Customs and traditions of French Polynesia
European missionaries made everything to destroy traditional Polynesian culture. They destroyed temples ("Marae"), banned tattoos (they wear a mystical character in the life of Polynesians) and many local crafts. Missionaries sought to force the inhabitants of Polynesia to follow the teachings of the Bible and their own despotic "Commandments", But, fortunately, many traditions of the peoples of the sea have experienced such a strong pressure on the part of foreign cultures, and the peculiar renaissance of the middle – the end of the 20th century returned a variety of old traditional crafts and famous Polynesian arts of singing, dance and legends to life.
Polynesians consider politeness and the whole set of rituals of communication as art. Any event, including acquaintance, is, in their opinion, the contact is not people, and the spirits, therefore, is furnished accordingly. In the Polynesian culture there was always a strong tabulation of a number of things and events, so it is not surprising that even the simplest in the opinion of the European event, the locals accompany the whole complex of the ceremonies wearing a cohere. These include dances, songs and "coronation" Flower wreaths – all these are echoes of ancient rituals.
Polynesian concept "families" turns on not only husband, wife and children, but also all numerous cousins, uncle, to the. D. – Such "big family" called "fetium". Within related families, there is an extensive system of mutual assistance and collective management of the economy. Often all residents of one settlement are connected between themselves related connections, and then the extensive community lives as a single family. The adoption in "fetium" other people’s children ("Faama") who thus fall under the protection of all relatives (but most often their "suit" In families to childless women).
Women ("Vakhin") always dominated in Polynesian society. Today is a wife and mother who often controls the family "Iron hand". The man (husband) only performs her wishes, but there is no dictate here – the labor differentiation of the islanders is noticeable even with the naked eye, so "orders" most often coincide with traditional men. Accordingly, the female half of the family is also engaged in their own case, and only for holidays in families is established external "equality" (internal here was always). In addition, local women are not only beautiful, but also intellectual. Most of them have a good education and genetically inherited ability to be beautiful.
Polynesians are very cheerful and friendly people by nature. To all guests of the islands they relate with a completely non-shown pitue. Tourists literally holly and cherish, but few people notice that no one’s feeling of the islanders do not lose. Here you rarely see the beggar or begging, there is no prostitution as such, no one runs after a tourist with a proposal to buy something or be sure to visit this place. Everything quietly and calmly, even somehow lazy. However, the level of service is the highest, and the number of all kinds of holidays and ceremonies on the islands has long been in the sayings.
Many celebrate such a characteristic feathery, like laziness and idleness. Missionaries naively believed that "Dicaries" Mirozdan themselves are not adapted for work, and can only lie under the palm trees and sing songs. However, the story clearly demonstrated the opposite. Beautiful navigas and warriors long before our era who conquered on their duck canoe with balancars (Polynesian, by the way, invention) the Great Ocean and supported their empire for many hundreds of years without devastating wars and genocide, so characteristic to Europeans, they just had their surrender to life. Hurry and fussing on the islands and really no one will. What for? Life on the island size a couple of kilometers in the diameter does not contribute to the fussiness, and the ocean waters do not have a hurry. Although the locals and really love themselves.
Even taking into account the fact that on the beaches you can find many ladies topless or in candid bikini, the islanders have the same ideas about the relevance of such forms of clothing, as in most European countries. Do not insult local residents, participating in Acts that are not allowed in their native country. Polynesians are not at all respects, what they seem to some snobs from "Civilized countries", Therefore, to lay off the locals, even not to mention the relevance of such actions from the point of view of morality, is simply unsafe.
Local women dress in bright "Pareo" ("Pareo", 2 meters of matter just turn around the body), men – in the male equivalent of this dress. The norms regarding clothes are very free – you can walk everywhere everywhere, only in Papeete bathing suits and shorts are not considered a suitable form of clothing. In the evenings it is recommended to wear light pants, shirts or light dress, closing knees. It is worth having sandals or beach slippers with a reliable sole – many reef sites have quite a lot of pebbles with an acute cutting edge, and marine inhabitants living in the coastal zone have plenty of protection (needles, spikes, poisonous spines and T. D.).
