If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 567

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Tahitian dancer, Polynesian Cultural Center, Oahu, Hawaii

 

 

This is another unused postcard from the Polynesian Cultural Center.  The photograph of this Tahitian dancer is credited to John Wagner.  The card is an IMPACT publication with “Life Like Photo Art,” published in 1979.  The numbers #1569-H and G-1439 appear at the lower left corner on the reverse.

 

 

Tahiti is one of the cultures represented in the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC) villages.  The nearest land mass to Tahiti is Australia.  Tahiti is divided into two parts, northern and southern, and like Hawaii was formed by volcanic activity.  The first people came from Western Polynesia before 500 BCE.  Before the arrival of Europeans one clan dominated several divided territories that stretched from the south to north.  Clan leadership included a chief, nobles, and under-chiefs.  Belts of feathers were used as symbols of power.  The fist Europeans to arrive at Tahiti may have been led by the Spanish explorer Juan Fernandez in 1576-1577 or a Portuguese navigator, Pedro Fernandes de Queiros, who sited an inhabited island in 1606.  By the late 1700s many other Europeans had arrived including whalers and merchants some of whom brought infectious diseases and introduced alcohol.  These commercial interactions had catastrophic consequences for the Tahitian population.  Paul Gauguin, the French impressionist artist, lived on Tahiti in the 1890s where he painted many Tahitian subjects.  There is a small Gauguin museum dedicated to his life and works in Papeari. 

 

Tahitian culture included an oral mythic religious tradition, tattooing, navigation, dance, music, sports, such as long-distance outrigger canoe races between the French Polynesian islands.  The Tahitian dance is world famous represented by fast hip-shaking and grass skirts. 

 

 

 Pageant of Canoes, Tahitian dances, Polynesian Cultural Center, Oahu, Hawaii

 

 

At the PCC there is a parade of canoes with the various islands represented.  The card above is a Hawaiian Series distributed card by Royal Mini Print, and features a photograph of Tahitian dancers at the Pageant of Canoes.  The number B9507 appears at the lower left corner on the reverse.

 

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tahiti