Melanesian canoes are powerful symbols of the region’s ocean heritage and community life. In Vanuatu (once called the New Hebrides), skilled craftsmen hollow out huge tree trunks to build single-hull outrigger canoes, often sailing across the water with bright red “butterfly” sails. Before a new canoe is used, villages hold special naming ceremonies and pig-sacrifice rituals to bring good fortune. In the Solomon Islands, builders use mangrove planks lashed to wooden frames to create sleek, deck-house canoes that can carry dozens of people on long, star-guided journeys. Carved with shell adzes or shaped with iron tools, each canoe bears the name of an ancestor or chief, carries shell money and goods in busy trade routes, and carries stories of past migrations, alliances, and respect for sea and land spirits. In Melanesia, these boats are much more than simple vessels; they are living pieces of culture.
The Melanesians: Studies in their Anthropology and Folklore/Chapter 16 – Robert Henry Codrington
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