Festival Day 3: The Last Day

While others were still going strong, we were getting kind of “festival’d out” by the third day. We came in later in the day and spent some time perusing the artisan area where some new vendors had their goods on display. We discovered a beautiful gift for our son-in-law that we knew he’d really treasure and bought it. Ironically the Marquesan craftsman’s name was Paul O’Connor. Many of the Marquesans can trace their ancestry back to crews of the various sailing vessels that plied these waters in the 19th century. I saw a beautiful natural pearl necklace I wanted to buy for Meryl but we were out of cash in hand and these guys didn’t take credit cards.

The reason Marquesan dancers are so good -- they start them very young.

We headed over the Festival site where we watched the tail end of the children’s dances. It’s easy to understand how the Marquesan’s become such great dancers when you see the four and five year olds perform in perfect rhythm.

This is the Mayor's daughter and granddaughter. The granddaughter kept us amused all night long

Even on a remote South Pacific island the iPhone captivates the young.

Meryl with our Australian friends Sasha and Roger off of Ednbal.

We had secured our primo seats from the previous day at the foot of the Mayor (including the cute granddaughter again) and we pleased to see his son sporting a bright fluorescent green SeaHawks Football cap.

The "chiefs" from the various islands present gifts, a time honored South Pacific tradition, to the officials at Hiva Oa.

These rosewood carvings sell for thousands of dollars in Papeete.

The dancers tonight were from Ua Huka, Rapa Nui, Ua Pou and Toa Vii Fenua. Each group presented gifts to the Mayor and High Commissioner and many of these ended up in the lap of the Mayor’s daughter who was sitting next to me. Amazing workman ship in hand carved bowels, tikis, and animals. There were lots of speeches, with the Mayor and other officials invited out the field for the gift presentations. 

The women from Rikitea in the blue dresses try to keep up with the dance team from Rapa Nui.

Not sure you'd want to invite this guy home to meet Mom and Dad after the first date.

One of the beautiful Rapa Nui dancers.

As usual, the Rapa Nui stole the show with a close second from the Ua Po team. Everyone was trying to out do the others and at times it seems everyone was out in the grassy field dancing. To be fair, we learned that the Rapa Nui team were essentially professional dancers who preformed at various hotels and tourist functions on Easter Island. It was evident in their costumes, their choreography, and the creativeness of their dances. Their scanty costumes and incredible physiques did’t hurt either.

The variety and beauty of the dance costumes was amazing.

People were packed everywhere trying to get a clear view of the dancers on the field.

I love this photo of a young Marquesan girl.

The Rapa Nui dancing like only the Rapa Nui can.

A Rapa Nui warrior.

The intricate detail and design is what sets a Marquesan tattoo apart from all others.

This woman had it all together, and she knew it.

The performances went until after midnight, and getting a ride back to the harbor was problematic, but luckily we commandeered a bus from the Aranui 5 (looking like tourists) who dropped us off at the dock. “Say, didn’t I see you in the food tent earlier?”

The next day we got a late start for the final day of the Festival, but arrived to score our now prized seats in the front row with the Mayor. I can’t say we were like family but we were on a first name basis with his granddaughter. All of the dance teams performed and we realized we had seen so much incredible dancing that it was now getting hard to impress us, but we enjoyed every minute none the less. 

Again, the drummers totally set the beat for the week long Festival. Everywhere, day and night, you would hear those drums beating out their pulsating rhythm.

The final moments of the Festival were the passing of the baton to the island of Tahuata which will be hosting a much smaller version of the Festival next year (the smaller islands simply do not have the resources to host large groups of people). In 2018 the festival returns in it’s original size to the island of Nuku Hiva.

Takeaways from the Festival:  The special thing about the Festival is that it is centered on reestablishing the Marquesan culture and language (as most young kids prefer to speak French). The Festival is not a tourist-type event. With the exception of the sailboats and the Aranui passengers, it’s very difficult to even get to Hiva Oa and accommodations are very limited. It’s a gathering by islanders and for islanders. I don’t think many of the customs have changed over the years, the dances are very traditional and the presentation of gifts is imbedded in the Marquesan culture. We felt very welcomed by the Marquesans and felt very blessed to have the opportunity to see a “real” cultural event put on by the local people.