Sports Competition Heiva

July 17, 2016

Today we went to the Heiva Tu' Aro Ma'ohi, the Splendeur des sports ancestraux. That means we got to see all those cool ancestral sports we learned at the Rendezvous done by real locals competing for bragging rights among each other. It was held at the Museum of Tahiti Islands right on the waterfront in the town of Punaauia, near the marina where we were anchored.

We decided to tour the museum while there, which was quite interesting. Just out side the door is Capt. Cooks lost anchor. There is a cardboard cut out of the same guy we saw in Nuku Hiva with all the tattoos. The Chief's feather costume and headdress are well preserved, along with a real dug out canoe. We did not see anyone using them, but apparently stilts were used for fun as well. They had many uses for the carved stones.

Outside in the gardens is where all the festivities were being held. We got there early and enjoyed the Tiki gardens decorated with sailing outrigger canoes. One was a hand made plywood boat and the other a modified hobie cat type hull.

We heard the drumming and we knew the dancers had started. In the first group, the guy acting as chief had a huge amount of hair! And both the drums and the drummers were quite large. After the dance they all posed with the crowd, so we could see their costumes close up.

The second group's chief had a huge head full of coconut tree bark peelings and was quite in character. The dancers had spears to use for props in the dance.

The third group was dressed in regalia costumes. Very fancy headdresses and white or red grass skirts. While the girls could really shake their hips (note the flying grass skirts!), the guys wiggled their knees back and forth making a slapping sound with their thighs as they hit together. Their drum team was also dressed in pareo's and had colorful drums. And if you think it was not hot in those costumes, check out the sweat running down the girl's skin in the after show photo.

Now it was time for the games to begin. First we had woman's javelin throwing. There was not a huge turn out, but the girl in the blue dress won. Notice she has a different form than the others. They trow the javelin and try to make it stick into the coconut husk atop a long pole. There were many that missed and landed in the ground area. Glad it was cordoned off! In the men's competition there were a lot more stuck in the coconut. Each one has their own color corrdination, so when the drop the pole they can know exactly who's javelin stuck. One thing we talked about, was back in the 1800's we can not imagine what it would be like to arrive in your boat and have a bunch of those things flying at you!! Not so inviting as today!

The crowd was getting thicker as the stone lifting competition began. The guys in the red and black floral shirts were the judges. You would not want to mess with the guy in charge, as he had the biggest tusks on his necklaces!! There were three different weight classes of stones, heavy, super heavy and extra heavy. In each group the guys lifting the stones got larger and larger too! It was a timed event. There are three guys with stop watches who time how long it takes from when the stone leaves the ground, to when they hold it on their shoulder with one hand off, to show control. They take an average of their time and each guy gets two tries to lift the stone. The fastest guy wins. And let me just say these guys were buff dudes!! We also found out that these stones are stored at the cultural department and are hidden away until next year. So if you want to practice during the year, you have to find your own stone.

Next competition was the copra opening. We call them coconuts, but here copra is a huge industry all over the islands, where the locals dry the coconuts and the government sells them for oil to a number of different industries, but especially cosmetics. Each man was given a pile of coconuts (20 or so). First he has to hack them open (they all bring their own ax or hatchet). Next he has to break them the rest of the way open by hand, then cut the coconut out of the shell. This was also a timed event. It was amazing how many competitors there were and only one minor accident where a guy's finger got a little too close to the swinging blade. There were emergency guys at all the events and they were right on it, but some of his coconuts were red (ew)!

The last event was the one I had really wanted to see, coconut tree climbing. There was a red tie placed up a tree. Each man had to shimmy up the tree and go above the red tie and back down again. Also timed for who was fastest. Most of the guys used a piece of tree bark peel wrapped around their feet to make it up there and used it to slide back down. The guy with the long hair ran and jumped up the tree with nothing on his feet, zipped to the top and back down again. I thought he had the best tie of his pareo too (not to mention a great butt ;-). However, he only got second place. The stud muffin in the red pareo turned out to be the fastest, but with abs like that, no wonder!!

Me, Miguel, Jasna and Rick had a fantastic day enjoying this incredible event.

Captain Cook's anchor in front of the museum

tattooed Marquesan man

a chief's feather formal wear

dug out canoe

stilts

small carved stones

plywood sailboat with outrigger

Tiki garden

woman tiki carrying children

Miguel with Warrior Tiki

Shelly with the big Tiki

converted hobie cat to outrigger sailing boat

the dance shows were about to begin

dude with massive hair!!

big boy drummer (note stools to stand on to reach)

First dance group

posing for photos with audience 

great costumes!!

Second dance troup

wild hat on dance chief

dancers using their spears

acting like fierce warrors

Ladies in the third dance troup with their chief in front

both the men and women dancing together

fancy costumes

lovely ladies in their costumes

the men and their drummers

those girls can shake their hips!!  Look at the flow of the grass skirts!

the men shake their knees together

the drummers

cool drummer dude and his painted drum

if you think it was not hot look at the sweat pouring down these girls chests!! 

The little gal in the blue dress nailed the coconut more than anyone else and won the contest

the ladies coconut with javelins 

can you see all the javelins that missed and hit the ground?

The men's javelin contest

now that is a lot of direct hits on the coconut!!

the judges pull down the coconut to count who got points

The setting by the Museum was lovely

Head judge for stone lifting.  Don't mess with this dude!

Stone lifters get their instructions

These guys are buff!!

 move the stone into position

then just lift it to your shoulder

look ma only one hand

the judges confer with their stop watches

next group of guys with a heavier stone

lift with your back!!

The other guy in the red pereo is there to make sure no one gets hurt (like a stone falling on them)

The winners

The guys in the extra super heavy stone lift competition

Copra contest

wack the coconut with your hatchet

break open the coconut

wack another one look at the juice fly!

each man had his own judge

peel out the meat onto the canvas bag

tree climbing competiton

He made it to the top

This guy ran and jumped up the tree and used only his feet

above the red marker

he makes it look easy coming down

great hair dude!

love how he ties up his pereo too (nice butt!!)

This guy has the best abs of anyone I have seen in French Polynesia!!  The winner!

Miguel, Jasna and Rickster