SOUND OF POLYNESIA
Archipelago of Polynesia, scattered over 2,200,000 km2 in the center of the Pacific Ocean, the Cook Islands are made up of precarious islands and volcanoes mounted on the sea floor or coral rings emerging from barely three meters above an ocean as far as the eye can see.
The inhabitants of this corner of paradise, these athletic brown-skinned men, came from the human cradles of Southeast Asia through the passage of the Sunda Strait. Disembarking in successive phases, these migrants moved on board large pirogues. Throughout their journeys, they met other men with whom they mingled. The Oceanian culture was formed during this amazing marine adventure, since prehistory. Therefore, how can we understand the mechanism of their evolution and give it historical value ?
Although we still hesitate about the system of winds that carried these incredible navigators, some realities tell us more about this odyssey. In the Cook Islands, you can still see one of these superb drua, thirty-six meters long and equipped with a twenty-four meter mast. The oven built on board ensured the cooking of a hundred yams and several pigs. The materials used in the construction were all of plant origin. Iron tree and coconut tree had their particular use: keel, bridle or mast. Ligatures, calfates and ropes made use of coconut wadding, the braided pandanus leaf providing the fabric of the sails. All that remained was to invoke Tane, god of navigators... and the weather. If the knowledge of the winds was perfectly assimilated by the Polynesians, it was accompanied by that of the stars and the signs on the sea.
Made of a lattice of shattered reeds, real nautical charts were drawn up, knotted shells indicating the relative position of the islands with respect to each other. This was humanity’s first adventure. More recent history feeds the epic tale of the first discoverers. James COOK, a British navigator, made three expeditions to the Pacific between 1762 and 1771. There he discovered the islands of Polynesia, including those of Cook.
Indolent, fatalistic and happy, Polynesians live in the present and are not worried about the future. This mood probably explains that these islands enjoy a reputation that makes them compare to a paradise that inspired poets, painters and musicians.
If you cast anchor in the Cook Islands, tradition is first illuminated by the smile and beauty of young women. Then, beautiful colors that tint their sarongs. And finally, coconut shells to which cheap jewelry clings, making them infinitely attractive. Thus, dreams are born.
The great voyage of the peoples of the Pacific has continued to charm. This region draws from this cultural richness a new strength. Tradition also feeds on "custom": a mixture of stories, tales and legends that are the essential roots of these travelers from space and time.
It actually hides an extraordinary heritage that welds in the same gestures the diversity of peoples and islands, and feeds more than a tradition, a legend listened to at the gates and in the wind of history.
