May celebrations

Monday May 17th marked the end of the season of abundance in the Polynesian calendar 'tau matari'i i raro', it was the day that the Pleiades set at the same time as the sun, and so disappeared from our night sky, we celebrated their rising back in november. This marks the start of the season of 'sharing' - a time when the communally harvested and stored food supplies would have been shared. Though frankly it's all relative, we still seem to have quite a bit of fruit here and there's always fish to be had! However, the weather is definitely cooler now and the nights are drawing in here in Rurutu, for the past few weeks we've been dipping below 20ºC which is pretty darned cool for here. Matotea's been wearing socks! I'm actually enjoying the cooler weather, particularly with the ever-expanding bump. Far from being the start of lean-times for us, it signals the very beginning of the busy season, this last week was a school holiday and we had a couple of families staying with us for a few days, keeping us on our toes! The month of May also marks a month of celebration in Rurutu, linked to the omnipresent protestant church - it's a time when the annual contributions to the church are collected and people are expected to spruce up their houses and deck themselves out in a new set of clothes (and of course a new hat - it's the busiest time of year for my mother in law who makes fine church hats by the dozen, mostly from niau, a beautiful white coconut fiber).

The celebrations are held over three weeks, each week one of the villages celebrates with a vigil, an all-night sing-a-thon followed by a day of reveling, visiting each of the houses in the villages, enjoying food and drink provided by the owners and admiring the fineries that are laid out.

Viriamu's grandma is particularly keen on this celebration and despite being in her eighties she is a vigorous little lady, who insists on new curtains and a clean coat of paint for the house each May! It also signals a time of year when large Tahitian ovens would have been prepared to cook 'ti roots (this traditional Polynesian plant has tap roots that make a good substitute for sugar or honey - when cooked slowly in a Tahitian oven for a week or so), and is still a time when pi'a is prepared (better known as po'e in tahitian), a sticky sweet substance made from roots, such as taro or ape (elephant's ear - Alocasia macrorrhizos), or alternatively with fruits such as papaya, banana, coconut or pumpkin, pulped and mixed with tapioca flour. The pi'a is then wrapped in 'ti leaves and cooked slowly in the Tahitian oven for at least 48h, it can also be steamed, but both the texture and taste are very different when it's been cooked in the ground.