Pasifika Festival

A few weeks ago we went to the Pasifika festival, held annually in New Zealand. This year it was held on the beautiful shores of Western Springs Lake. We expected something along the lines of the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii but it didn’t turn out to be anything like that.

Each island nation was represented by its own “village”, with stage performances and booths featuring foods and crafts.

Some surprising things were available.

In native dress in the Fiji village

 

The dancing was the best! This wasn’t the graceful Hawaiian hula but more the fast, Tahitian dancing as well as a heavily rhythmic style we hadn’t seen before.  Unfortunately the crowds were so heavy we couldn’t get near enough to  the stages to take any photos. From watching the children’s demonstrations, though, we learned that they apparently learn to do the “hip-twitch” part sometime between age 3 and 6.

LARGE seemed to be on the menu. It was hot that day, and the fastest-selling items were half-pineapples or half-watermelons filled with ice cream. 

Check out these immense--and beautiful--loaves.

Big vats of Paella

 

Jan—being a fabric collector—bought a strip of tapa cloth. This cloth is papery, made from a labor-intensive process of pounding bark, which is dried and then painted. 

Jan's tapa cloth

 

Tapa cloth is traditionally a ceremonial gift and if it is given by someone important or by royalty, it has significant value. In our own third-floor stairwell at the office hangs a HUGE tapa cloth given to the Church by one of the old Tongan queens, an inestimable treasure. The painted designs have symbolic meanings explained on the card beneath, but some of the meanings have been lost in the mists of time.    

Beautiful Tongan tapa in our office stairwell.