Island events recap

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Date: March 2010 - MARQUESAS

MINI-FESTIVAL DES MARQUISES
Discovering Fatu Hiva
During the Marquesas Mini Festival which took place late in December 2009 in Fatu Hiva, Tahitiguide makes you discover this little unusual island, and the least visited in the archipelago. Although...

At the Southernmost side of the Marquesas, Fatu Hiva has nothing to envy to Hiva Oa, the island retreat of painter Paul Gauguin and of multi-talented singer poet and actor Jacques Brel.
4 km wide only, Fatu Hiva is shaped like a barely about ten kilometer long crescent, but it culminates at over 1,000 m in altitude! An imposing rocky structure in the middle of the Pacific, surrounded by monumental cliffs. It is what was observed already by Mendana, the great Spanish explorer in the 16th centurywho sailed around the island without stopping on July 21, 1595. Unfortunately, he did not see the majestic high waterfalls falling in the center of the island. with jagged rocks and impressive summits, Fatu Hiva features tha famous Bay of the Virgins, which is without a doubt the most magnificent mooring of all Polynesian islands.

Hanavave, in the middle of the bay, and most of all Omoa, the main town, were the home last month of traditional events of the Marquesas mini festival. These are the island's only two villages where are most of its 600 islanders proud of a several centuries old culture that they actively preserve. Each one of them is at the same time musician, poet and craftsman before being fisherman, shop keeper or farmer. From the tapa (fabric made from vegetal fibers) of which they have preserve the ancestral handmaking secrets, to the culture of nono (tropical fruit with therapeutic qualities), the islanders always demonstrated a tendency for self management.

During the mini-festival, visttors were many to discover, amazed, the secrets of the island like the preparation of the Umu Kai,the traditional locall oven for cooking the food for the feasts. The fires are started at dawn with a ahi koko, the traditional torch used only in ceremonies

Cleanliness being one of the essential virtues of the island's inhabitants, public bath sites with dressing cabins have been installed along the rivers. In a truly relaxing atmosphere, everyone could try the true happiness of swimming in the river, when days are rather hot like in this season.

The organization of traditional games, let us realize the amazing ability of the island's youth to old time games, like the vaeake (stillts) pehe (another string game, which consists in creating an infinite number of shapes with a string around the fingers) or also the children's dexterity when they play the niu, these famous carved tops that spin for hours, without falling… when you know how to do it.    

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