Oceania and

Polynesia

Presented By:Moureen CaroroBerenice ChavezLindsay Backer

Jake TaylorThanya Hernandez

Melissa HinesEmilio Castillo

Oceania and Polynesia

• Made up of over 20,000 islands• Oceania is split into three sections• Melanasia• Polynesia• Micronesia

Hawaii

Presented By:Moureen Caroro

Hawaiian Islands

The Flower Lei

• Used for many occasions and is offered with a kiss and removed only in private.

The HulaHula Kahiko is accompanied in the Hawaiian language along with drums and is performed for storytelling or for religious ceremonial purposes.

Hula auana is colorful, fun, upbeat and musical. Dances are accompanied by song in English or Hawaiian, as well as ukuleles and piano guitars.

The Legends

• A way to document history, knowledge, facts, and beliefs from generation to generation.

• Has many superstitions and omens. Rain and rainbows are considered blessings from gods. Its still considered bad luck to bring bananas on a boat, to step over a baby who is lying on the floor and to wear a lei if you’re pregnant.

Tattoos

Native designs designate tribe and hierarchy.Black ink was made up of kukui nut ashes and sugarcane juice. Some contents were poisonous and ancient instruments would’ve meant extreme pain.

Designs have several meanings and can symbolize tiki face, turtles, oceans, shark teeth, the sun, etc.

“Local Food”

Spam Musubi!!!!• A popular snack or lunch food in Hawaii that is portable and inexpensive. Very

common in convenient stores, such as Seven Eleven and Food Land.

Tonga

Presented By: Berenice Chavez

Tribal Art

• In Tonga, the tribal art has an all over pattern of angular detail containing minute human figures.

Tonga, Polynesia, 1967 Barkcloth

• In Tonga, the production of decorated barkcloth, or ngatu, involves dyeing, painting, stenciling, and perfuming. Mele Sitani made this one with two-bird design for the coronation of Tupou IV.

Barkcloth..

• Tapa production reached its peak in the early 19th century• Artists produce barkcloth from the inner bark of the paper

mulberry tree.• When the production of Barkcloth reached its zenith, tapa

became the most widely used term, in addition barkcloth has a spiritual dimension in that it can confer sanctity upon an object wrapped in it. The Polynesians traditionally wrapped the bodies of high-ranking deceased chiefs in barkcloth.

• Tapa was intended for ceremonial or ritual purposes was dyed, painted, stenciled, and sometimes perfumed

• The designs applied to the tapa differed depending upon the particular island group producing it and the function of the cloth.

Female Figure- Early 19th century(Ha'apai Archipelago)

• The ivory figures of the Ha'apai Islands of Tonga probably represent female deities or prominent ancestors, for whom the figures served as vessels (vaka) in which the power of the divinity resided. Normally kept in shrines, many figures also have a hole in the back of the head or neck and were reportedly worn by high-ranking female chiefs as ornaments on important occasions.

• Artists created the rich patina of the figures by anointing them with coconut oil and smoking them over a fire fed with sugar cane or sweet tubers, imparting a golden hue to the surface that accentuates the natural grain of the ivory.

Tonga Chigaro Stool

• These, now African art, Tonga stools were important status symbols used by the head of the household and known as Chigaro to the Tonga people.

• Material: Wood• Size: 7.25" (18.42 cm)

Tahiti

Presented By Lindsay Backer

• Largest island in French Polynesia.

• Island has a long held fascination with Westerners.

• Islanders are referred to as Maohi.

• Tahitian art served two functions.

• To honor and communicate with the gods, spirits, and ancestors.

• To accompany the bodies of

chiefs, warriors, and other high-ranking individuals.

• A lot of their art: landscapes, paintings, weaving, carving.

• Colors in paintings are vivid.

• Many naturalistic views: body and landscape.

• Found by Bristish sea captian in 1822.

• Figure may represent a god, spirit. Or sorcery.

• Large belly: dwelling of emotions and human soul.

Double Headed Figure

• Made with wood, husk fiber and feather.

• Feathers are supernatural and provide power to it.

• Oro art was taken and made abstractly.

Image Representing the God Oro

• Made with whale ivory and fiber.

• Once owned by the Tahitian royal family.

• Functional objects – just like today. Craft showed social status.

Handle for a Fly Whisk

Rapa Nui

Presented By Jake Taylor

Rapa Nui Island

• Rapa Nui Island is the eastern most Polynesian island out of the entire Oceanic and Polynesian cultures.• Currently 3000 people occupy

the island, mainly in the village of Hanga Roa of the west coast.• Over 2000 miles away from

both Tahiti and Chile• The Final Step of Human

Migration

Headdresses

• The Rapa Nui people created headdresses very similar to those found in Tahiti• There is a recognizable

difference between male and female headdress.• A large amount of the

headdresses were made out of bark cloth with added feathers.

Bark cloth

• The designs of the Bark Cloth were made by a technique using a bone needle.• Created by beaten soaken strips

of bark into strips to create a cloth like substance.

Wood Carved Figures

• Representation of eyes by means of a shell ring with a black obsidian pupil, are among the most remarkable in all Polynesia.• Heads are exaggerated much like

the Moai sculptures.• The tools used to create the

sculptures are from the same material that the Moai are sculptured out of.

Moai Sculptures

• Carved out of a volcanic stone called tuff.• Cut from the quarry of the

Volcano, Rano Kau• Moai had multiple

representations such as family tribal gods or village elders• The Platform here is believed

to represent village chiefs and elders

Moai Figures

• The figures are pointed inland watching over the lives of the people.• Because the Island was so isolated,

early settlers believed they were the only ones on earth.• In some ways the Moai are pointing

inward to protect the people from the unknown.

Cost of building the Moai

• Many archeologist call the sacrifice of building the Moai Eco-Suicide• The Rapa Nui people destroyed

thousands of trees and large amounts of land to move the Moai into place.• This led to harsh ecological

devastation.

New Ireland

Presented By Thanya

Hernandez

• New Ireland is part of a modern nation East of Papua New Guinea• It has a population of 118,350 and is primarily a dense rainforest.• There is an estimated total of 20 spoken languages and an estimated

total of 45 sub-dialects.• Most people live in a small rural villages and are sustenance famers.

They grow sweet potato's, taro, cassava, copra and cacao.

Tatanua Masks• Tatanua masks are primarily made of soft wood, vegetable fibers and

rattan. The eye balls are made of sea snail opercula.• These masks are used to represent the spirits of the dead and were

used during ceremonial rituals such as malanggans. • The crested hair is meant to depict the common hairstyle that was

shared among the men.• After they were used, the masks were recycled for future use or were

put up for display in their homes simply for decorative purposes.

Funerary Figures (Kulap)

• Kulap figures were used to represent individuals who had recently died• They were created by specialists who lived near the limestone quarries in the

Rossel Mountains.• When a family member died, a male relative would journey to the mountains

and acquire a male or female Kulap, depending on the gender of the deceased.• After he returned, the Kulap was placed in a shrine inside a ceremonial

building.• The Kulap sole purpose was to serve as a temporary abode for the spirit of the

dead in order to prevent the spirit to cause harm to the living.• After an appropriate amount of time, the figures were destroyed and the souls

of the deceased passed.

Malanggan Rites

• Memorial festivities were common practices in New Ireland, specifically the Northern areas. • Malanggan rites originate from an ancestor cult which allows the

passing soul to transition from the world of the living to the realm of the dead.• Such rites not only allows the passing of a soul, but it greatly

promoted social gatherings and helped stimulate their economy. • In order to educate their younger generation, malanggan ceremonies

were used for the initiation of young men.

New Zealand

Presented By Melissa Hines

Māori Meetinghouses

Tattooing

Weaving

Dance