#Fatu Hiva

[malbecmusings]

Fatu Hiva, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia

[2023suedsee]

So jetzt bin ich wieder zurück in der Zivilisation......die die meinen wathsappStatus verfolgt haben, konnten kleine Hinweise auf meine Reise sehen. Jeden Tag so rund 5 Minuten gabs auch mal Internet..........Also gestartet sind wir in KAUEHI einer kleinen Insel. Dort gabs Dorfangucken und baden. Es gab auch eine schöne Kirche. WIr haben gezeigt gekriegt, wie frau Palmblätter flechtet. Wohnen tun dort gefühlt 3 Menschen (es sind 250). Einsam und SEHR schön. Dann folgte ein Tag auf offener See, toll, das Schiff ohne Stabilisatoren hat geschwankt und getrudelt, ich fühlte mich total wohl und nachts war das ein Gefühl wie damals in der Wiege............8-)))))))) Dann kamen wir nach NUKU HIVA der ersten der Marquesas Inseln. Schön grün, sehr einsam, wenig Menschen und Häuser. Wir wurden auf der ganzen Insel herum gefahren (2 Strassen, 2 Dörfer). Es gab eine schöne Kirche in Taiohae, ein Kunsthandwerkzentrum in Taipivai, dann der Besuch der archeologischen Stätte Hatiheu mit einer eindrücklichen Vorführung von Haka. Bei einer zweiten archeologischen Stätte, Kaumihei, gabs dann ein feines Buffet, nachher konnten wir, zurück in Taiohae noch ein bisschen im Dorf herum streule und dann gings zurück aufs Schiff. Am Abend wurden wir mit einem wunderbaren polynesischen Abend beschenkt mit Haka und Ukulele................ In UA POU war wandern angesagt. Easy peasy dachte ich, aber in dieser Hitze kein Zuckerschlecken, man schwitzt wie diese kleinen süssen rosafarbenen Tiere........... Auch diese Insel wunderschön grün, irgendwie anders, einsam, beeindruckend. Auf dieser Insel hatte es viele Pferde. Am nächsten Tag auf UA HUKA wurden wir als erstes zu einem wunderbaren botanischen Garten gebracht. Eine wunderbare Vielfalt an Pflanzen. Die Marquesas sind total fruchtbar. Dort habe ich zum ersten Mal die wunderbare Faser Kapok direkt wachsen sehen. Danach haben wir ein Petroglyphen Museum besucht und ein Seemuseum. Die obligaten Kunsthandwerksmärkte durften auch nicht fehlen. Zum Mittagessen gab es wieder ein wunderbares marquesanisches Buffet. Dann kam HIVA OA die Insel auf der Gaugin und Brel gelebt haben im Ort Atuona. Am nächsten Tag auf der anderen Seite von HIVA OA haben wir die Kultstätte IIPONA besucht. Eindrückliche Steinmännchen und viel über RItuale erfahren. (z.B. wie das Hirn der getöteten Feinde aufgequirlt wird zwecks Verhindern, dass sie wieder kommen.....) im Örtchen Vaitahu eine weitere Kirche, diese mit echten, vom Vatikan finanzierten Glasfenstern.......Dann kam FATU HIVA, die Insel, die mir am besten gefiel, die südlichste und kleinste. Man konnte über die Insel von Ort 1 Omoa zu Ort 2 Hanavave wandern. Am Morgen bekamen wir gezeigt, wie Tapa (ein RIndenstoff) hergestellt wird, am Nachmittag wurde die Herstellung von Umuhei geziegt (Kokosöl mit Kräuterwürze). Ich habe mich freiwillig gemeldet für die Anwendung dieses Öles, herrlich. Dann mussten wir weg von den Marquesas wieder einen Tag übers offene Meer, den Abschlusstag haben wir dann auf Rangiroa mit Schnorcheln verbracht. Und jetzt sitze ich in Papeete im Hotel und lasse die vergangenen Tage Revue passieren. Der Boden schwankt immer noch so ein bisschen........

Fotos wie immer sobald das Netz bezwungen ist..........

[katherinemathew]

Sailing in Tahiti

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h3> Haumana Cruises:

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The Haumana has two 4-day/3-night itineraries available. The Vanira Cruise departs from Bora Bora to Raiatea/Taha’a from Monday to Thursday and the Poerava Cruise departs from Raiatea/Taha’a to Bora Bora from Thursday to Sunday. Included in your 3 night itinerary are all meals, a selection of complimentary wines and non-alcoholic beverages, a half day on-shore excursion in Taha’a and all onboard activities (kayaks, paddle boarding, snorkelling, cultural activities etc). The staff onboard the Haumana are Tahitian locals and proudly involve their guests in learning about their culture and history.

Paul Gauguin Cruises:

Paul Gauguin Cruises are an award-winning luxury small ship cruise company that have been operating 5 star cruises since 1998. They offer multiple itineraries throughout French Polynesia and the greater South Pacific Region. One of the most popular itineraries is their 7 night Tahiti & the Society Islands Cruise which covers Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora, Taha’a & Huahine.

We also love the 14 night Marquesas, Tuamotus and Society Islands itinerary which includes Nuku Hiva, Tahuata, Hiva Oa, Fatu Hiva and Fakarava. Fakarava is a UNESCO nature reserve with endemic flora and fauna and is particularly popular with divers, whereas Hiva Ova is a historical and cultural wonderland with stone sculptures thought to be linked to the Easter Island tikis! With all meals and beverages included, complimentary room service, water sports and on-board entertainment, Paul Gauguin Cruises are a fantastic luxury option to enjoy a longer itinerary in French Polynesia.

Read the full article to know more about Sailing in Tahiti

#spacificatravel #boraboraholidays #boraboraholidayspackages

[maggiegreenenetwork]

The cliffs of Fatu Hiva on Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia

[ranahan]

This article commenting on the recent study of South American ancestry in Polynesia predating contact with Europeans and its subsequent media coverage deserves more reads.

I’ve been reading about Polynesia lately. And for sure I’m limited by the fact that I can only read Nordic languages and English. But I’ve noted that the books and articles I’ve found have pretty much all been written by white people, and they concern the history of European exploration and Western scientific discovery. They all tell the story of how Europeans found Polynesia and figured out how it was settled. It’s at its heart a Western story, not a Polynesian one, with Western framing and Western protagonists.

The whole “Polynesian problem” is based on some very racist ideas to begin with:

That there was a problem to be solved in the first place, because surely the savages could not have crossed the ocean with their primitive crafts before the Europeans had learned how to do so? And if they had, surely it had to have been accidental drift and not intentional voyaging?

And it was also tangled up with some very fucking weird ideas about “noble savages” and finding the assumed white Polynesian ancestors to explain how these peoples could be attractive (= light skinned) by European standards.

This question has some very racist historical baggage, is what I’m saying. I should hope no one is still approaching the question from these grounds, but they often don’t seem aware of the history or wish to acknowledge it either.

Having dug a little deeper into it, I don’t think I can ever again read another article that casually refers to Thor Heyerdahl (a Norwegian who floated across the Pacific on a hope and prayer and fundamentally racist and scientifically flawed theories) and Kon-Tiki but does not name a single indigenous person—like the master navigator Mau Piailug who proved the traditional navigation methods were capable of intentional voyaging across the Pacific—without noticing it. Or read an “impartial” essay that wonders why indigenous navigational knowledge was lost and dispassionately concludes that European methods became more popular. Of course they became more popular—the same way English became more popular than indigenous languages: by force.

I’ve just read the study in question, and while their results certainly are worth the headlines, their discussion was actually worse than I expected even after having read these criticisms. They present a very easy-to-understand explanation for their results from the Rapanui (the contact event happened on another island before the settlement of Rapanui). But then their first hypothesis is:

This is close to the date estimated by radiocarbon dating for settlement of that island group, raising the intriguing possibility that upon their arrival Polynesian settlers encountered a small, already established, Native American population. It was on the island of Fatu Hiva, the easternmost island in equatorial Polynesia, that Thor Heyerdahl hypothesized that Native Americans and Polynesians might have contacted one another, based on islanders’ legends stating that their forefathers had come from the east.

…and here’s Heyerdahl again, way after his crackpot theories ought to have been put to rest already. And what ought to be the simplest explanation is only their “alternative explanation”:

We cannot discount an alternative explanation: a group of Polynesians voyaged to northern South American and returned together with some Native Americans, or with Native American admixture

On the face of it the conclusion seems obvious to me: DNA evidence alone cannot prove who travelled which way, but we do know which people had sailing technology capable of crossing the Pacific. No shade on the historical South Americans, but afaik there’s no evidence they were crossing open oceans on the regular, unlike the Polynesians. The question on which hypothesis seems likelier ought to be trivial. Of course, it isn’t always the likeliest hypothesis which ends up being true, but why go for the far-fetched hypothesis when your results could more easily be accounted by e.g. methodological error?

This article offers a much better articulated criticism:

tldr: The criticisms in the article linked in the original post are well-deserved and actually remarkably level-headed. Mandatory reading for anyone who’s interested in the DNA study.

about that genetic study on Polynesian/South American “early contact” 

[equatorjournal]

[akihiro-daken]

📚

📚 for me to grab the book nearest to me, flip to a random page, and use the first line of dialogue I see as a starter

“One cannot live on beauty alone,” Daken mused, staring at a particularly well-done piece of graffiti on the wall of an alley. “But it does brighten the place up.” He was aware of being watched, and he kept his hands in his pockets because he was an asshole and liked to keep people guessing. 

“Don’t you agree?”

[toby-regbo-italia-blogger]

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[thefeistyobserver]

The cliffs of Fatu Hiva on Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia

[lemeoli]

Fatu Hiva-Marquesas Islands,French Polynesia.

[anthropocore]

Flower and Plant Crowns / Wreaths

Image 1 - “A Cheyenne man, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing right, wearing a wreath of cottonwood leaves on his head, possibly to protect his head from the sun during a Sun Dance, 1910″ - Source: Daily Mail (I’m sure there must be better sources than this but I couldn’t find them)

Image 2 - “umu hei - floral headdresses or crowns, a part of everyday life on the island of Fatu Hiva,” French Polynesia. Source

Image 3 - “Woven from fragrant herbs and delicate flowers, decorated with colourful ribbons and endowed with magical content, the wreath is one of the oldest symbols of Ukraine.“ Source

Image 4 - “In China, the orange blossom flower crown was customarily worn during a wedding. Since orange trees blossom and bear fruit at the same time, they’re meant to symbolize fertility and were thought to bring children to a marriage.” Source

Image 5 - “For Kahlo, the flower crown became an evocative symbol of the naturalism of her native Mexico, which was in part inspired by this garden and traditional Mexican dress.” Source

Flowers and plants worn as headdresses seem to have occurred pretty much everywhere that humans have lived alongside foliage. For special occasions and ceremonies; as a signifier of identity or status; for aesthetics or practical reasons. Different leaves, flowers and branches carry different meanings and intentions. Next time you don a flower crown, consider which style you are emulating, and what meaning may lie among the petals on your head.

[femalecomplexx]

The cliffs of Fatu Hiva on Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia

[timetolearnoclock]

to this green island came the outsiders ...

“To this green island came the outsiders in 1595; Fatu Hiva’s evil days began. Sailors, whalers, and traders brought such a plague of ills that the population dropped from thousands to hundreds. Palms hide a village’s ugly iron roofs. The steepled church stands out.”

Quote taken from original text included with the image in the magazine

January 1950

[haley-mcclure]

The cliffs of Fatu Hiva on Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia

[equatorjournal]

Fatu-Hiva, 1937. "Thor and Liv began to take an interest in local stories about where Fatu Hiva's forefathers had come from. They had already heard the prevailing anthropological theories that all of Polynesia had been populated by people from East Asia. Heyerdahl's theory that indigenous South American peoples were the first to populate Polynesia took shape after he and Liv made several interesting discoveries on Fatu Hiva and the neighboring island of Hiva Oa. Thor asked Liv if she would accompany him on a trip to an island in the South Pacific. He wanted to escape Western civilization and return to nature, surviving only on what nature would provide, like many islanders of the South Pacific. It was not difficult to convince Liv to join him. They decided to head for Fatu Hiva, one of the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia." https://www.instagram.com/p/CmpJbgNNDTJ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[allstonpudding]

The cliffs of Fatu Hiva on Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia