Ta Moko: Maori Tattooing

by | Aug 19, 2014 | Aotearoa, Cultures of Polynesia

Ever since I read Keri Hulme’s The Bone People, I have been fascinated with Maori symbols and tattoos, particularly the meanings and significance behind each line of the work. The facial tattoos kinda scared me, but the patterns were still captivating.   According to...

Eat Polynesia! Bananas in Coconut Sauce

by | Aug 5, 2014 | Eat Polynesia!

Last weekend, as part of our weekly date night, my wife and I attended the Gateway Buffet at the Polynesian Cultural Center. The buffet is located in a large and beautiful dining hall, decorated with beautiful dark woods and a huge mural of the native Hawaiian people...

Maori Haka Dance

by | Aug 1, 2014 | Aotearoa, Cultures of Polynesia

Aotearoa, “the land of the long white cloud,” is more commonly known to its visitors as New Zealand. Its beautiful mountains, fields, rivers and streams boast more than just being the filming place of the popular Lord of the Rings trilogy; they are home to a proud and...
Origins of Tahitian black pearls

Origins of Tahitian black pearls

by | Jul 16, 2014 | Cultures of Polynesia, Tahiti

For my 16th birthday, my parents gave me a black pearl embedded on a turtle-shaped mother-of-pearl shell (the necklace in my profile picture). I was immediately mesmerized by its entrancing beauty. Tahitian black pearls are not actually black, but a rainbow of colors...

Eat Tahiti!

by | Jun 26, 2014 | Cultures of Polynesia, Eat Polynesia!, Tahiti

If anybody asked anybody what their favorite things to do in life are, chances are “eat,” would be one of the first few things they would say in response. Everyone likes to eat, and everyone has favorite foods. I, myself, am partial to various Japanese dishes like...

Dance Tahiti!

by | Jun 26, 2014 | Cultures of Polynesia

While all cultures around the world have their own dances, none seem to be more synonymous with dancing than the cultures of Polynesia, and none more famous than the Tahitian tāmūrē (tah-moo-ray). Most people in the world will be able to describe Tahitian dancing in...

Act Like A Local

by | Jun 19, 2014 | Cultures of Polynesia, Hawai'i

My Samoan dad raised us on old recordings of Hawai’ian comedians, like Rap Reiplinger, Don Ho and other Hawaiian artists. By the time I visited Hawai’i, I knew basic Hawai’ian Pidgin, and the proper ways and times to wear an ie lavalava, or “sarong” . I didn’t realize...

Life as a Samoan

by | May 28, 2014 | Cultures of Polynesia, Samoa

Am I like a Samoan? Besides professional wrestling, I had never met or seen a Samoan person until I was in sixth grade. Seeing men like the Rock and Rikishi wrestler), or various other members of the Anoa’i Family, caused me to believe that all Samoans had larger than...