a little tapa help....(serious)

Have a little quandary.

A good friend of mine gave me a giant tapa ( tongan style).

It was used at his sisters funeral a few years ago.

Half his family is from Aus/Zealand.

He wanted to know if I could cut it up, frame it and

send it out to all the friends and family.

I cut up alot of tapa for other projects.

But, I'm kinda hesitant to cut this one up.

Any of you islanders know the tradition?

MAhalo,

Bamboo Ben

p.s. I don't know if it was made special for her or if it was just tradition.

I asked my wife and in Kiribati you always cut up the big Tapa cloths and give them away as gifts, at whatever event the cloth was produced for.

The proportions of the pieces are the tricky bit, wikipedia has a bit about the division of a cloth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapa_cloth

You usually have marks on one end that are about a foot wide and numbered. That's how you cut them. In one foot sections.

Giving each family member a photograph of the complete tapa would be cool.

[ Edited by: Ojaitimo 2007-05-30 11:07 ]

I know nothing about their ways of traditions, but I would definately wan't everyone's blessing, who will be receivinig one.

Tapa cloths are Huge to start with, they are cut up and handed out to family members.
I think it would be the same as they would do.