Post #730037 by Bay Park Buzzy on Mon, Oct 20, 2014 10:33 PM

Depends on what kind of Hawaiian carving you're talking about. Older traditional vs. Newer Tongan style.

OG Hawaiian did have tongues. Check these:

Rarotongan/Tangoroa are typically laid out as such:

4 lines make the mouth
5 lines make the eyes

The round "pregnant" stomach with the navel is a female fertility deal, based in folklore and such that has an emergence origin myth. That's coupled with the penis, the prevalent male symbol of fertility, vitality, etc.

It can be argued that the main difference in carving philosophies between the Hawaiian and rartongan is as follows: rarotongan are more surface decorative based, while Hawaiian relies on emphasis of volume. That would explain the lack of tongue features on the Rarotongan type figural carvings.

And you cannot draw ANY conclusions about traditional Polynesian carvings style based on what you see done on today's mugs. It's a no rules anything goes thing the mug makers got going on now.

Buzzy Out!