Tahiti Sport Day

July 27, 2014  Sports day

(See photos on Facebook )

Part of the heiva was a sports day, a whole day of traditional games.  As we drove up to the venue The MC gave a cry and javelins started to fly.  At first I though the goal was to see who could throw farthest, but this was a more difficult challenge.  A coconut is mounted on a long pole, maybe 100 feet up and the idea is to hit it.  The person with the most javelins actually stuck into the cocoanut wins.  Javelins fly.  Men laugh and cheer.  Every half hour or so a halt is called so that javelins can be collected for the next round.  The first coconut is louvered and taken away to be scored, more points for hitting close to the middle, no points if your javelin falls out while being counted.   A new coconut is raised and it begins again.  Each man looks to have 10-20 javelins apiece and the compete in teams, all dressed alike in colorful pareos.  This went on all afternoon with spectators coming and going.  Towards the end to the day there was also a junior event. 

Meanwhile, in another part of the field the coconut husking race was underway.  This was very different from the one we participated in on Moorea.  Teams of 4 women face a pile of what looks like 50 coconuts.  At the sound of the bell, one woman swings an axe splitting the coconut neatly in two, usually with one stroke. The second woman grabs the halves and tosses then to the other two who are seated.  The take a metal tool and pop the meat out of the shell and throw it into a pile.  First team to finish wins.  Cocoanuts come thick and fast.  I swear someone is going to lose a finger, or foot the way the axe is flashing.  It takes about 15 minutes for them to finish the pile and all 3 teams finish within a few minutes of each other.

Next event is rock lifting.  One by one, people, men and women, come forward to hoist a massive stone to their shoulder.  Women and younger people have a slightly lighter stone, only 50 kilos, rather than the 70k the bigger men are lifting.  One positions ones feet, grips the stone with both arms around the middle and heaves in one movement.  Up, to the chest and then the shoulder and let go with one hand while balancing it there.  Then drop it.  The lift is timed from the moment of first heave to the moment the are is raised away from the stone.

We are also treated to more dancing, crafts booths and food stalls.  We munch on cocoanut and baguettes stuffed with barbecue and french fries.   All in all a delightful day.