After World War II, US soldiers stationed in the South Pacific returned to the States with stories of trees loaded with exotic fruits, azure lagoons rimmed by white-sand beaches, and a race of strikingly beautiful people who wore clothes made from grass and feathers, who danced half-naked during all-night orgies of food and music.

Americans fell in love with this romanticized version of South Pacific island culture, and books such as Michener's Tales of the South Pacific and Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki fueled the mystique. Soon, every kind of structure imaginable - from bowling allies to ski resort lodges - was sporting elements from Polynesian design. The most prevalent symbols, of course, were Tikis, those carved wooden and stone statues found across the Pacific, from Hawaii to Easter Island to New Zealand.

The Polynesian pop phase flourished from the late '40s through the early '70s. Trailer courts were named "Bali-Hai Estates." Luau parties - with day-glo colored cocktails served in ceramic volcanoes and coconut mugs, ukulele music on the record player, and Tiki-torches staked into the back lawn - became a yearly suburban tradition. But eventually, people lost interest in Polynesian pop. Across the country, one by one, Trader Vic's and Don the Beachcomber restaurants closed their doors, replaced by fern bars and discotheques. The Tiki was forgotten, another cultural relic cluttering the way of people's quest for new fun.

But, to the Polynesians, the Tiki represent powerful, protective ancestral figures; these images were placed at me'ae (sites consisting of platforms, walls, and pavements, located in secluded areas and used for religious ceremonies) to aid in the worship of the deified ancestors. Some of the Tiki were quite large, as high as 10 feet and there is a close resemblance in body and leg treatment between the Hawaiian Tiki and Marquesan Tiki. The Tikis are probably closely related to the wonderful Easter Island statues known as Moai (the famous tall figures with flattened heads and elongated noses).

In the South Pacific, there are thousands of islands. Some are still wild and there are places where you can look up to sheer volcanic peaks and walk along the floors of lush green valleys that hide ancient ruins. Included amongst these islands are the Marquesas, a group of 10 islands about 930 miles from Tahiti and 3,000 miles from the nearest continent. Few locales on earth are more remote and, it is believed, that the statutes known as Tiki originated there.

Archaeologists hold that the Polynesians arrived in the Marquesas around 1000 B.C. Heyerdahl spent a lifetime trying to prove that these people came from the Indian tribes of South America. The islands have no tranquil lagoons, no protective coral reefs and a craggy, wild shoreline. The earliest of the artifacts, dating from 150 B.C. to 100 A.D., include fishhooks, sinkers, pottery fragments and adzes. From 100 A.D. to 1200 A.D., the settlers developed peelers, scrapers and pounders for worship. Finally, from 1100 A.D. to 1400 A.D., raised platforms (paepae) for houses and altars began to appear as sites for worshipping, making sacrifices and retelling ancient legends. Charred human bones suggest cannibalism during this time may have been a part of religious rituals. During the period from 1400 A.D. to 1600 A.D., several religious and ceremonial structures, some of monumental size, were built. Tohua (paved public plazas) and the large stone Tiki statues came into existence. Tiki was the zenith of Marquesan art, reached shortly before or around the time of first contact with the Western world.

So this week, to honor our Polynesian brothers and sisters, let’s create some Tikis! I leave it to you what kind. You may create one of the wooden Tiki statutes, which have adorned Tiki Lounges from Honolulu to Moscow. You may want to make one of the wild Tiki masks which so popular in the 50’s or you may wish to recreate one of the beautiful, stately Moai which adorn Easter Island. Whichever you choose, post it here and Happy Tiki hunting to you!

Kaye	Mark	Moonshaye

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