French Polynesia

French Polynesia Oceania

Student Learning Outcomes: • Use knowledge of global events and trends before 1500 to shed light on contemporary issues • Interpret historical knowledge to extend comprehension of world cultures • Instructional Objectives • Distinguish the characteristics of the worlds major civilizations and discuss their enduring influences • Explain with specific examples, ways in which geographical factors help shape human events

South Pacific

Taaroa was the beginning. • Eventually he created the islands of and around Tahiti, starting with Raiatea, which is also known as Hava'iti, for which Hawaii was named by wayfaring Tahitians. • After making the islands, Taaroa filled the land with plants and animals and the ocean, with fish. • Then he created the first man, Ti‘i who took as his wife the goddess Hina. • the carcass of a giant octopus was holding down the sky, resulting in a permanent state of nighttime.

Maui and his brother Ru undertook to liberate the world from darkness. • Ru attempted to snatch-and-jerk the dead octopus and got a giant-size hernia. • His intestines popped out of his abdomen and floated over to Bora Bora, where they can be seen today in the form of clouds hugging the peak of the silent volcano, Mount Otemanu.

Next, Maui used a sharp-edged seashell, he cut away the octopus' tentacles. • As the detached tentacles fell away, the sky rose up, and sunshine emerged

Spread across nearly 2,000,000 square miles of the South Pacific is Polynesia and its one of its principal islands, Tahiti. • Scholars believe that Settlers first arrived in the Marquesas Islands, around 300 AD and in the Society Islands, including Tahiti, to the west by about 800 AD. • The islands were ruled by a hierarchy of hereditary tribal chiefs.

Great voyagers, they sailed their huge double-hulled canoes steering with huge paddles and pandanus sails. • They navigated by the sun, stars, currents, swells, winds, clouds, and birds.

Tahitian culture is alive in the stone remains of open-air temples called marae. • Marae are found on all the Society Islands but are most abundant on Huahine. • The most important marae (a national monument) is Taputaputea on Raiatea, which was the most prominent political and religious center in the Society Islands.

Taputaputea on Raiatea

Taputaputea is located near the mouth of Fa'aroa Bay, on the east coast of Raiatea. • Polynesian tradition considers this to be the spot from which great voyages of exploration and colonization departed.

It was from Taputaputea on Raiatea that the earliest expeditions led by legendary Polynesian adventurer-sailors and navigators embarked for the distant shores of Hawaii, Easter Island, Pitcairn Island and New Zealand.

Raiatea is a "Sacred Island", the cultural root, and a religious center • To the Maohi, the earliest inhabitants of the region, Raiatea became the legendary Havai'i, the original homeland of their religion, culture and history. • Thus Raiatea the birthplace of the gods. Mt Temehani is believed to be the birthplace of Oro, one of the principal gods of Polynesia.

Tatoo Culture • South Pacific Islanders have been decorating their bodies with symbolistic art for many thousands of years • It's popularly believed among historians that the first and oldest Tattoos known to man were from the South Pacific Islands, (probably the Marquesas).

This ancient art has been passed down through legends, songs, and ritual ceremonies. • The roles, techniques and motifs of the arts of tatau, moko, and uhi have continued to exist for over 2,000 years. • In Tahiti, the Arioi, a class of professional entertainers, used tattoos (tatau) to mark the various ranks and status within their troupes. • the Society, Tuamotu, Austral, Gambier and Marquesas Island have unique designs. • Thus, it was possible to identify a person's origins based on their tattoos.

The master of tattooing was a highly trained individual, usually male, who was knowledgeable of both literal and figurative meanings of motifs, placement, and associated responsibilities or consequences. • the master who determined not only what designs were appropriate, but also who could be tattooed and when. • The master might also instruct the subject on what protocols and prohibitions needed to be observed before proceeding. • Some of these requirements were fasting or a special diet or refraining from certain activities that might "taint" the person spiritually.

The master was well compensated for his efforts. • tattooing tended to be done on those of the higher social strata, the master was often fed and housed during the duration of the tattooing session. • With great gifts come great sacrifices and the master often had to give up having a family or other permanent relationships for their craft.

The master's lifestyle was also restricted to avoid tainting themselves or their work. • There were spiritual responsibilities as well. It was often a patron god who was credited for giving the master the necessary skills. • The master always had to take care not to offend their gods lest their gift of tattooing others be taken away.

Some design elements that were common throughout Polynesia were linear geometric motifs, petroglyphs, and very basic pictographic representations of men, animals, birds or other man-made objects. • Each of the geometric designs, including lines; triangles; circles and other polygonal symbols had multiple meanings based on placement on the body, incorporation with other designs, and the person being tattooed.

First, the design was marked and major sections were outlined on the skin, usually with charcoal or colored earth. • Then, the master began work with the needles, which were often made of bird bone, turtle shell, bamboo, and occasionally shark teeth. • The tattooing itself was a process of multiple taps.

Oily fruit soot was used for coloring once it had been diluted in water. The soot from the burned candlenut was collected and mixed with a variety of liquids including candlenut oil, sugar cane juice, coconut milk/water, other plant-based liquids or water to produce the ink. • In Hawai'i, after the ink was inserted the first time, the uhi was sometimes darkened with the juices or saps of other plants.

A tattooing session typically lasted until dusk or until the men could not longer stand the pain and would resume the following day • The entire process would often last almost three months. Afterwards, the men's family helped him celebrate, despite his pain, by throwing a party, and the tufuga smashed a water vessel at his feet, marking the end of the ordeal.Within six months, the distinctive designs would begin to appear on their skin but it

Women too endured tattooing, but their patterns were typically smaller, most often on the thighs, legs or on their hands. • Tattoos on the hands, called lima, were required to be able to serve kava, a drink made from the root of the kava shrub, during ceremonial occasions. • Doing so was one of the greatest honors in Samoan culture.

The wholly tattooed buttocks, so often to be seen in travelers' drawings, were used to designate inhabitants from neighboring islands who had become prisoners and could have been employed for menial tasks.

French Polynesia