 1' 6" high (College Board image) College Board image

Malagan display and masks New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea Early 20th century C.E. similar

The construction of the objects, masks and staging can take months, even years, to accomplish. This Melanesian island is a land rich in masking and performance arts. These objects are created to memorialize the deceased and to create a memory of, and a memorial to, that person. Elaborate 3-dimensional constructions populate public altars and large masks with their regalia will be danced in the celebration.

When the celebration is over, the deceased is elevated to a new station in the social hierarchy, the objects are destroyed, making the memory itself a new object.

Young and old. Men, boys, women and girls. Everyone gets into the action.

She is still a little shy about performing in front of everyone. But it is a great day.

Female diety, Goddess Kawe Polynesia (next)

40 islets lagoon is 4.7 mile diameter population 372 in 2007 Nukuoro Island, Caroline Islands, Polynesian outlier island bordering Micronesia (Google Earth image)

Nukuoro Island, Caroline Islands, Polynesia Nukuoro is at the top eastern edge of Polynesia, very close to the Carolines, in Micronesia.

Note that there is only one opening, or channel, from the sea into the lagoon.

Female Deity Nukuoro Island, Caroline Islands (largest group of islands), Polynesia/ Micronesia c. 18 th to 19 th century CE wooden statue She is named: TINO AITU THE EVIL GOD DINONGA EIDU It was believed that she had control over natural disasters and when the male god, Laigausema, was away, she could cause serious trouble. Extraordinary offerings were made to please her and stop her, such as giving her the 1 st crop or even human sacrifice.

This large frontal deity figure is a blend of POLYNESIAN SENSBILITY and MICRONESIAN STYLE. As you have learned so far, the Melanesian style is based on an ancestor cult, and symbols related to kin. The Micronesian art style presents itself as elegant form and volume. The Polynesian style is unique by virtue of its large scale, solid volume and the fact that it presents as a deity. The elegant, smooth, clean lines with the fine polished wood and solid form

Female chest Female chest and vulva This sculpture is 7 feet tall with large breasts and in a New Zealand museum.

Some of these figures are life- sized, carved from breadfruit wood, a course grained, soft, red colored wood. The one above here shows some damage. The marks on the right thigh are called tattoos. The figures all follow the same design rule: - elbows and knees are small protuberances -the navel is a small depression -the spinal column is a depression in the back -the edges of the hands are divided by small notches into five fingers -the head has a pointed chin, stylized pierced ears and nose

Goddess Kawe The combination of Micronesian form (minimal, elegant form and volume) and Polynesian content (large scale, clean lines, fine polished wood) make this an Oceanic image. The goddess figure held the power to be protective and would have been placed in a community space, amalau, along with other figures of clan ancestors.

Tapa, the cloth of Oceania TAPA, THE TEXTILE OF THE PACIFIC

Hiapo (Tapa, the textile of the Pacific) Niue (nee-oo-ey) Island, Polynesia 1886 CE bark cloth with freehand painting

. Niue The bark is peeled from the mulberry tree, soaked and pounded thin. This is the cloth of all of the Pacific islands, but the methods of beating, layering, joining and coloring may vary from place to place and is distinguished by each unique design.

Tapa cloth, each with a distinctive style of a particular areas of the Pacific. Niue is distinguished by the circular painted design. Writing and a date also add to its uniqueness.

(see lower corner for date) Tapa is not just a fashion statement. Tapa is used in both utilitarian and ceremonial contexts to mark status, particular events and relationships through presentation, performance and appearance. Tapa cloth is produced by women. It is ubiquitous in the region.

(next) Navigational Charts in the Marshall Islands

The vast sea distances, but the sea also connects. Personal navigation chart (stick charts) Marshall Islands, Micronesia CE wood and fiber

To that one individual, this chart describes the surface of the sea currents, winds, landfall and his interpretation of nature. They are often seen as maps or astronomical charts, however they were much more idiosyncratic, used only by their creator and not actually carried to sea. In societies without written communication and using vessels built without metals, the skills and information known and stored by individual navigators had to be substantial and sufficient to navigate routes across thousands of miles … and return. Sea, land and sky as they affect navigation. These charts were made by one person as his own individual document, for his use only.

These charts contain many of the choices and manipulations of materials that are present in architecture and ship building in Micronesia.

Symbolic regalia of a Māori chief New Zealand, Polynesia ((next)

New Zealand is an island country comprised of two main landmasses. Polynesians settled New Zealand in CE and developed a distinctive Māori culture. Later settled by the British and today, the legislative authority is Parliament. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth.

Tāmati Wāka Nene was born to chiefly rank, connected to the most notable Māori family in New Zealand. When he was baptized, he added Tāmati Wāka (Thomas Walker) to his name. This royal portrait presents the leader in the regalia of his office. It is also a statement of his person. Two huia feathers signify his chieftainship. They should be sticking up from the back of his head.

Huia bird became extinct early in the 20 th c. partly because of over-hunting for skins (museums) and tail feathers (hat plumbs and other decorations like Māori chiefs). Another reason is that the birds lost their habitat because European colonizers leveled forests to grow crops for export. The Huia is classified as a wattle bird, indigenous only to New Zealand.

In addition to the huia tail feathers of a chief, he wears the ponamu or greenstone (jade) ear ornament and facial scarification that identifies the particular individual. (from * to * the text refers to a painting that cannot be found) Oil on canvas painting by Gottfried Lindauer in 1890 CE.

Portrait of Tamati Waka Nene left is a photograph by Samuel Stuart of New Zealand Close, but not a perfect match.

“WITH RED EUROPEAN SEALING WAX, HOLDING A JADE CLUB, KIWI FEATHERS TWINED INTO A FINGER WOVEN FLAX CLOAK WITH AN ELABORATE BORDER” This appears to be a Daguerreotype. This appears to be the red wax. These appear to be the jade.

Portrait of Te Pehi Kupe, a Māori chieftain, painted by John Henry Sylvester. The tattoo is no more dominant then the glance or the clothing. Te Pehi Kupe made this drawing of his own tattoo from memory, without a mirror. Note how the design is divided into 4ths.

Specially trained priests usually performed the tattoos. Rituals, chants, or ceremonies accompanied the procedure. Black carbon-based pigment was forced under the skin with a bird-bone tattooing comb or a chisel and a mallet.

In Māori thinking, every Māori object is an ancestor. People trace their kinship to one of the original canoes that came from central Polynesia to New Zealand.

Missionaries bring Christianity In the early 19 th century, many Māori embraced Christianity and large numbers converted and joined the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church, both still highly influential in Māori society. Ratana is a Māori religion

Aboriginal dreaming (next )

Face and body painting

Island cultures vary in politics, language, culture, and art forms. Melanesia, the westernmost group, has the largest individual islands: Australia and New Guinea. European explorers, in the 18 th and 19 th c. found that the Aboriginal people had a special relationship with the land. Their perception of the world centers on the concept of Dreaming. Dreaming is a spiritual occurrence when the ancestral world was created. The ancestors today, are the trees, rocks, water etc. They believe that a depression in a rock or in the ground represents a footprint or a sitting place for an Ancestral Being or that a river was formed when the Rainbow Serpent passed through the area in the Creation Period. An Australian Aboriginal man

Tonga welcomes the Queen of England (next ) Polynesia

Tonga

Woven mats are items of particular value in exchanges among the islands of Micronesia and Polynesia. Solid colored pandamus fiber mats adorned with red feathers are considered particularly valued and often are produced in Samoa.

Islander goals to strive for in life: accumulation of wealth and having good standing/status in relations with leaders and societies and wearing these cloths at funerals, weddings and births.

Processional welcoming of British Queen Elizabeth II to Tonga, Central Polynesia, in 1953 With great fanfare, gifts of the rolled up mats are carried out by costumed women. The women have some cosmetic marks on their faces, are wearing perfumes and dresses made from tapa cloth.

Procession walks along the tapa cloth. The women who made and painted the cloth hold it tautly in place and smile as the two queens pass by them. There will be performances with chants, dance, instrumental music, pandanus fiber hibiscus mats, costumes, cosmetics and scent. An event that addresses all the senses.

We leave you now

The end