Tiki Identification - General Tiki

B bigbrotiki Tiki Socialite Tiki Island, above the Silverlake Joined: Mar 25, 2002 Posts: 11621	B bigbrotiki Posted posted on Sat, Nov 22, 2008 10:26 AM Since Polynesian and Oceanic mythology was a culture based on ORAL tradition (elders remembering the stories and meanings of the gods and passing them on to the next generation) and not, like in Western cultures, on TEXT and IMAGE sources (books, scrolls, documents/paintings, prints, drawings, photos), the breaking of that "chain of transmission" by Western influences (Christian missionaries, diseases, and general cultural expansion) has resulted in the fact that very little reliable information has survived about the specific idols and their meanings. Some (very few) are more clearly defined, but not all scholars agree on everything, so you will not find any easy "Tiki handbook for Dummies" anywhere. The charm of mid-century Tiki culture was that that lack of historic information did not keep its makers from taking creative license with what WAS known. That creative license though is often over-stretched by today's Tiki artists by being taken as a stylistic free-for-all, which it is not. My advice: Look and learn what you can, and then ad your own twist to the Multi-nesian mix. Start HERE: http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=26061&forum=7 [ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2008-11-22 10:28 ]

Since Polynesian and Oceanic mythology was a culture based on ORAL tradition (elders remembering the stories and meanings of the gods and passing them on to the next generation) and not, like in Western cultures, on TEXT and IMAGE sources (books, scrolls, documents/paintings, prints, drawings, photos), the breaking of that "chain of transmission" by Western influences (Christian missionaries, diseases, and general cultural expansion) has resulted in the fact that very little reliable information has survived about the specific idols and their meanings. Some (very few) are more clearly defined, but not all scholars agree on everything, so you will not find any easy "Tiki handbook for Dummies" anywhere.

The charm of mid-century Tiki culture was that that lack of historic information did not keep its makers from taking creative license with what WAS known. That creative license though is often over-stretched by today's Tiki artists by being taken as a stylistic free-for-all, which it is not.

My advice: Look and learn what you can, and then ad your own twist to the Multi-nesian mix.
Start HERE:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=26061&forum=7

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2008-11-22 10:28 ]

Post #420285 by bigbrotiki on Sat, Nov 22, 2008 10:26 AM