On December 22nd we dinghied back over to Vaitahu from our anchorage at Hapatoni village. The village is much quieter now that the Matava festival is over. But we noticed many of the tikis were still there around the dance stage. This stone carved guy was here before and has the same symbol on his belly that is on the wall behind the stage.
The pinks and blues of the stone on this guy are interesting and I love that someone left him their head dress of woven palm frons.
This is a woman tiki who is holding a baby, but also has baby tikis carved into her hair ponytail.
Up on the stage by the back wall, a new permanent stone tiki is guarded by 3 wooden ones.
The details on the wood carvings is quite impressive. This one has a big lizard on his head.
Here you can see the face of the lizard and his hair tied in a knot on top of his head and a earring carved into his ear.
This one has the Marquesan cross as a sun above the water on his headdress.
This one has a baby carved in a pocket inside his arm. Notice the way the wood had both whiter and darker grain areas in the brown wood.
Close up of the tiny tiki inside his arm. How did he carve that?!?!
We were here to visit our personal favorite carver Poi, who we had met in October when in Fatu Hiva at Hanavave Bay (also known as the Bay of Virgins with the giant stones). Poi was here selling his carvings at the festival and staying at his parent's house. He grew up in Hapatoni village, but his parents have now moved to the bigger village of Vaitahu. We commissioned him in October for a piece of artwork similar to one that Mike and I admired greatly. The deal was he would bring it to the festival where we would we would pick up our piece. He custom carved rainbows and ocean waves into the head which is made of iron wood. The carved handle of the Ceremonial club is made from a swordfish bill. And it is all tied together with a natural fiber twine. You can see Mike is ecstatic and Poi is quite proud of his work.
He showed us some other smaller pieces carved of bone and stone. His detail is very impressive.
I love this shot with Poi and his baby and the detail you can see of the wood grain.
The whole family wanted in on the photo taking, so now we have his niece and nephew and me in the photo too.
The anniversary couple with their priceless Marquesan Ceremonial Club!
This is Poi's sister, who is living in the old family home over in Hapatoni, holding both the babies, hers and Poi's. As a side note, Poi lives in Fatu Hiva because the men move to the village of their wives.
When we got back to the quay the kids were having a ball playing and jumping in the water. Of course they are on Christmas break from school and this is the height of Summer, so it is hot!
Mike paddled our inflatable kayak out to where he anchored the dinghy. We put it out there so the kids would not jump in it or fill it with water splashes, but the two guys in the water had swum out there anyway and were hanging out in it when he arrived. They had to go back and play with the younger kids now.
When we arrived back near Hapatoni, the dolphins were there to greet us. They were jumping and playing in front of the dinghy.
They stayed with us all the way from the point back to the boat. This is why we love this bay!!
For Christmas Eve the Hapatoni choir was going to be singing at the church in Vaitahu, where the TV station would be filming it to show in Tahiti. We were invited by several friends and told to dress in white. The only thing I had was my wedding dress to wear, but that is why I bought this one, so I could wear it again when needed, like now! Mike wore is polo shirt with the Avatar logo. This is what we looked like when we arrived at Poi's house before the concert.
But Riva, Poi's wife, had more decorations for us to wear. The lei that Mike is wearing reminds me of the one the Chief had on at the opening ceremony of the festival. She put one in my flower crown as well. These are totally natural very lovely smelling decorations. Mike even has a Tiare flower in his hair! (Thanks Riva!)
When we got to the church all the little girls were having their photos taken on the church steps. So adorable all dressed up in their white dresses and flower crowns.
So Mike takes a photo of his favorite girl in front of the church steps too!
The stain glass windows had been repaired from when we were there in October and were looking beautiful.
Sitting behind our good friend Tahina, who was part of the Hapatoni choir. I got this photo right before the service started, because after that, no photos were allowed. The bright lights were there for the TV cameras.
After the service we went back to Poi's house and I finally got Riva in front of the camera with me. She is such a sweet lady and an amazing flower arranger. I am wearing the big lei that Tahina gave me at the church. These wonderful people of the island of Tahuata will be forever in our hearts.
The guys took off their dress shirts and now we are all just goofing around, Mike wearing my flower crown!
This time we have spent here, both for the festival and Christmas, we were made to feel like family. Priceless.
No comments:
Post a Comment