On display: Grand Gallery, National Museum of Scotland ATIU FEAST BOWL ; ATIU Cook Islands, South Pacific This massive feast bowl, known as an umete, comes from Atiu, one of the Cook Islands in the South Pacific. At 12 feet long, it can hold up to 300 gallons and would have been used at large communal feasts to serve a food called poi. A range of food plants, including sweet potato, yams, taro and plantain, are typically used to make poi, which is prepared by mashing the flesh of the plant with a heavy stone pounder and mixing it with coconut milk. Feast bowl fact file On display: Grand Gallery, National Museum of Scotland Made in: Atiu, Cook Islands, South Pacific Made from: Tamanu wood (Calophyllum inophyllum) Dimensions: 36 high, 144 long, 38 wide Did you know? Titaua adapted well to life in Scotland, and she and George Darsie had three children. She died in 1898 and is buried in Anstruther Easter Churchyard. Feasting in the South Seas Feasting played an important role in traditional Cook Islands’ culture, with food being a measure of prosperity. Offerings were made to the gods to ensure success in daily activities such as fishing or the planting of crops. Neglect of ritual duties could cause imbalance in the natural world, whereas abundance indicated that all was well. At feasts, the blessings of the gods were both being sought and being praised. The more lavish the feast, the more honoured the gods. How was the feast bowl made? Cook Islanders are expert wood-carvers. The boat-shaped bowl is carved from a single piece of tamanu wood, also known as island mahogany.Tamanu trees have special significance and people are often buried in places where they grow. Although functional objects like this feast bowl are often undecorated, its immense scale would have emphasised the status of its owner. The feast bowl’s journey to Scotland In 1871, Parua, the high chief of Atiu, gifted this bowl to a chieftainess of the neighbouring Society Islands and it was transported there by canoe across a distance of over 500 miles. The bowl was inherited by the Tahitian princess, Titaua, whose second husband was a Scottish businessman, George Darsie. Together they ran a plantation trade and labour business. In 1892, they retired to Darsie’s hometown of Anstruther, taking the feast bowl with them. In 1895 Darsie sold a number of objects to the Museum, including the bowl, as well as Polynesian jewellery, tools and a chief’s headdress. Above: Princess Titaua, photographed in Tahiti in 1883. Before her marriage to George Darsie, Titaua was married to John Brander, a Scottish merchant who died leaving her a young widow. Where is the feast bowl displayed? The feast bowl stands in the Grand Gallery at National Museum of Scotland, along with other key objects from our collection, as a reminder of the links Scotland shares with the rest of the world. U
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 01:32:31 +0000
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