Reverence for Life
We're in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, thousands of kilometers from any continent, on the Marquesas archipelago, Te Henua Enana/Te Fenua Enata.
We're in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, thousands of kilometers from any continent, on the Marquesas archipelago, Te Henua Enana/Te Fenua Enata.
This name resonates with the very spirit of the people who inhabit it. It contains two elements: Henua/Fenua, the earth, the matrix, and Enana/Enata, the human who emerges from this matrix.
These essential symbols can be found drawn on skins with black ink (Patutiki), engraved in stone or on objects, and even in the final folding when Tapa (tree bark beaten into cloth) is made.
The pattern on this picture known as Tiki poìì, ipu, or pokaa symbolises this matrix of creation, the place from which life emerges. It represents an egg, a coconut, a woman's womb, the earth and the universe.
Some Ipu are drawn above a character, the Enana/Enata, the human, related to all the living elements that emerge from a matrix. A bird hatches from an egg, a coconut tree from a coconut, a child from a woman's womb, an island from the ocean. The human being is an integral part of this whole.
Marquesan culture is a celebration of life. This is reflected in every artistic and cultural element. Everywhere here, there is a reverence for the extraordinary power of creation.
Find out more about the documentary Motu Haka.
