The Hanmaneak Su In A Routuman Wedding 1989

Overview

This documentary about ritual clowning on the Polynesian island of Rotuma in the South Pacific was produced to accompany Vilsoni Hereniko's dissertation titled 'Polynesian Clowns and Satirical Comedies, ' later revised and published under the title 'Woven Gods: Female Clowns and Power in Rotuma.' A social institution that is now very rarely practiced, ritual clowning at traditional Rotuman weddings may appear to the uninitiated to be for the sole purposes of entertainment. This effort to record