In the Marquesas Islands, people live to the rhythm of nature and plants. From the day they are born to the day they die, the plant kingdom accompanies them. the Enana The human being. Flowers, bark, roots, leaves, fruit, juices, etc. bathe it, perfume it, adorn it, heal it, nourish it, protect it from bad luck or intoxicate it.
© Graham Crumb/Commons.
People smear themselves with copra oil scented with tiare or ylang-ylang, adorn themselves with wreaths and necklaces of one day flowers, and dress in woven coconut and aouti leaves to dance the tamoure.
In the south of the archipelago, Fatu Hiva is the most isolated and humid island. You can only be struck by the wild beauty of this island, a veritable rocky bastion with deep, verdant valleys overgrown with banana, lemon and mango trees. One of the local specialities is the bouquet parfumé (umuhei or kumu hei). Depending on the function it is supposed to fulfil (attracting a lover, a future husband, etc.), the vahines use a skilful blend of different flowers, plants and essences and wear it in their hair or as a crown on their head to develop their sensuality and arouse male ardour. The idea is not to combine these fragrant plants in just any way, but to create a harmony of scents with some of them, without any one fragrance overpowering the others.
It is said that in Fatu Hiva, on the eve of the wedding, the bride-to-be was wrapped in a tapa (a cloth made from beaten bark) filled with the fragrant plants of the umuhei (vetiver, jasmine, tiare flowers, ylang-ylang, mint and basil leaves, pandanus bracts, all sprinkled with sandalwood), into which tobacco smoke was added to accentuate the aromas before closing it. When the tapa was opened at the wedding, the husband was bewitched by the perfume and could only succumb to the charms of his vahine.
Le tapa, called kahu in Marquesan, is obtained by beating the inner part of the bark of certain trees (banyan, ficus, mulberry, breadfruit). In the past, it was used as a material for rituals and to cover men's and women's bodies from shoulder to toe. Kahu could be perfumed and decorated with ancestral motifs. The tapa was banned when French missionaries arrived at the end of the 18th century and almost fell into oblivion. Until their arrival, the Polynesians had only plant material to clothe both men and effigies of the gods, to wrap newborn babies and to serve as shrouds for the dead. They used it to make carpets, blankets, shrouds, pareu. Colonisation led to the widespread use of woven fabrics and western clothing, and the tapa almost disappeared. Fortunately, women have secretly passed on this unique know-how from generation to generation. In 1985-87, as part of the Programme de Sauvetage du Patrimoine Ethnographique (PSPE-CPSH) (Ethnographic Heritage Rescue Programme), tapa-making techniques were collected from the last remaining elderly tapa-makers. Today, the art of tapa-making is practised almost exclusively on the island of Fatu Hiva and is a major tourist attraction. The Kahu is now replaced by " mission dress " or by Western clothing, revealing the body to a greater or lesser extent.
The Marquesans on the island of Ua Pou make their "love filters" from lily flowers, pineapple peel, fennel branches and mint leaves. They attach it to their hair and the bouquet can last for three days without fading, giving off a sweet, penetrating fragrance.
Find out more about tapa https://www.adaa-ase.com/documents/le-tapa-traditions-savoirs-methodes.pdf
Text : Brigitte Postel
