Why is the tiki life important to you?

To me, it's all about getting together with good people, but I think there's more to it. The whole tiki appeal has always been an escapist thing, but for me, it's also about childhood memories of having fun in simpler, more innocent times. I can remember being a kid in the early sixties with my parents at backyard bar-b-ques where there were always some tiki elements involved. Later, when I was in highschool, a friend of mine and I got jobs playing in a band in a tiki lounge at 16- so my introduction to the bar scene was tiki (yeah, the bartenders served us rum drinks).

I remember being at a business seminar when this guy was talking about seeing a survey of what worried teachers more in the 1950s and now. In the 1950s, they were concerned about things like kids chewing gum, skipping class, talking, smoking cigarettes, etc. Now it's drugs, guns, and their own safety!

Obviously, those times were never really that innocent, but that's one of the benefits of nostalgia- you tend to remember the good more than the bad (the good old days were never really as good as you remember, but that's okay).

Anyway, what could be better than getting together with others that share the love of tiki and experience the atmosphere, music, food, and drinks from a more carefree period.

Discuss...

I think you pretty much summed it up!

:)

The representations and recreations of barely covered women are certainly a big draw.

The music is profoundly simple and cheerful. It doesn't infuse your rage with more rage - it calms and paints sonic pictures of beautiful tropical places.

The drinks are adult. In flavor, presentation and preparation.

The carvings and artwork, mugs, etc. are primal and playful.

I like palms, orchids, helaconias, gingers, plumerias - all of the plants and fruits that are easily obtainable in tropical climes.

Fish - good.

The ocean is a wonderful place. I can't imagine anything more fun than fishing, surfing, sailing, diving, snorkeling all day.

I like the Maori toungue-waggle. It freaks out even the most hard-core goth punks cruising the Tampa streets. Or maybe it's my hair.

Did I mention the girls?

Urban Tiki, yeah, you've pretty much summed it up. Tiki was never a big part of my childhood, but un-like many people, I was fortunate to have a great upbringing. Our family was never never wealthy, lower middle class at best, but my parents and their friends sure knew how to have fun. It's something I don't see anymore. Our whole neighborhood was aquainted (parents as well as children) and when anything went on, everyone was welcome. My parents and relatives (unknowingly) taught me how to party. Days and weeks at the beach with other families, martini's, rare steaks and three piece combos in the corner of the dining room restaurants. I remember* it as being grand. And now I aspire to emulate it. Tough row to hoe. But, I'm doing my best. Does anyone remember the comic book-like "Car Toons"? Monster trucks and tractor pulls have made that reality. It was incredibly far fetched at the time. Manx bodied "dune buggies" on VW frames were the rage then. OK. I've dated myself. Satan's Sin said it very well in another post:

"How I'd love to come to my Eichler home after a hard day of -- advertising? nuclear engineering? industrial design? -- to a hot honey in one of those long dresses (capri pants would also do) who'd greet me with a no-holds-barred Manhattan and a technicolor dinner from one of those cookbooks ... then search the three channels on the B&W TV console and watch The Honeymooners ... then switch on the aircraft-carrier-sized hi-fi for some "real" ultra-lounge ... a nightly routine to be broken only by a visit to the nearby Polynesian restaurant or maybe my old Army buddies and their wives coming by for giant steaks and even more gigantic drinks ... sigh ....

There was a "Twilight Zone" were a stressed ad exec goes back to Willoughby ... and sees his childhood self in some sort of Disney Main Street world ... maybe it's time for a 21st Century guy to visit his midcentury doppleganger? "

Aaaah... The visions have never left. Tiki played a bigger part when I became a car driving teenager... cocktails, ya know?

[ Edited by: foamy on 2004-09-08 14:00 ]

Satan's Sin likes the Tiki Life because of the fun parties!

(and thanks for the kind words, foamy!)

Well tiki made me have the best vacation I could dream of in the Marquesas, but also in California.
I've never met a tikifan that was mean and bad. Even if he's voting for someone I don't like :wink:

Tiki is just about pleasure for me.
The pleasure of having fun, collecting, drinking, sharing, discovering ... ...ing

Yeah, the escapist thing does it for me.
That vision of being alone on a deserted island with some hot Polyneisan chick who thinks your pale white, fat belly is the stuff!

Then it's just her and me. No worries about whos voting for whom or insulting my president.

Yeah, the ALONE on a deserted island thing. Thats it.

As someone green to tiki, I just find it fascinating. The more I see and read the more I want to learn. I dont have a large collection or anything. But tiki has given me a new hobby, in carving. And as already said everyone I have had any contact with are very nice. The type of people I would love to hang with at anytime.

Well, I know this sounds quite Polly Ann-ic, but I love the Tiki lifestyle because it allows me to rationalize away my heavy drinking.

The tiki life is important to be because it is all inclusive. I can express myself artistically in a variety of forms. Music, Reading, Painting, Carving, Household Decor, Collecting, Fashion, Food, Drinks, Photography.

I think that the most appealing part of the tiki life is knowing that there are so many other people out there who have a passion for the same thing. It wouldn't be nearly as much fun if I was the only one. There is a true sense of community (sometimes...).

If it weren't for the people, it would simply be a bunch of junk (as viewed by non tiki folk) scattered all over my house and an ugly shirt that most folks would not be caught dead wearing.

On 2004-09-08 16:32, Tiki_Bong wrote:
Well, I know this sounds quite Polly Ann-ic, but I love the Tiki lifestyle because it allows me to rationalize away my heavy drinking.

I'll drink to that Bong!

To me, the Tiki life reminds me of a simpler time when people got together to enjoy eachother's company and share a common interest (albeit drinking & eating). I really love the sharing aspect of the people that I have met.

It helps me forget my many failings at work and in my family life, and allows me to commit new ones where no one gives a damn... unless you break an extremely rare mug.

Great Thread. Everything everyone said and then alot more. I'd like to write a 3 page answer right now because it is worthy but I've been drinking a week solid now and am in no shape. Something about carving a Tiki that just sets me at ease...and that's no small order.

For me it is somewhat of a natural progression, influenced by TiKi and Hawaiian exposure as a kid, surfing as a lifestyle starting in the late 60’s, getting hooked on tropical gardening as an adult and between the banana trees, palms and bamboo, the yard ended up looking like Gilligan’s Island, so I had to have the TiKi thing going on. Then came the Hawaiiana craze, which made it easier to feed my addiction. But add in exactly what Monkeyman said…and there you have it. Did I mention the rum?

[ Edited by: bananabobs on 2004-09-08 21:11 ]

[i]On 2004-09-08 21:10, bananabobs wrote:

For me it is somewhat of a natural progression, influenced by TiKi and Hawaiian exposure . . . getting hooked on tropical gardening . . . banana trees, palms

---

Tiki is the story of life. It is the first man walking on the beach and all subsequent efforts to honor the tiki gods to send us mana in our lives and to revel in the spirit.

It is all about trying to incorporate the South Seas lifestyle, or at least the 50s Americana polynesian pop version, into one's life and then (hopefully)going to the South Seas on vacation.

It is the history of Hawaii and Easter Island, but it is also the history of tiki meccas (Tiki Ti, Mai Kai or the Tonga Room) and the occasional recreations (Purple Orchid) in one's own town.

It definitely is keeping the tiki torch burning bright next to the coconut palm in one's own backyard in the hopes that Ku will keep the evil spirits of the rat-race, the stresses of work and the burdens of life in their proper perspective.

This may to similar to "What does Hawaii mean to you?"

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=9230&forum=1

"Tiki is the story of life. It is the first man walking on the beach and all subsequent efforts to honor the tiki gods to send us mana in our lives and to revel in the spirit."

That is beautiful! I wish I could add to it.

Tiki is important to me because it is a fun, peaceful, laid back, state of mind and way of living. Good people, good drinks, good music, good stuff! It reminds me how grand it is to be alive.

To me it's all about the Tiki Mug. Yep, the TIKI MUG. Buy the TIKI MUG! Drink from the TIKI MUG! In the morning... curse THE TIKI MUG! Get a good deal on a TIKI MUG! Oh..., sorry don't mean to sound partial to THE TIKI MUG!!
Mahaloz,
Holden

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!

Tiki opens my third eye and terrorizes my cats. What more can I say...?

For a large part of my childhood my family lived on a boat in Southern California and I developed a lifelong love of the beach and the ocean. Tiki for me encompasses that, along with my love of all things mid-century. There is also the aspect of escape. We live among folks who are incredibly stressed out most of the time and have a decidedly un-tiki outlook on life and our home (including Tiki Room) is designed specifically as an escape from all that negativity. Tiki also allows you to be creative and let your imagination run wild. I can't say enough about tiki!

Tiki for me represents hope.

I've "discovered" this tiki subculture relatively recently (I'm from Wisconsin, so there's not a lot of tiki in my past). Until now, I've been holding down 2 to 3 jobs to make ends meet, in addition to my wifes full-time job. I never get to see her because one of us is always working.

At first, tiki was just an escape. I liked the art, the music, the DRINKS, and all of the kind folk. But now that it has become a regular part of who I am, I'm toying with the idea of opening a real tiki bar in the Milwaukee area. It's definately a long term plan, since it would be a few years before enough capital could be saved up. But now I go to work with a smile, and work twice as hard, because now I know that there is hope that this crazy schedule of mine will end in something pleasent, instead of me jumping off a bridge. I don't know if I will ever really be able to own my own bar, but at least in my mind I can picture the grand opening that you will all be invited to! Drinks that night will be free, I promise!

[ Edited by: finkdaddy on 2004-09-09 08:36 ]

On 2004-09-08 16:41, Monkeyman wrote:
The tiki life is important to be because it is all inclusive. I can express myself artistically in a variety of forms. Music, Reading, Painting, Carving, Household Decor, Collecting, Fashion, Food, Drinks, Photography.

Absolutely! It just adds that little bit extra to life. Where once I'd walk around an antiques shop with a bored look on my face, now I scour the shelves with my Tikified eye. A trip abroad is nowadays a 'Search for Tiki'. Tiki, the spice of life!

Trader Woody

Tiki just makes me smile really wide-goony looking mugs with pseudoferocious faces,drinks tinted unnatural shades of blue and green,loud print shirts,seductive music,all served up in a rumpus room decorated like an tropical native who dropped a whole lot of acid-how could life look depressing with all that?

it's the simple life man...a chance to
escape (briefly) from the stress and
anxiety baggage we all lug around...
like banging on congas...sipping fine
tequila...chasing fine ladies...tiki is
simple and fun. the music is relaxing...
the art is fun without being stuffy...
and the people who feel the same way
are great to be around. have a drink
on congatiki.

On 2004-09-08 16:32, Tiki_Bong wrote:
Well, I know this sounds quite Polly Ann-ic, but I love the Tiki lifestyle because it allows me to rationalize away my heavy drinking.

Okay, if I had been more honest, this would have been my primary attraction.

Some great responses here. Some of them have put into words feelings that I had that I wasn't totally aware of.

I just finished reading Michener's Hawaii, and it portrays how the haoles (as well as the Chinese and Japanese that are imported to do the labor) prosper much more than the native Hawaiians. They look down on the Hawaiians who, they feel, lack ambition. The Hawaiians are always happy, joyful, and carefree, generously sharing everything with anybody. Others own the land and the plantations and make enourmous profits, but who is better off?

Having been involved in Wall Street investment firms for 20 years, I've wrestled with this question many times. The Tiki Life helps me balance the shear joy of life with the stress, responsibilities, and sacrifices that I make in pursuit of the almighty dollar- it brings balance into my life. That, and Rum, and Tiki Mugs...

All of you have hit the mark, in what you have said. I am relatively new to tiki myself, maybe a couple of years, but I have always been drawn to tribal art and weaponry. Tiki is definitely an escape from the plastic, consumer-driven, mundane lives that most of us live. Most of us hate our jobs, were raised on T.V., and all had the impression that we would end up much better than where we are today. I was fortunate enough to visit Hawaii back in 88' with my grandmother, and it never left me. When I am upset, I just look at a mug or a tiki I have, and I think about lying in a hammok somewhere in the South Seas sipping a Mai Tai. Tiki takes me to a special place in my head, and calms me down.

I hate to burst your Tiki/Hawaiian love connection bubble, but 'tiki' does not exist in Hawaii; tiki is not a Hawaiian word as the Hawaiian alphabet has no 't'in it.

(now, where's my drink...)

On 2004-09-09 15:15, Tiki_Bong wrote:
I hate to burst your Tiki/Hawaiian love connection bubble, but 'tiki' does not exist in Hawaii; tiki is not a Hawaiian word as the Hawaiian alphabet has no 't'in it.

(now, where's my drink...)

Aloha TikiBong,

What exactly do you want from us?

Hey Bong, nobody ever danced Hula in coconut shells till Hollywood got there and now it an accepted Hawaiian hula style, so maybe there ain't no T in Hawaiian but you can bet my ass there is TiKi there now! I think you were refering to the "word" TiKi...I think they were trying to say TiKi when they came up with ALOHA.

Hey Rev BambooBen, did you have some words from the pulpit?

On 2004-09-08 14:30, rodeotiki wrote:
As someone green to tiki, I just find it fascinating. The more I see and read the more I want to learn. I dont have a large collection or anything. But tiki has given me a new hobby, in carving. And as already said everyone I have had any contact with are very nice. The type of people I would love to hang with at anytime.

Yeah, a tiki fetish does keep you too financially impaired to enter any classy nudey bars, so it can keep you out of trouble.
Thats important.

And, believe me, some of us arent worth hanging out with.
Be careful what you wish for Rodeo.

I feel like I've described my attraction to tiki in threads similar to this one a dozen times over (but it's a topic worth bringing up again and again, I certainly don't mind). If I were in a searchy mood, I'd link to more threads (like christiki did), I think you newer folks would love to read them.

Right now, I'll just say that when I walk into a good tiki bar, especially a good home tiki bar, though I get the same feeling from a good Trader Vic's or Tiki-Ti, it feels like a no-contact massage. I don't understand it entirely, but that environment--with its dim lighting, clutter, and a vague air of mystery--completely relaxes me even if I'm not drinking. It's nutty. It feels like home to me more than any other environment I've ever encountered. It's like one big, grassy, musty, dusty womb.

On 2004-09-09 21:02, Humuhumu wrote:
....I'll just say that when I walk into a good tiki bar, especially a good home tiki bar, though I get the same feeling from a good Trader Vic's or Tiki-Ti, it feels like a no-contact massage. I don't understand it entirely, but that environment--with its dim lighting, clutter, and a vague air of mystery--completely relaxes me even if I'm not drinking. It's nutty. It feels like home to me more than any other environment I've ever encountered. It's like one big, grassy, musty, dusty womb.

WOW!.....that is by far one of the coolest and most definitive statements of tiki I think I have ever heard.

Honestly, I never thought that much about it. I must have been born tiki. I'm attracted to it, and it's attracted to me. It's been that way for as long as I can remember. I've never felt more like myself than when I'm sitting in a dark bamboo clad room drinking grogs or listening to the likes of Denny. There could be a million people there, or there could just be me. There isn't a place where I spend time that doesn't have some sort of tiki element to it. Be it at work, in the car, at home etc. I know I wouldn't feel complete without it.

Plus, as Bong put it, I sure do like them cocktails. And tiki and cocktails go hand in hand!

Hey Rev BambooBen, did you have some words from the pulpit?

YUP!

Godd Damm Missionaries!! "T" was for Titz! Not Tiki!!!!

On 2004-09-09 15:15, Tiki_Bong wrote:
I hate to burst your Tiki/Hawaiian love connection bubble, but 'tiki' does not exist in Hawaii; tiki is not a Hawaiian word as the Hawaiian alphabet has no 't'in it.

(now, where's my drink...)
Then how can we have such words as...

Tourist? or Tai (as in Mai Tai) or Airport (why they'd crash if they flew into an airpor... wouldn't they!?!) or the perverbial...
Cocktail (I myself would never like a cockail in Hawaii!!)
Aloha Bongz!!
Holden

On 2004-09-09 23:08, smogbreather wrote:

On 2004-09-09 15:15, Tiki_Bong wrote:
I hate to burst your Tiki/Hawaiian love connection bubble, but 'tiki' does not exist in Hawaii; tiki is not a Hawaiian word as the Hawaiian alphabet has no 't'in it.

(now, where's my drink...)
Then how can we have such words as...

Tourist? or Tai (as in Mai Tai) or Airport (why they'd crash if they flew into an airpor... wouldn't they!?!) or the perverbial...
Cocktail (I myself would never like a cockail in Hawaii!!)
Aloha Bongz!!
Holden

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

On 2004-09-09 23:23, RevBambooBen wrote:

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

how can one argue with that? :)

[ Edited by: Johnny Dollar on 2004-09-10 08:49 ]

Well, I have suicidal tendencies. My shrink told me to think of a place far far away where I can escape to, and be calm and happy. So I started searching the web and found Tiki Central, a tikiroom, open 24 hours a day....:)the rest is history. I am still here, thank God, but my husband killed himself. Too much tiki, he couldn't take it anymore.:)

On 2004-09-09 15:57, finkdaddy wrote:

On 2004-09-09 15:15, Tiki_Bong wrote:
I hate to burst your Tiki/Hawaiian love connection bubble, but 'tiki' does not exist in Hawaii; tiki is not a Hawaiian word as the Hawaiian alphabet has no 't'in it.

(now, where's my drink...)

Aloha TikiBong,

What exactly do you want from us?

I hate having to explain a bit of humor as much as I detest having to explain this, but...

I was refering to the many posts that basically said I love tiki because it represents Hawaii, and I love sitting under the Banyan tree sipping my mai tai, blah, blah, blah.

So,... I simply posted what I did. You do the math.

I hate to burst your Tiki/Hawaiian love connection bubble, but 'tiki' does not exist in Hawaii; tiki is not a Hawaiian word as the Hawaiian alphabet has no 't'in it.

Apparently a lot of things don't exist in Hawaii. Like beaches, sand, and waves, f'rinstance. No B,C,S,D,V in the Hawaiian alphabet either.

-Randy

On 2004-09-10 15:25, hiltiki wrote:
Well, I have suicidal tendencies. My shrink told me to think of a place far far away where I can escape to, and be calm and happy. So I started searching the web and found Tiki Central, a tikiroom, open 24 hours a day....:)the rest is history. I am still here, thank God, but my husband killed himself. Too much tiki, he couldn't take it anymore.:)

It looks like you've stumbled upon a great escape hiltiki! Tiki's a very tangible escape, equipped with its own artifacts. Happy TC'ing!

I like TIKI because it just seems fitting with my personality. The High School I attended in the 80's offered a shop class titled "PLASTICS" -- that's where I "created" my first TIKI. From a pile of molds dating from the 50's on up to the 70's, I fished out this obscure mysterious "head". It was like a spiritual connection. I somehow implicitly identified it as "TIKI" even though I wasn't exactly sure what "TIKI" was. When I brought it home my mother exclaimed enthusiasticly, "It's a TIKI-GOD!"

TIKI for me is a stark and zaney primal identity, immersed in an inspiring pretense of mystery beyond words!

I like the Tiki Lifestyle, because it is the life I live when I don't feel like dealing with real life!! Like many others have said "I can leave reality outside the door". I love the asthetics. The dimly lit multi colored lights, the floaters, the artwork, hula dancer paintings, puffer fish hanging from the ceiling, drinking some strange concoction from a funny looking head, and most importantly I LOVE TIKI'S!!!!
I also like most anybody that likes Tiki's as well.
Something about this dreamland makes me feel creative and at home.

When I was a child in the 1960s, Tiki embodied everything that was mysterious and exotic and taboo and belonged to adulthood. I didn't necessarily try to understand or even want to understand it, but as we inevitably drove on a Sunday night past the the Islander's guttering torches on La Cienega Boulevard or some apartment building with a tall tiki-god floodlit from below, a chill would travel up my spine and my mind would duck under its covers to think about exotic places and the mysteries of adulthood that I might one day experience. My memories of Los Angeles at that time are so drenched in nostalgia for me, that they can often bring me to tears. Tikis seemed to be everywhere in those memories, tucked away in every neighborhood, tall stands of palm trees pointing them out like beacons.

I also remember being five years old and huddling against my dad in the Tiki Room at Disneyland when the lights went out and the lightning flashed and thunder and rain rolled against the windows, my eyes wide with those wonderful emotions of fear and delight mixed together.

I still get those same emotions today when I walk into a Sam's Seafood, or a Bahooka, or the Warehouse in Marina Del Rey, or any old relic from the Sixties that's dark and dusty and filled with waterfalls and exotic music and glass float lamps and carved primitive wooden effigies. I chill still runs up my spine and never really leaves until I walk out. Every meal in one of these places is a ritual of adulthood. Every drink is a ceremony.

To this feeling of awe and delight, a new, heartachingly-sweet, adult emotion called melancholy has been added. It comes because there are so few of these places left. Thinking back to the dozens of tiki temples that I saw all the time, never visited, and now never will - it's almost unbearable to me. Because of that, times with friends in an old tiki bar are exceptionally sweet. Conversations are heightened and savored, as are the drinks and food. Humuhumu's got it right - I'm totally relaxed, yet all my senses are keyed up. There's constantly that tingle on the back of my neck when in the midst of my enjoyment, I'm catching torch-lit tikis out of the corner of my eye.

My love for Tiki Archeology is part and parcel of same. Once, I travelled to an island in the Bahamas with some scientists to look for a species of giant iguana that was marked in all the textbooks as Extinct, and hadn't been seen since the early 1960s. On the last day of the trip, after driving for hours on remote, forgotten dirt roads, and hacking through dense jungle, we found the iguanas, and actually caught and photographed them. That feeling of excitement and satisfaction is the same feeling I get when I find a tiki apartment building that I never new existed, or an old tiki bar in my neighborhood that somehow escaped my scrutiny before. It's silly but it's true.

Sabu

On 2004-09-10 18:16, aquarj wrote:

I hate to burst your Tiki/Hawaiian love connection bubble, but 'tiki' does not exist in Hawaii; tiki is not a Hawaiian word as the Hawaiian alphabet has no 't'in it.

Apparently a lot of things don't exist in Hawaii. Like beaches, sand, and waves, f'rinstance. No B,C,S,D,V in the Hawaiian alphabet either.

-Randy

Don't mean to ruffle feathers, I was just pointing out an oxymoron as one who studies and speaks Hawaiian. Now, where's my drink?

[i]On 2004-09-09 15:15, Tiki_Bong wrote:

I hate to burst your Tiki/Hawaiian love connection bubble, but 'tiki' does not exist in Hawaii; tiki is not a Hawaiian word as the Hawaiian alphabet has no 't'in it.

Let's not forget that "ti'i" is historically accurate for tiki in Tahiti/Marquesas, the origin of the ancient Hawaiians. http://www.thetahititraveler.com/general/artarch.asp

Also, the Bishop Museum now has adopted in wholeheartedly "tiki" by their Ku exhibition which incorporates modern relics such as tiki mugs.

(I don't know when they will update it to include the Book of Tiki).

BISHOP MUSEUM'S MOST RENOWNED IMAGE, KU, TAKES CENTER STAGE IN A NEW EXHIBIT, "E KU MAU MAU ~ KU EVERLASTING"

HONOLULU - After two years, Bishop Museum's most renowned image, Ku, will return, taking center stage in an exhibit which explores his many facets. One of only three known to exist in the world, this 6 - foot tall wooden image is believed to have come from Hale-O-Keawe in Kona. Taken to Boston, it was eventually returned to Hawai'i in 1895 by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.
"Most people just know him as the god of war," said project manager Noelle Kahanu, "but Ku is so much more complex. He is the god of fishing, who built the first fishpond in Hana. He is the god of husbandry and farming, represented by the 'o'o , the digging stick, which penetrates the earth and makes it fertile. He is the god of war and conflict, but also of resolution and healing."
The exhibit will feature rare collection items associated with Ku, such as the famed fishhook Manaiakalani, most often linked with Maui's efforts to raise the Hawaiian Islands. One of the earliest of accessions to the Bishop Museum, this fishhook, made of 'a'ali'i root and carved bone, was once possessed by Ku'ulakai. He used it to capture a Moloka'i chief who had destroyed his precious fishpond. Other items on display will include pololu, or long war spears, one of which is twelve feet long and was once owned by Kamehameha.

http://www.bishopmuseum.org/media/2003/pr03018.html

The idealised tiki lifestyle is a dream, a goal,an interesting social phenomonen (I'm sure I misspelt that).

Sitting around drinking in beautiful tropical surrounds with lovelies in grass skirts and coconut bikinis, need i say more....

It is also interesting from a sociological perspective on how a nation became intoxicated with an idealised/romanticised notion of a far away land. It is a reflection of the factors of both time and place and their interaction with the lives of the people of the time.