Museum of NC 1
Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Sat 21 Nov 2015 23:27
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The Museum of New
Caledonia
 Beez is clean, Australians Visas
printed, it was really time to go to the museum, just over the road there was no
excuse not to. Bear got in for fifty Francs and I had to pay two hundred for
having less grey hair. Grr. So here we were
facing the guardians of the house for less than three
pounds.
  Very pleased to say that most looked
quite welcoming, even smiling. Behind Bear we could
see a round house.
   The “Big House” or Men’s House.
Of all the traditional constructions known in New Caledonia, the “big house”
remain witness to the most majestic of Kanak architecture. Its height could
reach twenty metres and its construction thus required the participation of many
people. All groups of people related to and dependent on the chefferie [main
chief’s area of influence] were represented in this work, the men undertaking
the main part, whilst the women collected materials for the roof. Although since
the beginning of the last century, the big hut has disappeared from housing
settlements, today we can still conjure up a picture thanks to certain remains,
to old descriptions or oral traditions and to old peoples’ knowledge and memory
of traditional techniques.
Reserved for the oldest chief of
the group and symbol of social organisation, the large hut usually stood at the
top of an alley bordered by araucarias or coconut palms. At the bottom end of
the alley stood the younger brother’s smaller round hut and between them, all
along the alley, were the huts belonging to family members.
The central alley is the place where
festivities and custom ceremonies took place. It symbolises the opening of the
group to the outside world.
  We took our shoes off and went in.
Inside the hut, which we thought looked diddy from the outside, was in fact
huge. The workmanship was so neat. The floor was
covered in the woven mats we have seen on son many islands. The door frame was
much shorter but the head space inside was so spacious.
  The weaving was
incredibly strong. The threshold had segments filled
with coral. Very safe if you needed to build a fire, keep out creepy
crawlies and dirt.
The framework of the Big House.
This consisted of the same pieces used for today’s round house: Centre
post.
The main, larger posts around the
hut, serve as supports for the roof rafters. The secondary, smaller posts around
the hut, serve to support the materials composing the construction’s vertical
wall.
The purlins at the top of the
main posts, serve as support for the rafters, which come together at the top of
the main post.
The cinctures, which in a smaller
way to the purlins, serve as support for the interstitial rafters and link them
to the main rafters. Their number varies according to the height of the
roof.
The rafters, of the same number
as the hut’s posts are fixed to the purlins and to the edge of the corbel at the
summit.
The corbel, fixed at the top end
of the central post, on which the rafters are placed. This technique
characteristic of the Kanak architecture, varies according to
region.
Gaulettes are small sticks placed
horizontally from the base to the top of the structure.
   Models of different
huts.
Houses: The Kanak house comprises
different forms of construction, described by term case [hut]. The round hut is
the most common on the main island, as in the Loyalty Islands. Roof heights vary
according to regions. The rectangular house has a roof with two slopes. One of
the sides overlaps the rooftop, leaving a space for smoke to escape. Men, and
also women, met there for work [tool making etc.] or simply to chat. Its
framework is similar to certain Polynesian houses. The oblong hut is the women’s
hut, where they sleep and cook.
  Statuettes: Anthropomorphic
statuettes are cut from hardwood. Of an average dimension of 30 cms, they may be
mistaken for statues to be planted, which have come away from their
mount.
They always represent a man or a woman in a standard
position: hands placed flat on the top of the thighs, pectoral muscles and legs
showing pronounced corpulence. On the other hand, the carver was given free rein
with the details of the face.
The functions of these small
figures remain uncertain. According to old witnesses, they were used for magic
practices [calling for rain, requests for protection.....] but, without their
protective envelope and accessories of tapa and leaves.... they become ordinary
objects, which could then be easily given away or exchanged.
 Bits and
pieces, many we have become familiar with.
   Man in a full
‘skirt’. Money in the form of beads – colour
represents the various values and a ladies money
skirt.
Money skirts. These
valuable skirts are made from fruit bat hairs or vegetable fibres, which are
rolled into cones. It takes many days and much patience to make them. Their
aesthetic quality depends on the regularity and the alignment of the fringes.
They are exchanged among women at birth, wedding and mourning ceremonies and
symbolise the home. Associated with Kanak money, they have a greater
value.
The Myth from the Wedoye
Chefferie at Hienghene recounts: “One day when the sun was running its usual
course, it saw a man on the earth. He was a solitary chief. He did not have a
wife. The sun decided to give him his daughter in marriage. She accompanied him
one day and saw the chief. He pleased her and she asked her father for
permission to go alone to visit hi, She went down, found the chief and they
decided to stay together. The sun was thrilled.
Then one day, the sun decided to
seal this union. When it reached its zenith, he let his daughter down by a rope.
When she arrived, she sat next to the chief and the rope wrapped itself around
her like a skirt. The skirt was of flying fox hair.” Rightee-oh then,
moving right along.
 The next gallery was all about sailing and fishing.
  This lobster, crab, fish trap looked diddy until I asked Bear to stand next to
it. Fishing equipment similar to several islands we
have visited.
  Rat shaped lures
for octopus fishing, made from stone, shell and woven coconut
fibres.
 A traditional
canoe.
   Sewing on the
hulls, how the deck
planks are fixed and the sail
attachment.
   Models of different types of canoe.
 Pots and
pans came next.
   We were both fascinated to see the
Incubator or Medicinal Cradle. A
simple one, a statuette of one in use and one
taking on the look of a Moses basket. Used for only
eighteen days following the birth of a baby, after which it is destroyed. It is
made of banana leaves, bourao fibres and niaouli bark. Gophapin, Poya, New
Caledonia.
    In Kanak society weaving is above all a symbol of life. It starts with the
birth of a child and accompanies him all his life until death. During ceremonies
following a birth, the maternal uncle gives a woven mat to the newborn. At the
time of a wedding, woven objects – mats, money skirts, bags and baskets are
given to the bride and groom as a contribution to the start of their life as a
couple. And when a person dies, his body is wrapped in a woven mat before being
returned to the maternal clan. In day to day life, woven goods are used for
carrying, for the preparation and keeping of food, for fishing and hunting, but
also to store clothes and personal goods or as playthings for children, as well
as adults whistles and windmills. Different materials permit a diversity of
objects to be made. The most common is pandanus, coconut leaves, certain forest
liana and rushes.
Next, we looked at the usual weapon,
brain pickers and clubs we have seen in the museum in Suva, so upstairs we
went.
  On the way up the stairs, we stopped
and looked out of the window. There was a gentle looking man very carefully
grading, sorting and bundling grass. In the distance
we could see he was building a Great Hut, that’s a
must to visit when we have finished on the top floor.
ALL IN ALL A THOROUGHLY
ENJOYABLE MUSEUM
VERY INTERESTING
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