The development of tohua, which is basically a plaza that could accommodate special village activities, is both unique to the Marquesas and represents the most sophisticated architectural complex in all of Polynesia. The open area in the middle of the tohua is similar in significance to the Maori marae and the Tongan and Samoan malae.
One tradition says Marquesan chiefs built tohua to commemorate the birth of a first son, or the death of a chief or priest. The tohua became the chief's hereditary property and part of his family's residential complex; so, in a sense, the tohua was the chief's compound to which he would invite guests, visitors, and sometimes the entire village for special events, dancing and feasting.
Marquesans used available rocks and earth fill to raise portions of the tohua where additional structures were built. Basalt boulders of volcanic origin were commonly used to build tohua in the Marquesas; but the fossilized sandstone used to create the Polynesian Cultural Center tohua is the locally available alternative. The structures in the tohua include the:
Hakaiki: The height of the paepae foundation as well as the extensive decorations easily identify the "chief's residence" in the tohua. Here the chief would counsel his people and entertain guests. The house also served as a place of refuge for strangers and those fleeing punishment.
Because the tohua was built under the chief's sponsorship, it was usually named after him or his son. The large compound in front of the house was frequently paved from one end to another to accommodate traditional dancing, which was very popular. The valleys would echo with the rhythms of drums, clapping hands, chanting voices, cheers of celebration after a war victory, or cries of mourners as activities were conducted, including the pageantry of chiefly ceremonies, funerals, puberty rites and deification of great chiefs. Warriors would strut around showing off their full tattoos and food for feasting would litter the platforms.
Ha'e Ko'o'ua: The "old men's house" provided a shelter for those men who no longer slept with women, and thus were considered taboo. Marquesans respected and highly regarded old people for their knowledge of the details of tribal lore.
Among themselves, the aged ones could dream of past bravery in intertribal wars, of feasts of plenty and droughts of starvation, or carry on certain home industries such as making ornaments, weapons, popoi pounders and wooden bowls. Rest and kava drinking were their special right. These pastimes were interspersed with dialogues of the past and cultural discussions with those who visited them. An unusual contribution of the old men was their white hair or whiskers which were used to decorate costumes, weapons, chiefly staffs, ornamental bracelets, neckpieces and anklets.
The old men were known as tupuna or grandparents, while their grandchildren were called moupuna. A child had to call all his father's peers motua or father. Grandparents, not fathers, had the job of announcing the birth of a child and supplying such information as whether it would be adopted or not, what its name would be and other privileges.
This structure also served as a taboo house in which food for persons under certain restrictions was cooked and stored.
Ha'e Patu Tiki: The "tattooing house" was usually a temporary structure raised for the tattooing of the first-born adolescent males between the ages of 15-20. It normally was not included in the tohua. Only specialists did tattooing. During the ordeal, the boys lived in the ha'e patu tiki and were fed by members of their respective households. The house was declared taboo and access to all women was denied. Nearby, drummers beat soothing rhythms to ease the pain of tattooing which progressed every day until it was completed.
Traditional Marquesan tattoo designs covered the whole body of the males. These included lines, triangles, spirals, feather and leaf patterns, circles, crisscrosses, tiki faces, scallops, checkerboards, geometric designs, and petroglyph-like figures. Each tattoo was unique to each individual.
Marquesan tattoos were intricately and skillfully engraved into the skin using a bone needle tipped with indelible plant dyes. Tattoo artists were highly paid in pigs, breadfruit and other produce.
Me'ae: The tohua includes a "religious shrine" or temple whose high roof signifies the importance of the building. Kou fau or wild hibiscus stakes with tapa cloth streamers indicated the area was taboo. Here the skulls of dead ancestors and other sacred objects such as the wooden or stone images were stored. The me'ae were always taboo to women. The carved posts, which were sculptured for decorative effect, could be found throughout the Marquesas, with similar designs carved on weapons, household objects and food bowls.
Sometimes Marquesans erected their me'ae in the hills where private worship would prevail. Where the sacred place was of lesser significance, minor sacrifices and rites were conducted and all were allowed to participate with no taboos attached.
Ha'e Manihi'i: The chief provided a "guest house," as there were many community activities in which visitors were invited to participate. Marquesan and other Polynesian customs also provided protection and entertainment to any traveler or guest who might seek shelter and hospitality at the tohua; hence the Marquesan saying: Mea tapu te manahi'i, ua tapapa te haka iki, which means, "Protected is the guest the chief entertains."
The high roof of the ha'e manihi'i promoted ventilation and was also as a storage area. The pole running along the side of the wall was used as a head rest. Little pulleys of coconut husk sennit cords were used to put valued items out of reach. Coconut shell protectors were utilized to shield them from rats. The visitors' house and platform also served as a spectator's platform for the chief's house.
Ha'e Vehine: Women and children were allowed to watch the proceedings in the tohua from the "women's house." Though most of the remaining areas of the tohua were taboo to them, the women were careful to confine themselves to this special dwelling. Here they could talk among themselves, make baskets, braid mats, decorate tapa and prepare cosmetics and food. When exhausted from the day's activities, they would lie here on mats spread over the sandy floor and sleep.
Kitchen area: Samples of staple foods, including breadfruit in season, or otherwise boiled green bananas are sometimes offered here. These were traditionally eaten with pork, chicken or fish.
Every Marquesan child from the moment of birth inherited a least one breadfruit tree as his very own. At about 10 years of age, every child's hands were consecrated so he could make popoi, or pounded breadfruit paste.
In years when there was adequate rainfall, Marquesans could harvest four cycles of breadfruit or ma, which was either baked or boiled. In other years, when the chief saw the breadfruit was mature but may not sufficiently ripen, he would summon his workers with the blast of the conch shell or he would send one of his priests. The people picked the breadfruit with nets attached to long poles.
They knocked off the breadfruit stems, pierced them with a small guava stick or piece of bamboo from end to end, and carefully placed these into food storage pits as provisions against time of famine.The piercing hastened the ripening, which usually took another one or two days. When the fruit was tender, the women peeled them and lay them on a bed of fau or wild hibiscus leaves, with a cover of more leaves on top, to help ripen them even further.
The next day they would squeeze the breadfruit flesh off their cores, which were discarded. They called this breadfruit flesh mei, which was left to drain in a temporary hole lined with plaited coconut leaves and banana leaves. After the mei started to ferment, they transferred it to a permanent storage pit, and at this point, called it ma. The Marquesans and other Pacific islanders had discovered that ma could be kept in covered, leaf-lined pits for long periods; and even though westerners might consider the pungent famine food overpowering, some Marquesans claim it even improves with age.
When finally taken from the storage pit, ma is never eaten but forms the base for popoi — which is virtually identical to Hawaiian poi, except for the aged breadfruit base: In other words, Marquesans would place ma on a wooden trough to be kneaded with a stone pounder, and add water as needed to achieve the consistency of soft dough. At that point, they tightly wrapped the popoi in smaller packages using fau or wild hibiscus leaves, and bound them with strips of bark. These packages were then baked in underground ovens to be served with fish, pork and other Marquesan staples.
