Post #83785 by Swanky on Wed, Mar 31, 2004 7:00 AM

It all still is "Oceania." And PNG is one of the few places you can get artifacts made for use, not for tourists. Try to find a ritual object in Tahiti, Samoa, Marquesas, etc. Everything in this collection was used, and part of a Haus Tamburan or other ceremony. These are the real deal. That makes everything else a pale cousin. Which would be better, an actual Oratory Table from a Men's House in Iatmul, used in that house by the natives, or, a palm wood tiki carved by a guy in Florida with a chainsaw to look similar to something last made in a Polynesian isle 300 years ago?

Makes me think of that song by David Allen Coe "If That Ain't Country." Need to write the new version: "If That Ain't Tiki"

"I've seen the Grand Ole Opry, and I've met Johhny Cash,
If that ain't country, I'll kiss your ass"

becomes

"I wore a phalocrypt in Iatmul and I met Donald Ho,
If that ain't tiki..."

The Swank Pad Broadcast - If it's Swank...

[ Edited by: Swanky on 2004-03-31 07:18 ]