Iolani

This was the tenth running of this biennel festival, that is held on a different island each time. Every 4 years it is at one of the larger islands, either Ua Pou, Nuku Hiva or Hiva Oa, the latter being the location this year. In between there is a smaller festival at one of the other islands, Ua Huka, Tahuata or Fatu Hiva, so that there is actually an event every other year. Those last three islands are too small and lacking in infrastructure to host the large amount of people who attend the festival. The vast majority of attendees are actually the performers themselves. Nuku Hiva, the largest island in this archipelago, sent about a hundred people to Hiva Oa for this past festival. The performers all slept on the floor of the school gymnasium, hundreds of them! The hotel rooms were all booked up months before with tourists. There were about 60 or so sailboats anchored at the main town, and a few more on the nearby island, Tahuata, the crew of which took water taxis each day to see the festival. The anchorage was very crowded, and there was a lot of surge to deal with, so between worrying about the boat and rolling quite a bit, we did not sleep very well. But we were ashore most of the time anyways, so it was a small price to pay.
Each of the four days, there were events all day, from 8 am til around midnight. Dancing made up the bulk of the performances, with large groups from each island in unique and beautiful costumes. There were also conferences, in French or the Marquesan language, on various subjects such as tattooing, traditional culture, the importance of reviving old customs, and the effort to have the Marquesas declared a Unesco World Heritage site. At the Village des Artisans, craft village, there were ongoing demonstrations of carving and tattooing. Each island had a craft tent with items for sale. Tahuata had the most skillfully carved
staffs, clubs, horns and paddles. We coveted a staff with a wooden tiki at the top, carved bone in the center and a 3 ft fully carved tip of marlin bill. There were 6 tikis integrated into the design, one from each island. The $700 price tag put it out of our budget however. We were happy with a $20 tapa (bark cloth) with a tiki motif. If we attend again, I will budget $1000, as there were many extraordinary carvings, especially whales teeth and carved shell with elaborate designs. There was a traditional feast, Umu Tao, Kaikai, one day, free for all attendees, which was probably a couple thousand people. We wandered over to the area where the underground ovens were, and encountered an electrifying scene. Each of the 6 islands had one or two pits, with an adjacent outdoor covered kitchen and prep area. As the pits were ready to open, the groups of men would chant and dance, building up a frenzied energy, then rush to the hot pit, raking away sand then removing the hot leaves til the food, nestled in woven Palm baskets, and arranged in a massive metal cage was uncovered. This cage was suspended from wooden poles and about 16 men manned the poles to bring the cages to the kitchens, chanting and grunting all the while. This was hot work, requiring speed so their hands did not burn. The food was then transferred to massive, 5-6 ft long carved wooden oval shaped bowls, then processionally carried across a large field to the food tents. In front of the tents, each group danced, chanted and drummed some more before opening the buffet. We all had to have with us a natural food receptacle. Barry and I had brought woven Palm frond plates which we additionally lined with leaves. Then the free for all began! It was pointless to line up, as locals would just push in, so we finally followed suit and got some food, a little from each tent til we were stuffed. There was lots of roast pork, roast bananas, poi which is a root of some sort, cassava, taro, etc. in coconut milk, goat in coconut sauce, so many favors of Poisson Cru, many raw crabs with different sauces, there were raw chiton, which are shells that look like rolly Polly bugs that live on rocks, banana cakes, fermented breadfruit purée ( yuk). So many other foods I cannot remember or never tasted. This was a lunch to remember! The islanders all need to raise a lot of money to offer that feast, as well as the money required to costume and transport the performers. It is quite an investment for the locals. None of the performances cost a thing to watch and there is no entry fee at all. The only money we spent was on food, water and art.
After three full days of watching dancing, while sitting on hard stones, you would think we would have had enough, but the fourth day, the festival closed with a presentation by each island, as well as 3 groups of Marquesans living on Tahiti, a group from Rapa Nui ( Easter Island ) and one from Rikitea (Gambiers). Well, it was a great finale. Each dance troupe finished their performance by inviting dancers from the other groups to join in. This was a great crowd pleaser and so much fun to watch. These folks love to have fun, and there was much " dirty dancing ", as well as competitive showmanship. Finally, the drummers formed a circle, so each island group could drum in turn then together. It was a powerful feeling. Our chests and even the water bottle In our hands was vibrating to the rhythms. Then the hundreds and hundreds of performers made a massive circle, which spiraled a few times holding hands and chanting a traditional hymn, then closed the night with an unchoreographed communal Makaianu, which is the pig dance, one of our favorites. It is a shuffling swaying motion, featuring a grunting chant that seemed so strange at first, but grows on you. Barry and I have taken to imitating the chanting on board. So finished four unforgettable days. We are so happy we decided to stay here for this event, to cap our 8 month cruise in French Polynesia.