July 2022. By Chris Boylan and Sophy Dennett
The Marquesas with six main islands in the north-eastern section of French Polynesia has long been a place of imaginings, beyond the relative sophistication of Tahiti. Attending the Marquesan festival on Fatu Hiva, the most southerly and least visited of all the Marquesan islands delivered a reality that far surpassed our expectations.
The Marquesan culture has a wild energy reminiscent of New Guinea 50 years ago. The dancing and especially the drumming are wild. Much Marquesan dancing is reminiscent of the Māori haka. But this is the original haka, as the Marquesans are the original colonisers of New Zealand. Polynesian migration moved steadily out into the Pacific Ocean to Tahiti and the Marquesas, then back to New Zealand, with the Māori descendants of those Marquesan settlers.
Fatu Hiva, the 2022 site of the festival that rotates between the islands, welcomed dancers and artists from all Marquesan islands with groups arriving after long boat journeys. Daytime was filled with many cultural events, presentation of wonderful and recent artworks and, on the final day, a huge feast of meat, fish and vegetables cooked in earth ovens. But it was the evenings that were especially magic – filled with all the performing groups, most often accompanied by frantic drumming. Male dancers were generally strong and wild, haka-like, with oiled bodies covered in tattoos and tribal decorations with the lissome female dancing providing a beautiful balance to the fierce masculine dance. Bird dances, with both males and female dancers imitating the different birds of the six islands were also a part of the repertoire – willowy and sensual. Those five days in Fatu Hiva, immersed in Marquesan culture, were astonishing, incredible, extraordinary!
To reach Fatu Hiva, we flew in a small plane from Papeete into Hiva Oa, and then a four hour boat ride between the two islands. Gaugin spent his final years and is buried on Hiva Oa. His house is intact, and can be visited; there is also a fascinating museum in his honour. Hiva Oa is also the location of two superb marai or ceremonial grounds which contain enormous stone tiki of unknown age, but very weathered.
The next Marquesan festival is on the main island Nuku Hiva in December 2023.
