Lychees

The season of plenty official kicked off on sunday evening, with the rising of the Pleiades in the southern hemisphere night sky. But we've been enjoying the glut of fruits for a few weeks now. Aside from the 12kg of tahitian goosberries that I've got stashed away in jars now, it's lychee season. This year is not a bumper crop, but Tattie Monique has still got a reasonable amount on her trees.

 

Fresh lychees are pretty awesome, we're all agreed on that, albeit a little fiddly to peel.

Heimana, in particular, has been gorging herself.

The even greater thing about lychees is that you can use a lychee seed (and a match-stick, it's all very Blue Peter) to make a remarkably good spinning top (see tutorial), so the fun never ends!

 

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.

tau Matari'i i ni'a

Tomorrow, nov 20th, marks the beginning of the 'season of plenty' in the ancient Polynesian calendar and is signaled by the rising of the Pleiades on the horizon, the celebration occurs on the first new moon in November, and the constellation sets in mid to late May heralding the end of this season (Matari'i i raro) and the beginning of the cooler season. The arrival of the Pleiades heralded a favorable time for planting food, for fishing, marriage and also for travel (the stars were used by Viriamu's ancestors to navigate the vast Pacific Ocean). The Pleiades are a cluster of seven bright stars, also often known as the Seven Sisters or affectionately as M45, located on the shoulders of Taurus near Orion. I haven't yet tried to locate them, but I have remarkable trouble with the Southern Hemisphere sky....you can be sure I'll have my eye out for them....anyway they should look something like this....

The constellation was recognized by many ancient cultures and has many legends and stories attached to it. In Greek mythology the Pleiades were the seven daughters of Pleione and Atlas, handmaidens of Artemis and playthings of the gods (both Poseidon and Zeus had children with one or more of them!). Legend has it that they committed suicide with grief after the disappearance their brothers the Hyades and death of their father, Zeus honored them by transforming them into stars. Merope the youngest of the sisters was wooed by Orion, but she refused his advances, and it is said that Orion's constellation still pursues the Pleiades across the sky. One of the most beautiful legends I just found comes from the Kiowa, a native American tribe, and is linked to Devil's Tower national monument in Wyoming. It goes something like this, seven young maidens were out playing by the river when they were set upon by bears, they climbed upon a large rock and in fear they called upon the spirit of the rocks to help them, pitying the maidens he raised the rock high into the sky, and though the bears tried to climb it, they could not, their claw marks can be seen on the side of the rock today, now known as Devil's Tower. The maidens, unable to descend from the rock, ascended into the heavens and were transformed into stars.

Devil's Rock National Moument, Wyoming (photo:Colin Faulkingham)

Here in Tahiti the celebration of Matari'i i ni'a is focused on teaching and reviving traditional cultural practices, learning how to prepare and preserve food. Of course, with the missionaries, the celebration of this festival was forgotten and it has only recently been re-established. Along with kava drinking ceremonies, which were also forbidden by the missionaries. So to open the Matari'i celebrations there is a kava drinking ceremony. To see pictures and find out more about the festival (in French), click here.