Today we visited Santa Ana, a small island that is known for preserving ancient traditions. They had some beautiful craft work that included carved fishing floats, ceremonial black bowls inlaid with shells, and intricate carved animal designs. I was so busy taking photos that I forgot to check out the merchandise and was rather envious when I saw what others had purchased for some very good prices. But seeing as I have two carvings, a woven basket and a carved ebony walking stick to get home already, it is probably just as well.
The cultural performance put on for us today was quite incredible. We had four sets of dancers and a band that played pan pipes and beat out a rhythm on bamboo and PVC pipes. Again, the performers had come from the village, other parts of the island, and from some of the outlying islands. Here are a few photos to give you a flavor of what we saw.
The mud men are supposed to be Polynesians who come to the island take the local women, but are driven away by the Melanesians. Apparently there is a definite pecking order among the Pacific peoples, and the Polynesians see themselves as being the top rank. The Melanesians see things differently.
Then the women came out to dance, and they were definitely the elderly women of the village. However, they performed a dance that it is usually done by the young, nubile females, with lots of hip thrusting and jiggling body parts. We, being strangers, were not allowed to see this provocative dance done by the girls because it might cause certain problems, so we had to settle for the grannies in their grass skirts and bras. Well, the villagers, and particularly the children, who were also watching the performance, went into hysterical laughter to see the grandmothers out there shaking their booties! It was a quite a sight. I don’t know who enjoyed the performance more - the audience or the dancers!
And the last picture is for everyone in Ann Arbor. Just to prove that it’s a small world, here is a young man of the village we saw wearing a University of Michigan T-shirt. He had no idea of the meaning of the shirt, so we explained it to him. He looks like he would be a good addition to the football team. Go Blue!!!
