Tahiti: My "Home" Island Part 1
09/09/2021
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| from NASA |
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| ©Carolyn Fisk |
So far, I have written about the places I visited, but never about where I live.....so here it is.
Since 2015, I have been living on an island the size of Singapore in the the middle of the Pacific Ocean...Tahiti.
You're probably thinking of beaches, coconut trees, the 1962 movie "Mutiny of the Bounty" starring Marlon Brando (btw one of his granddaughters was in my class last year) or Disney "Moana", and you would be right. Though, I want to show you much more to Tahiti than these images. It is more than a tropical tourist destination about 4 000km away from the nearest metropolitan city, Auckland. It's an island with an incredible cultural heritage.
This heritage has been passed down through surf, dance and va'a.
Surfing originated in Polynesia and Tahiti is THE surfing paradise, where spots with crashing waves can be heard for miles around. The first person to document board riding in the Pacific islands was Joseph Banks, the resident botanist on HMS Resolution, who wrote about the Matavai Bay wave riders, near Tahiti's north coast.
"(...) the shore was covered with pebbles and large stones; yet, in the midst of these breakers, were ten or twelve Indians swimming for their amusement: whenever a surf broke near them, they dived under it, and, to all appearance with infinite facility, rose again on the other side." "This diversion was greatly improved by the stern of an old canoe, which they happened to find upon the spot; they took this before them, and swam out with it as far as the outermost beach, then two or three of them getting into it, and turning the square end to the breaking wave, were driven in towards the shore with incredible rapidity, sometimes almost to the beach; but generally the wave broke over them before they got half way, in which case they dived, and rose on the other side with the canoe in their hands: they then swam out with it again, and were again driven back, just as our holiday youth climb the hill in Greenwich park for the pleasure of rolling down it." (source Surfer Today)
Honestly, I have never surfed myself but my friends tell that it is a must-do. The 2024 Olympics surf competition will be held at the most famous surf spot in Tahiti, Teahupo'o.
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| ©AFM Surfer Kauli'i Vast at Teahupo'o 08/2021 |
Traditional Tahitian dances have been well preserved for generations. There are different types of dances for different occasions. For example, greetings, weddings and funerals. Some are "violent", where men shake their legs in and out, this is called the tamure, or on the contrary, some are more uplifting, where women would swerve their hips from side to side to a fast drum beat, that would sound like this (skip to the 1 minute mark).
Very few local women, or even men for that matter, will tell you that they have never danced before. Tahitian dancing is a strict art that takes a lot of commitment. Children often start when they are around 3 years old and dance 4 or more hours per week. If you come by in June, you can watch the HEIVA festival at the To'ata square. It is a dance competition during which the island's dance school students come together to determine who will be the best dancer that year. A requirement is that the dancers make a part of their clothes out of vegetation.
A va'a (or outrigger) is a canoe-like boat that can be rowed by one, two or six people depending on its size. The first recorded use of va'a was by the Melanesians, dating back to 3 000 B.C. They called it" kattumaram" (meaning logs bound together) which gave us the word "catamaran", now used to designate a multi-hulled vessel.
I think that seeing the results of the IVF (International Va'a Federation) World Distance Championship over the past few years, we can all agree that Tahitians are masters when it comes to rowing. AND it's a Paralympic sport (para-canoe)!
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| The va'a is on the top right corner Succession of forms in the development of the Austronesian boat (Mahdi, 1999) ©Obsidian Soul |
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© CM rowing champion KEVIN CÉRAN-JÉRUSALÉMY |
The official language in French Polynesia is French, though most people also speak Tahitian or Hakka (a Chinese dialect) at home. A century ago, the main ethnic groups, Chinese, Tahitian and French, from France, were distinct, but nowadays most Tahitians are mixed so many of them are also Chinese and/or French.
In the late 1800's, French colonisers grew coton and coffee on their land. They needed workers and what better solution than Southern Chinese men looking for work and hoping to send money back to their families? When they arrived, the registerers at the port changed their names to sound more French. The name Wu became Mu Moux Moussin... Cheng became Chin Chan Shan Cheung... Wang became Vongue Wong and so on.
Most of the Chinese ended up staying in French Polynesia and establishing families but the government would only grant their descendants french nationalities in the 1970's. Before then, Chinese kids had to go to schools their parents and grandparents had built for them. Nowadays we have a Chinese Taoist temple, restaurants and shops owned by Chinese, the richest family on the island, the Wans, who own the grocery stores and the bigger pearl shops, is Chinese.
Another aspect of Tahiti is the flora and fauna. Here is a picture of my garden, how many plant species can you already spot?
Mango banana and ur'u (or breadfruit) trees can be found all over the island. The ur'u is a large green fruit between the size of a grapefruit and a watermelon. It is roasted for a while before being consumed in small chunks or as a mash. The taste lies somewhere between bread and potatoes, hard on the outside and soft and crumbly on the inside.
Another more notable fruit you can find is vanilla. 50 grams of vanilla (~8 beans) costs about 40USD. You only need to smell it to understand why, it has nothing to do with whatever vanilla you've tasted before. This delicate bean along with black pearls, fish, noni and coconut oil (that too is very expensive) make up most of Tahiti's exports.
If you ever come by in August/September a must-do is whale watching as whales come to Polynesian waters to reproduce. It's an amazing sight to be swimming near a humpback whale. I did it once in 2015 and at first my dad and I thought that we were watching a full grown whale, when a bigger one rose from under it and we realised that they were a mother and child. We continued snorkling around a bit, until we saw that the guide was motioning us to move as the whale was rising up to the surface! The whole ocean seemed to tremble as the 30 ton animal gasped for air. It was a beautiful moment that I will always treasure.
Sadly, these endangered mammals are being hunted again by Japanese fishermen after the their government withdrew from the International Whaling Commission.
You can also spot bottle-nose dolphins, which, according to me, are the cutest little sea creatures ever! Unfortunately, they are also endangered, here are some ways you can help preserve them, including avoiding items and experiences that exploit marine life such as dolphin facilities and traveling the seas responsibly.
To be continued...
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