The beauty of culture
The blue waves of the Pacific Ocean dance magically as a little girl sails them on a bright sunny day. As her hair blows to the wind, you can almost feel the cheer of life oozing out of her. A huge man in tow, the pair sail the Ocean in search of a mystical creature. Moana, the girl and Maui the male figure make for the main characters in Moana, a Disney musical adventure animation film. I bet parents are nodding, for if your household is anything like mine, you have watched Moana quite a bit.
Interesting adventure across the ocean. The dancing tattoos on Maui’s body are fascinating, but I never thought much into them, after all this is a movie. Then, I met more than 10 men who have a resemblance to Maui. They stood firm and thick. The structure of their bodies was formed by a combination of fat and muscle, very visible in their floral shirts and wrappers (yes, I did ask if there was anything under those skirts). Their calves reminded me of the famous thick entumbwe of one of the bullies in my primary school.
They looked intimidating and their dance performance was enough to freak out a lady trust me. What with chest-thumping and tongues being stuck out! “We eat special vegetables. I don’t know what is it called in English, but from where we come in the pacific, it is popular. That is what gives us this kind of body,” said Eric, the friendliest of this group. Ironically, I run to veggies to cut the kilos.
The cohort was part of the Pacific French army who were on a visit to Uganda during the Uganda France Friendship week a couple of months ago. That was my first physical encounter with Māori, people from New Zealand. Besides the body structure, the distinct large tattoos that Eric later tells me are called Ta Moko set them apart. He wore his on his biceps until the elbow and his calf. Other colleagues had theirs in different parts of the body, quite elaborate and beautifully crafted.
“The patterns are unique in every individual. it tells a story of one’s family and life,” he revealed. As he spoke I cringed my teeth imagining the pain that one had to suffer as those patterns came to life. “You take it like a man.”
Traditionally, the Māori used chisels and knives made from sharpened shark teeth, and ink made from burnt wood, gum or other natural products to craft the tattoos, but Eric says today more modern methods are used. I was blown away by the fact that the Polynesian people bring their traditions to the contemporary space, such as the Ta Moko and the Haka dance which is performed in various events like celebrating an achievement, welcoming distinguished guests, or as a pre-battle challenge, a pre-game dance by New Zealand’s All Blacks rugby team.
My late paternal grandmother wore her facial markings, distinct among the Itur and Karamojong with pride, but today I barely see a relative below 50 with those tribal markings. Would you wear your traditional outfit instinctively to a non-traditionally defined occasion? Truth be told, today, we wait to unleash many aspects of our culture in specific environments or events. No wonder many of our children are clueless. Well that evening, as the group fraternised with guests at the French Ambasador’s restaurant, they sang traditional Māori songs and told tales of adventure in the Pacific Islands and it was enchanting.
