Post #767344 by Club Nouméa on Fri, Aug 12, 2016 6:35 AM

On the Tiki Trail in Avarua

Although tikis in Rarotonga are not as prominent a feature of everyday life as in French Polynesia, Rarotonga's tiki culture has managed to survive the impact of the London Missionary Society, and there are signs that it is definitely healthier than it was a hundred or even fifty years ago. Public art featuring tikis, like this bus shelter on the outskirts of Avarua, is becoming more common.

Here is another example of wall art, at the Punanga Nui Market in Avarua:

Tikis are also to be found in the form of local public statues, all of which date from contemporary times.

A piece outside the National Auditorium:

And another at the entrance to the local campus of the University of the South Pacific:

But my favourite was this joint Maori/Rarotongan piece that was a tribute to the ties between New Zealand and the Cook Islands, at Punanga Nui Market:

And in spite of past missionary hostility to him, Tangaroa has survived and is now an official emblem of the Cook Islands, featured on their newly-minted $1 coin, introduced in 2015:

And even as a quality symbol in the tourism trade:

Indeed, it is in the tourism sector that Tangaroa, Rongo and the other traditional tiki gods (but seldom goddesses) feature most prominently in the Cook Islands. They are one of the few truly distinctive cultural items that really set the Cook Islands apart from the rest of Polynesia and paradoxically are more visible in the tourism sector than in other parts of local society.

Avarua's main drag is Ara Tapu Road, so let's have a wander along there and see what's on offer...

We might as well start at the bottom end of the market first, on the western end of town, at The Gift Shop:

The Gift Shop has some fine looking tikis on display outside its entrance. Sometimes they even dress them up:

Unfortunately the tikis on sale inside are on the tacky tiki end of the scale, although this is a good place to pick up pareus and beach bar type signs, along with other souvenirs.

A couple of blocks further into town, at the other end of the price and quality scale is Island Craft:

Island Craft sells top of the line tikis, at top of the line prices. In the entrance is this large Tangaroa, who stands 5 ft tall:

I was told that in 2015 a rich Dutch couple bought one of these big fellahs and paid NZ$15,000 to have him shipped back to the Netherlands, where he is now a garden feature.

Their smaller tikis range from $NZ25 to NZ$2,000 - the more expensive tikis are pricey but good-quality carvings.

As you wander along the main road, you will also find other outlets that sell tikis, some of better quality than others, but let's turn back and head over to Punanga Nui Market, which is only open on Saturdays. There you will find:

I very quickly managed to spend a few hundred dollars here on various-sized tikis. The store features the work of Henry Tavioni, who is one of the big names in tiki carving in Rarotonga, and he does nice work that is reasonably priced.

Another well-known local carver is his brother, Mike Tavioni, who has his workshop on the Back Road, on the western outskirts of Avarua:

Mike is usually to be found there rain or shine, busy chipping away at wood or even stone...

At first it is not obvious that this is necessarily a tiki carver's workshop, until you start looking more closely...

Tiki guardian at the entrance:

Telltale bits from past projects:

And what's that currently being carved?

I walked past Mike's place two or three times a day as it was just up the road from where I was staying and I saw this block of wood being transformed into a meticulously carved tiki over a period of a couple of days.

Mike and his brother sell pieces to tourists, as well as making carvings for another major market on Rarotonga: the hotels sector, which we will be checking out in the next instalment...