0. - ipp. 0 henry TaVioni eT sa TaBle sculPTée Pour pāreu. heNry TAvioNi ANd his CArved TABle For pāreu mAkiNg. Tōkere sculPTé Du syMBole De la coMMunauTé. Tōkere sCulpTed wiTh The symBol oF CommuNiTy. 56 "1"Pl41" : A closer look at the coconut tree and local handicrafts A tree of life in all its forms you cannot avoid the coconut palm and its fruit during a stay in the cook islands, it is omnipresent and used in every possible way. as soon as you arrive, you will be welcomedwith coconut water and you might enjoy a traditional ika mata, a dish made with raw fish marinated in lime juice and served with coconut cream (like Tahitian poisson cru), or poke, a kind of exotic fruit pudding served with coconut milk in a coconut half-shell. The young leaflets of the coconut palm, known as rito, are used for making hats, mats, fans, earrings, baskets, handbags, or dance costumes. once picked at the top of the coconut tree, young shoots are boiled and bleached in lemon water, and are then spread out in the sun to be dried. it takes about three days to prepare rito in its natural state ; a small quantity is also dyed in a variety of colors and dried again. after each strand has been smoothed with the dull side of a paring knife, weaving can begin. Pieces of coconut shell or motherof-pearlas wellas seashells can be used to decorate some objects. a specialty from the northern atolls, this craft is now widespread throughout the entire archipelago and is much appreciated by rarotongan women, who wear these accessories during religious ceremonies. The more mature coconut palms are woven together, immersed in sea water and sun-dried to be used for construction and to decorate traditional houses. Wood carving between tradition and modernity Just like the coconut palm, others trees such as Tamanu or Calophyllum inophyllum are used for the construction and also building vaka. There are small wood-carving workshops in rarotonga’s valleys, making pareu printing blocks, musical instruments like tōkere (traditional cook islands percussion) or the’ukarere (the local name for the ukulele), but also unique objects, for instance stylized wooden keys, given as a coming of age gift. Since 1943 there had been a factory in avarua, conserving ancestral traditions, but also combining it with modern technology. meitaki maata, special thanks to sarah moreland