Pa picks

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Pa picks fruits of tradition

Story by Jennifer Grim wade Illustrations by Peter Scott PA didn’t look a bit like his fellow Cook Islanders. His blond dreadlocks were a direct contrast to their black curly hair. His features were similar, but hardly anyone else wore a long lei of leaves. Sheepishly, I asked Pa why he looked so different.

With great pride, Pa explained that only his tribe had dreadlocks, and only high people could wear such a lei.

After their arrival in 1821, the missionaries’ attempts were most successful with their efforts to convert the islanders to Christianity, and they had no qualms about imposing their cultural beliefs on the so-called

“primitive” Polynesians. They banned

the ancient art of tattooing, gave women some status, and forced all the locals to wear Victorian garb.

Foreigner’s soon became known as Papa’a which is a direct translation of the Maori word for “four layers”, referring to the jacket, the vest, the skirt and the undershirt sported by the

early European settlers.

But despite his blond dreadlocks, Pa is not an abbreviation of Papa’a. And even though he has six kids, he’s no grandpa; in the Cook Islands the name

Pa signifies royalty.

Today, the measures introduced by the Papa’a are no longer seen as gospel,, and some of the locals are keen to make sure their culture isn’t lost for ever. So Pa holds his head up when he shows off the tattoo on his forearm and smiles ironically when he points out it says Helga, the name of his former German

Coconut tree: a bearer of part of the Cook islanders' stable diet

wife. Pa has lived in New Zealand, Spain and Germany, but he’s back studying and practising herbal medicine.

Pa says his family have been herbalists for 68 generations. Living in Spain he realised he was breaking the chain, so he came home to carry on the tradition.

We spent the day chatting with Pa as we climbed 1600 feet through the jungle to one of the highest points on Rarotonga. Every 10 minutes Pa stopped [ and showed us natural remedies. At the I start of the trail he bent down and picked ; a couple ofgotacola leaves and told us if lyou washed and then ate two leaves, gotacola will cure cancerous tumours.

Deeper into the jungle, the foliage became denser, the sky dimmer and 'sweat ran down my back even when I was standing still. We passed the giant King Ferns, said to be 10 million years old. The Polynesians still use the young shoots to stop cuts bleeding.

Walking with dignity, Pa looked like he was 30, not nearly 50. I believed him when he said he was a champion marathon swimmer, and a karate expert after all, I was almost on my hands and knees scrambling up the steep path, clinging on to vines to stop myself

slipping.

Just when I felt I could go no further, Pa handed me a drink of natural spring water mixed with fresh lime and pineapple juice and sweetened with

coconut honey.

While we rested, Pa drew our attention to the ora ora vine which was

gradually strangling the jungle. The

islanders used to pick it, pound it and throw it into the lagoon when the tide was out. At high tide, all the marine life

would float to the surface. Although the fish were poisoned by the ora ora plant, it was fine to eat the big fish straight away. Nothing the Cook Islanders like better then catching a fish, and eating it raw, on the spot!

But this has been outlawed and anyone found guilty will be sentenced to one month’s hard labour.

At times I felt like I’d been sentenced as we struggled onwards, but the effort W as worth it. Tiny orchards and lobster daws bordered the track; we even saw the rare kiekie orchid poking through the too of the forest The flower isn’t verv bier u ,j , “ owe * isn t very big but you couldn t miss its soft-yellow,

bright-orange and hot-pink petals.

Finally we reached the top of the pass, alld sat down to enjoy the fantastic vista from one side of the island to the other

The centre was a dense jungle of native trees sloping towards the sandy beaches, and the turquoise and emerald

shimmering reefs,

Qn our down the other sid the tra il zigzagged across mountain streams, We hopped from one rock to another, stopping to splash ourselves and savour the cool clean water. Pa showed us plants to cure memory loss and nervous disorders; orchids to cure diarrhoea; ferns to mend broken bones. ) On our wav out of the forest we nassed n \ . u \ ® , n a °usnes.

Gardenias are the national flower of the Cook Islands and tentatively I picked a coup le. Pa looked at me as though I was mad, and encouraged me to pick to my heart’s desire after all there was no shortage offiowers. □

Pa; pointing out the practical uses of Polynesian plants