Difference between revisions of "AY Honors/Tapa Cloth/Answer Key"
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| − | '''Tapa cloth''' (or simply ''tapa'') is a bark cloth made in the islands of the [[Pacific Ocean]], primarily in [[Tonga]] and [[Samoa]], but as far afield as [[Java (island)|Java]], [[New Zealand]], and [[Hawaii]]. | + | [[Image:tapa_lau_86.jpg|right|thumb|Tapa from the Lau Island Group of Fiji]] |
| + | '''Tapa cloth''' (or simply ''tapa'') is a bark cloth made in the islands of the [[Pacific Ocean]], primarily in [[Tonga]] and [[Samoa]], but as far afield as [[Java (island)|Java]], [[New Zealand]], [[Papua New Guinea]] and [[Hawaii]]. In [[French Polynesia]] it has completely disappeared, except for some villages in the [[Marquesas]]. | ||
| − | The cloth is known by a number of local names, although the term tapa is understood throughout the islands that use the cloth. In Tonga, | + | ==General== |
| + | The cloth is known by a number of local names, although the term tapa is international and understood throughout the islands that use the cloth. The word '''tapa''' is from [[Tahiti]], where [[Captain Cook]] was the first European to pick it up and to introduce it to rest of the world. In Tonga, tapa is known as '''ngatu''', and here it is of great social importance to the islanders, often being given as gifts. In Samoa, the same cloth is called '''siapo'''. In Hawai{{okina}}i, it is known as '''kapa'''. And in [[Fiji]] it is called '''masi'''. | ||
| − | + | PIE PIE PIE PIE PIE PIE PIE PIE | |
| + | & A PEDANTIC LEPRECHAUN | ||
| − | + | All these different words give some clue to the origin. ''Masi'' could mean the (bark of the) Dye-fig ''([[ficus tinctoria]])'', endemic to Oceania, and probably the one originally used to make tapa. Somewhere in history, during the voyages of migration the ''hiapo'' or ''siapo'' was introduced from Southeast [[Asia]], the [[Paper mulberry]] tree (''broussonetia papyrifera''). The bark of this tree is much better to use, and put the use of the Dye-fig into oblivion. Only its name remained in Fiji. ''Tapa'' finally, has the meaning of border or strip. It seems likely that before the glueing process became common to make large sheets (see below) only narrow strips were produced. | |
| − | The patterns of Tongan, Samoan, and Fijian tapa usually form a grid of squares, each of which contains geometrical patterns with repeated motifs such as fish and plants, for example four stylised leaves forming a diagonal cross. Traditional dyes are usually black and rust-brown, although other colours are also known. | + | Tapa can be painted. The patterns of Tongan, Samoan, and Fijian tapa usually form a grid of squares, each of which contains geometrical patterns with repeated motifs such as fish and plants, for example four stylised leaves forming a diagonal cross. Traditional dyes are usually black and rust-brown, although other colours are also known. |
| − | + | In former times the cloth was primarily used for clothing, but now cotton and other textiles have replaced it. The major problem with tapa clothing is that the tissue is just like paper: it looses all its strength when wet and falls apart. Still it was better than grassskirts, which usually are either heavier and harder or easily blown apart, but on the low coral [[atolls]] where the mulberry does not grow, people had no choice. | |
| − | + | Nowadays tapa is still often worn on formal occasions such as weddings. Another use is as blanket at night. It is also highly prized for its decorative value and is often found used to hang on the walls as a decoration. In Tonga a family is considered poor, whatever their bankaccount may be, if they do not have any tapa in stock at home to donate at life crises like marriages, funerals and so forth. If the tapa was ever donated to them by a chief or even the royal family, the more valuable it is. | |
| + | [[Image:Hiapostrip.jpg|left|thumb|Stripping the bark from the trees in [[Nomuka]]]] | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==Fabrication== | ||
| + | As Tonga is the country where tapa is still a part of daily life, the following description is given for that country. Although on other islands the overall process is about the same, there still might be several smaller or larger differences. | ||
| + | |||
| + | In [[Tonga]] ''hiapo'' is the name given to the paper-mulberry tree. People have bunches of them growing in a corner of their plantations. They are cut and brought home where the first task is to strip the bark from the trees. The strips are about hand wide and person long. The wood so left over is named ''mokofute''. The bark consists of 2 layers. In the next step the outer bark is to be scraped or split off from the inner bark. This work is called ''ha{{okina}}alo''. The outerbark is discarded, the innerbark, named ''tutu'' or ''loututu'', is left over. It is first dried in the sun before being soaked. | ||
| + | |||
| + | [[Image:Tutuoli.jpg|right|thumb|A merry break from beating the tapa in [[Nuku'alofa|Nuku{{okina}}alofa]]]] | ||
| + | After this, the bark is beaten on a wooden ''tutua'' anvil using wooden mallets called ''ike''. In the beating the bark is made thinner and spread out to a width of about 25 cm. This phase of the work is called ''tutu'' (or ''tutua''). The mallets are flat on one side and have coarse and fine grooves on the other sides. First the coarse sides are used, and towards the end of the work the flat side (''tā-tu{{okina}}a''). The continuous "thonk" beats of the tapa mallet is still a normal sound in the Tongan villages. If several women work together they can make a concert out of it. In that case there might be one who ''tukipotu'', beats the end of the ''tutua'' to set the rhythm. | ||
| + | |||
| + | When the strips are thin enough, several strips are taken together and beaten together into a large sheet. Some starch from the ''[[kumara|kumala]]'', or ''[[tapioca|manioke]]'' may be rubbed on places which are unwilling to stick. This part of the work is called ''{{okina}}opo{{okina}}opo'', the glue is called ''tou'' and the resulting sheet of tapa is called ''feta{{okina}}aki''. It then consists of two layers of strips in perpendicular direction, the upper one called ''lau{{okina}}olunga'' and the lower one ''laulalo''. A knife or sharp shell named ''mutu'' is used to trim the edges, and the pieces fallen off in this process are called ''papanaki''. When the white feta{{okina}}aki is smoked brown, it is called ''sala''. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Often the women of a whole village work together on a huge sheet of tapa. A donation to the church or their chief at an important occasion. Such sheets are about 3 meter wide and 15, or 30, or sometimes even 60 meter long. The 15 meter pieces are called ''launima'' (meaning: five-sheet, because the sheet is 5 squares), and the 30 meter pieces are called ''lautefuhi''. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==Painting== | ||
| + | The ''feta{{okina}}aki'' is almost always painted. It then becomes ''ngatu'', the Tongan word for the final product. The painting is done over the whole length, but only the central 2.5 meter in the width direction. On both sides there is an unpainted border of about 20 cm wide, which is called the ''tapa'' (in Tonga). In order to paint it, the sheets are first put over a huge wooden drum covered with stencils or ''kupesi''. These stencils are made from coconut front midribs (or any other sticks of a few millimeter thick). These stencils are made in the pattern which will be used. There are a handfull of standard ''kupesi'' designs, like the 'Pine road' (the road from the palace to the royal cemetery), or the 'Shield of Tonga', or the 'Lion' (the king), or the 'Dove' (the king as ruler), and more abstract figures like the 'Manulua' (2 birds). | ||
| + | |||
| + | [[Image:paint ngatu.jpg|right|thumb|A Tongan woman accentuating the ''kupesi'' design]] | ||
| + | The tapa sheet is put over the drum and the women now rub with force a dabber with some brown paint (made from the ''koka'' tree ''([[bischofia javanica]]))'' over the sheet. This work is called ''tata{{okina}}i''. Where they rub over a rib of the ''kupesi'' more paint will stick to that position while very little will stick elsewhere. In this way the basic pattern is put on the sheet. Once a part is done, they lift up the sheet and proceed to the next strip and so forth. Only when the whole sheet has been preprocessed, then it will be spread out on the ground and with a brush (made from [[pandanus]] seeds) the women will accentuate the faintly visible marks with some more generous paint, this time made from the ''tongo'', the mangrove ''([[rhizophora mangle]])''. Both ''koka'' and ''tongo'' paint are always brown, but the latter is much darker. Black is not used in Tonga, although it is characteristic for Fiji. | ||
| + | |||
| + | It is customary that during the paint process lines are drawn on the ''ngatu'' along the width every 45 cm or more. The ''kupesi'' too are made to the size that they will fit in the divisions thusly made. Such a division is known as ''langanga'' and they are numbered (on the blank ''tapa'') from one to as many as needed for the whole length. When a smaller piece of ngatu is needed, the sheet is cut along a ''langanga'' division. A 4 to 6 ''langanga'' piece is called ''fola{{okina}}osi''. A 8 piece is ''fātuua'', while a 10 ''langanga'' piece of ''ngatu'' is known as ''toka hongofulu''. Less common are the double ''fātuua'', named ''fātufā'' or double of that again, the ''fātuvalu''. | ||
| + | |||
| + | These are the traditional ''ngatu'', as evidenced by the extensive vocabulary used (still many more terms exist). Nowadays for the tourist trade other sizes and designs can be made as well. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==References== | ||
| + | *{{okina}}I.F. Helu; Critical essays: Cultural perspectives from the Southseas; 1999 | ||
==External links== | ==External links== | ||
*[http://www.tapa.co.nz/ Tapa in the Pacific Islands] | *[http://www.tapa.co.nz/ Tapa in the Pacific Islands] | ||
| Line 18: | Line 47: | ||
*[http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/collections/ecbot/BarkCloth.htm Kew Gardens bark cloth webpage] | *[http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/collections/ecbot/BarkCloth.htm Kew Gardens bark cloth webpage] | ||
*[http://www.marlamallett.com/tapa.htm Tapa cloth] | *[http://www.marlamallett.com/tapa.htm Tapa cloth] | ||
| + | *[http://www.michie.net/pnginfo/oro/orotapa.html Samples of Tapa from Oro Province - Papua New Guinea] | ||
*[http://www.abc.net.au/arts/artok/craft/s193440.htm Fijian masi-making] | *[http://www.abc.net.au/arts/artok/craft/s193440.htm Fijian masi-making] | ||
[[Category:Textiles]] | [[Category:Textiles]] | ||
| + | [[Category:Polynesian clothing]] | ||
[[Category:Polynesian culture]] | [[Category:Polynesian culture]] | ||
| + | [[Category:Tongan culture]] | ||
| + | [[fr:Tapa]] | ||
| + | [[to:Ngatu]] | ||
Revision as of 22:36, 14 September 2006
Tapa cloth (or simply tapa) is a bark cloth made in the islands of the Pacific Ocean, primarily in Tonga and Samoa, but as far afield as Java, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Hawaii. In French Polynesia it has completely disappeared, except for some villages in the Marquesas.
General
The cloth is known by a number of local names, although the term tapa is international and understood throughout the islands that use the cloth. The word tapa is from Tahiti, where Captain Cook was the first European to pick it up and to introduce it to rest of the world. In Tonga, tapa is known as ngatu, and here it is of great social importance to the islanders, often being given as gifts. In Samoa, the same cloth is called siapo. In HawaiTemplate:Okinai, it is known as kapa. And in Fiji it is called masi.
PIE PIE PIE PIE PIE PIE PIE PIE & A PEDANTIC LEPRECHAUN
All these different words give some clue to the origin. Masi could mean the (bark of the) Dye-fig (ficus tinctoria), endemic to Oceania, and probably the one originally used to make tapa. Somewhere in history, during the voyages of migration the hiapo or siapo was introduced from Southeast Asia, the Paper mulberry tree (broussonetia papyrifera). The bark of this tree is much better to use, and put the use of the Dye-fig into oblivion. Only its name remained in Fiji. Tapa finally, has the meaning of border or strip. It seems likely that before the glueing process became common to make large sheets (see below) only narrow strips were produced.
Tapa can be painted. The patterns of Tongan, Samoan, and Fijian tapa usually form a grid of squares, each of which contains geometrical patterns with repeated motifs such as fish and plants, for example four stylised leaves forming a diagonal cross. Traditional dyes are usually black and rust-brown, although other colours are also known.
In former times the cloth was primarily used for clothing, but now cotton and other textiles have replaced it. The major problem with tapa clothing is that the tissue is just like paper: it looses all its strength when wet and falls apart. Still it was better than grassskirts, which usually are either heavier and harder or easily blown apart, but on the low coral atolls where the mulberry does not grow, people had no choice.
Nowadays tapa is still often worn on formal occasions such as weddings. Another use is as blanket at night. It is also highly prized for its decorative value and is often found used to hang on the walls as a decoration. In Tonga a family is considered poor, whatever their bankaccount may be, if they do not have any tapa in stock at home to donate at life crises like marriages, funerals and so forth. If the tapa was ever donated to them by a chief or even the royal family, the more valuable it is.
Fabrication
As Tonga is the country where tapa is still a part of daily life, the following description is given for that country. Although on other islands the overall process is about the same, there still might be several smaller or larger differences.
In Tonga hiapo is the name given to the paper-mulberry tree. People have bunches of them growing in a corner of their plantations. They are cut and brought home where the first task is to strip the bark from the trees. The strips are about hand wide and person long. The wood so left over is named mokofute. The bark consists of 2 layers. In the next step the outer bark is to be scraped or split off from the inner bark. This work is called haTemplate:Okinaalo. The outerbark is discarded, the innerbark, named tutu or loututu, is left over. It is first dried in the sun before being soaked.
[[Image:Tutuoli.jpg|right|thumb|A merry break from beating the tapa in [[Nuku'alofa|NukuTemplate:Okinaalofa]]]] After this, the bark is beaten on a wooden tutua anvil using wooden mallets called ike. In the beating the bark is made thinner and spread out to a width of about 25 cm. This phase of the work is called tutu (or tutua). The mallets are flat on one side and have coarse and fine grooves on the other sides. First the coarse sides are used, and towards the end of the work the flat side (tā-tuTemplate:Okinaa). The continuous "thonk" beats of the tapa mallet is still a normal sound in the Tongan villages. If several women work together they can make a concert out of it. In that case there might be one who tukipotu, beats the end of the tutua to set the rhythm.
When the strips are thin enough, several strips are taken together and beaten together into a large sheet. Some starch from the kumala, or manioke may be rubbed on places which are unwilling to stick. This part of the work is called Template:OkinaopoTemplate:Okinaopo, the glue is called tou and the resulting sheet of tapa is called fetaTemplate:Okinaaki. It then consists of two layers of strips in perpendicular direction, the upper one called lauTemplate:Okinaolunga and the lower one laulalo. A knife or sharp shell named mutu is used to trim the edges, and the pieces fallen off in this process are called papanaki. When the white fetaTemplate:Okinaaki is smoked brown, it is called sala.
Often the women of a whole village work together on a huge sheet of tapa. A donation to the church or their chief at an important occasion. Such sheets are about 3 meter wide and 15, or 30, or sometimes even 60 meter long. The 15 meter pieces are called launima (meaning: five-sheet, because the sheet is 5 squares), and the 30 meter pieces are called lautefuhi.
Painting
The fetaTemplate:Okinaaki is almost always painted. It then becomes ngatu, the Tongan word for the final product. The painting is done over the whole length, but only the central 2.5 meter in the width direction. On both sides there is an unpainted border of about 20 cm wide, which is called the tapa (in Tonga). In order to paint it, the sheets are first put over a huge wooden drum covered with stencils or kupesi. These stencils are made from coconut front midribs (or any other sticks of a few millimeter thick). These stencils are made in the pattern which will be used. There are a handfull of standard kupesi designs, like the 'Pine road' (the road from the palace to the royal cemetery), or the 'Shield of Tonga', or the 'Lion' (the king), or the 'Dove' (the king as ruler), and more abstract figures like the 'Manulua' (2 birds).
The tapa sheet is put over the drum and the women now rub with force a dabber with some brown paint (made from the koka tree (bischofia javanica)) over the sheet. This work is called tataTemplate:Okinai. Where they rub over a rib of the kupesi more paint will stick to that position while very little will stick elsewhere. In this way the basic pattern is put on the sheet. Once a part is done, they lift up the sheet and proceed to the next strip and so forth. Only when the whole sheet has been preprocessed, then it will be spread out on the ground and with a brush (made from pandanus seeds) the women will accentuate the faintly visible marks with some more generous paint, this time made from the tongo, the mangrove (rhizophora mangle). Both koka and tongo paint are always brown, but the latter is much darker. Black is not used in Tonga, although it is characteristic for Fiji.
It is customary that during the paint process lines are drawn on the ngatu along the width every 45 cm or more. The kupesi too are made to the size that they will fit in the divisions thusly made. Such a division is known as langanga and they are numbered (on the blank tapa) from one to as many as needed for the whole length. When a smaller piece of ngatu is needed, the sheet is cut along a langanga division. A 4 to 6 langanga piece is called folaTemplate:Okinaosi. A 8 piece is fātuua, while a 10 langanga piece of ngatu is known as toka hongofulu. Less common are the double fātuua, named fātufā or double of that again, the fātuvalu.
These are the traditional ngatu, as evidenced by the extensive vocabulary used (still many more terms exist). Nowadays for the tourist trade other sizes and designs can be made as well.
References
- Template:OkinaI.F. Helu; Critical essays: Cultural perspectives from the Southseas; 1999
