Geography

Location: Pacific ocean

Archipelago: Society Islands

Major Islands :Tahiti

Overseas country: French Polynesia

Largest city : Papeete

Ethnic Groups: Tahitians

Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia(an overseas country of the French Republic), located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous with surrounding coral reefs.

Windward Islands Native name: Îles du Vent

Island Moorea

The archipelago comprises an administrative division of French Polynesia, and includes the following islands:

Tahiti

Moorea

Mehetia

Tetiaroa

Maiao

The capital of the administrative district is Papeete on the island of Tahiti. Tahiti, Moorea, and Mehetia are high islands Tetiaroa and Maiao are coral atolls.

Culture The majority of the population speaks French and Tahitian (co-official

with French throughout French Polynesia).

Tourism is a significant industry.

In July, the Heivā festival in Papeete celebrates Polynesian culture and the commemoration of the storming of the Bastille in Paris.

Tahitian cultures included an oral tradition that involved the mythology of

gods, such as 'Oro ( a god of the Polynesian pantheon) and beliefs, as well as ancient traditions such as tattooing and navigation. The annual HeivāFestival in July is a celebration of traditional culture, dance, music and sports including a long distance race between the islands of French Polynesia, in modern outrigger canoes (va'a).

Sport The Tahitian national sport is Va'a. In English, this

paddle sport is also known as outrigger canoe. The Tahitians consistently achieve record-breaking and top times as world champion in this sport.

Major sports in Tahiti include rugby union and association football and the island has fielded a national basketball team, which is a member of FIBA Oceania. Another sport is surfing, with famous surfers such as Malik Joyeux and Michel Bourez.

Dance The 'ote'a (sometimes written as otea) is a traditional dance from

Tahiti, where the dancers, standing in several rows, execute figures. This dance, easily recognized by its fast hip-shaking and grass skirts, is often confused with the Hawaiian hula, a generally slower more graceful dance which focuses more on the hands and storytelling than the hips.

the couple's dance 'upa'upa is likewise gone but may have reemerged as the tamure.

The dance is with music only, drums, but no singing. The drum can be one of the types of the tōʻere, a laying log of wood with a longitudinal slit, which is struck by one or two sticks. Or it can be the pahu, the ancient Tahitian standing drum covered with a shark skin and struck by the hands or with sticks. The rhythm from the tōʻere is fast, from the pahu it is slower. A smaller drum, the faʻatete, can be used.

Tahitian dance upa-upa

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np8-7MLt5Ro (dance)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FNrCDCVvwo (drumming)

Let’s visit Tahiti