TIQA Fiji Dart Game

Projectile for the game of tika or teka or tiqa. In the shape of a small and short spear or arrow, the dart or projectile, carries a tapered and heavy head which is either masculine and therefore equipped with a stud at the base allowing it to be inserted into the end of the rod, or feminine and hollowed out with a lodging or socket in the base for the insertion of the stem as in the example here. The dart heads are shaped with great care, mainly from ironwood and more rarely from sperm whale teeth. The shank is made with a reed called gasau (Eulalia japonica).
 
Fiji, Polynesia.
Ironwood (casuarina equisetifolia) and reed (Eulalia japonica) with a beautiful old patina of age and use.
54.5 (14 cm long for socket head) x 5 cm.
19th century

 
 

Provenance Provenance:
“Huize Loreto”, the monastery of the Marist Fathers, Lievelde, the Netherlands, N° 412 (old N° 204), the inventory cards describe the object as “Tiga, pour jeu figie” and “Een pijl of enn kinderspel of voor een vogel misschien voor de Tiga Fidji (an arrow from a children's game (sic))”.
 

Literature: The game of veitiqa - exclusively male, and played during the yam flowering, consists of throwing the darts with force and skill, as far as possible, on a field specially prepared in the form of a competition in order to earn points. The launch is done with a so-called "under hand" throw (unlike a classic javelin throw) or with a coconut fiber throwing rope (sennit). This game, with its sexual overtones and often violent clashes between teams, was quickly banned by the first missionaries. The game of tiqa existed in most of the islands of Western Polynesia, Tonga, Fiji, Wallis, Niue, etc., probably as a Fijian export.