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This page,  New Caledonia  people and social life,    festivals, dances


Knowledge of the country. Scarce were the French pioneers who did not have an indigenous descent, at least "those of the bush" who worked the grounds allotted by the government with the kanaks. The life was not precisely what the tourists can see now. Many "zoreilles" (French metropolitan), not accustomed, sent working in bush far from Nouméa or tempted by adventure, got back from there depressed so much the living conditions were difficult. As often, the wifes suffered more. English Conquest.  Approached by the north, the New Caledonia kanak remains strongly marked by the English presence. Some families remained there and the names with an English consonance are not rare, like the ohlen or other Nixons. In the north, both community existed peacefully in the past, each one with their own territory.

Festivals attract a many and coloured population, with a very varied ethnos groups, of which Kanaks which which lives much outside, French of the former colony and mongrel, French from metropolis, Indonesians and Vietnamese, Polynesians (of which much Wallisians (*), scarce English of the close islands or elsewhere, Europeans, Chinese but not as much as the are in Tahiti where they "were imported" for the labour.

season is at the beginning of the hot period (late October); here is the occasion to check that clothing is very simple here, excepted some audacities on Tee-shirts.

Themission dresses  of the "popinées" (the kanak ladies), including young people, do not seem outdated. Their usage goes up with English missionaries (Anglicans naturally), who did not appreciate these bodies a little too naked. Sign of the times, the kanakes now prohibit to discover the breast (and the lower part), apart from the great beaches of Nouméa, and say wisely, "you obliged us to cover ourselves, then now, act in the same way ! " (*) community which poses problem with the kanaks in some areas, for territorial right. What leads to serious scuffles, as what occured in the north of Nouméa.


Do not await after Tahitians tunes andd songs ; here, it is the "pilou pilou" and one hops !

 Undoubtedly by nostalgia of a certain past, the noses crossed by a bone get again in fashion, but with the form of piercings..  happily,  kanaks seem preserved from that. It's surrealist !.

Tahitians with the flower at their ear.

Two unusual mission dresses : left hand a very modern, the right one inspired  from old engravings or tapas material.

It seems to me that there is a certain shift towards the tahitian, more "touristic" that the kanak pilou pilou It is as true that in the eastern islands, contacts with Polynesians had been frequent. The Polynesian community is present in the whole Pacific, from the New Zeland up to Los Angeles.

A very smart dress mission.
  		 
Blondes with blue eyes are rare in the country but one can meet kanaks with blue eyes, especially in the eastern islands, mark of the genetic passage of English missionnairies.

 
Coconut square (place des cocotiers). Joung Kanak having a light meal, at midday.
At the market of Npuméa, a spot one can attend with a great pleasure..


L'Anse Vata, the usual spot for popular festivals.

Danses kanak


Following the Kanak dances, which are still earching their way out awway to the traditionnal  pilou pilou and variations, here is a complex dance, fake struggle with big sticks.


 The young left hand wallisian person is not twenty years old ! Polynesians appreciate a little roundnesses. The kanaks did not miss the exhibition ans and presented usual warlike dances (pilou pilou), modernized. 		And here the enchanteress Polynesia, always very rich and simple at the same time, unceasingly renewed on a basis of immutable traditional steps. One never wearies oneself any.
 

After these gorgeous ones, here are the childs, bus one dances very early in Polynesia. One dances on the sand.

See also one of the many spectacles of the Tiki village, from Moorea

 

They are really adorable isn't  she ? and how much serious !

New Caledonian Christmas. Dont  wait after the snow, because it is the beginning of the hotest period. It is hot, very hot, even scorchy if the trade winds vanish. Here, the Father Christmas does not arrive in sledge, nor on a jet ski, but in a rocket. Surprising but true. By the way, the rocket is false.


This Big traditional kanak festival was a bit special and not so usual.

One braids caps for the festival. 		Women dressed in their mission outfit plays a criket tournament. ..after that the men will express themselves ability, and courage dancing a good  "pilou pilou".   ..The final will be a giant  traditional good bougna.

With some odds, if the Big Chief is powerful and has got captives to sacrify, there will be some good parts of human flesh too.

Well, that was the past, don't panic.


Great contest of tongs launching (string shoes).

Unfortunately, I did'nt see any ; I read only an item on the news.

 Tongs are the universal shoes over there, as well in the whole tropical islands..I suppose the contest consists in balancing the leg and positioning the foot so that the more effectiveness can be got to reaching the farthest point in front of oneself. Whatever, it's what we try ourselves. laughter guaranteed.

Why not experiencing it, as we do ourselves in summer, with your childs or some good friends of you.  Insane. Beware, that can go rather far and sometimes, well involuntarily, rather high !



The rodeo. It was dedicating the end of a season. It is now a traditional show and touristic "in the bush", all over the west coast, and even quite close to Nouméa.
Its origin is Australian and linked to extensive breeding,  Gauchos  are called here "stockmen."


Exhibition under a bamboo green house, at the sea side.

At the edge of the beach of the Anse Vata, bamboos of more than twenty meters were drawn up and intersected.

A net stretched on this natural structure takes place and has provided shade and light variations throughout the day. The greenhouse could be seen at various times with the same pleasure.
Built on the allee, one crossed it quite naturally to admire his various gardens.


Exotic environment reinforced by electronic cries of birds and odoriferous dispensers bored in the bamboos which saw pressing against them multiracial nostrils.


Scents of niaouli.

 

At night, strange glows of cut out bamboos.

Orchids click !

The Tiki Village (photos from a Tahitian dances exhibition)

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