Post #58717 by Basement Kahuna on Thu, Nov 6, 2003 9:51 AM

On 2003-11-06 05:05, Tiki Mon wrote:
I've studied tiki culture, both Polynesian and Caribbean (yes, the native Caribbean folks made carvings too...sort of African looking)and I know the difference. However, the average Joe does not...and could care less.

I hate to break it to you, but the concept of difference is moot because there is no such thing (as Carribean Tiki). The Carribeans are creating approximations of the African carvings they left behind when they were brought to the Carribean as slaves in the 17th and 18th centuries to work in the sugar industry. -On the "tiki" that really does exist, the word Tiki emanated from the South Pacific; first with the Maori of present-day New Zealand and later to Tahiti/Bora Bora/Cook Island and the Austral Islands (it loosely means "first man"). It eventually took on similar meaning throughout Oceana. Us haoles sort of took the word and ran with it to mean any sort of South Seas figure. It's Pacific. Always was, always is, always will be. Anyone citing it's origins from anywhere else is misinformed. Do you own Sven Kirsten's "Book Of Tiki","Arts Of The South Seas" illustrated by Miguel Covarrrubias, or Anthony J.P. Meyer's "Oceanic Art"? I'd stop listening to brain-dead parrotheads...They know little past the base instincts "Let's get drunk and screw". Again, too I'd suggest a field trip to the Mai Kai or Trader Vic's.