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Marquesan Tiki Info ?

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S

I recall seeing a number of pictures of Marquesan Tikis that appear to be holding a smaller tiki or head in their hands or even carved into their belly or chest. Does anyone know the signifincance or meaning behind this style? Now that I search for pictures like this I can't seem to find any.
Is this an authentic style, or a modern interpretation?

R

Cannibals?

That's the Tahitian Cannibal Trio. Represents the capture, eat, and assimilate phases of the ordeal. There was some discussion on this a while back, in this thread.

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=209&forum=5

This was taken in Sheraton Maui Kaanapali beach resort this summer. Thanks for posting Seamus, I always wondered

S

Thanks Tikigreg. Great link. Now it all makes sense.

This is a (blurry) personal tiki - I figured it as Maori - does this apply at all tho?

J$

You could check with Gecko, these are some pics from his carving thread in Creating Tiki:

S

I think it's a pregnant tiki giving birth myself.


The great Bosko owns one of these . I couldn't take my eyes off of it, it is too cool! Thanks for the pic Monitors. I'm seriously going to carve one of these!!!

[ Edited by: thechikitiki on 2003-11-19 19:34 ]

tHeres oNe in mOrro bAy at the harbor hut too! The same one is in Tiki Road trip i think in Oregon, or Washington? i just carved my first cannibal today, how wierd when i see this post. Get at it chiki!

Bosko said these were machine carved.

If you have read my treatise in the original Tiki Central thread posted by Tikigreg above, you know all about the origin (Donn Beach) and the correct meaning of the Tahitian Cannibal Carvings, and all I have to ad is that in the ancient Polynesian carving tradition the motif of holding a little Tiki in front of a bigger one was NOT common in the Marquesas, but sometimes appears in Maori carvings.
(I am still trying to find out if the Tahitian/Marquesan Cannibal concept was based on tradition or just a tourist gag..)

S

Thanks BigBro. Yes I read the original post from the link. I was a little thrown at first because I read somewhere that Tahiti did not have a particular Tiki carving tradition- that Marquesans were brought over to fill the void. I don't if that's true or not.
I was just finishing up a small sculpture in the Marquesan style and ended up placing a small head in his hands. When I looked at the finished product, as much as I liked it, I still thought I should find some background for this concept. I came acrossa chapter in Melvilles "Typee" about a warrior priest named Kolory who carried a little god around with him on his belt. The more I read on Kolory the more this little Tiki of mine seemed to mesh with it. I liked the idea enough to give him that name. It works for me.
Thanks for all the input everyone.

[i]OThe same one is in Tiki Road trip i think in Oregon, or Washington?

Yes, the Jasmine Tree in Portland has a set of the cannibal trio. Nice ones, too. I know Sven has his eye on them if JT ends up closing...

T

Well, here's the one I was talking about, my Marquesan, holding a Tahitian-cannibol, holding a soon-to-be-ingested-tiki. This one went to Crazy Al!

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