Identifier: womenofallnation01joyc (find matches)
Title: Women of all nations, a record of their characteristics, habits, manners, customs and influence;
Year: 1908 (1900s)
Authors: Joyce, Thomas Athol, 1878-1942 Thomas, Northcote Whitridge, 1868-
Subjects: Women
Publisher: London, New York (etc.) : Cassell and Company, limited
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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icial maid of the village is a prominentThe Taupou. . ^ ■ c tt 1 feature m Samoa. £,ach village elects a girl, who must be thedaughter of a chief, or occasionally certaingreat chiefs have the right of appoint-ing some girl of high birth. The taupouhas a large house provided for her inthe village, and has control of all thewomen and girls in it. Here she residesmore or less, with her court of young girls,and she never goes anywhere unless accom-panied by an elderly woman. No man 66 WOMEN OF ALL NATIONS belonging to the \illagc is allowed to enterthe house. In all the Nillage festivities, and especiallywhen visits arc exchanged between villages,the taupou and her court pla\ an importantj5art. One of her chief duties is to receive all the poses of the dance by her duenna ;her scanty wardrobe is largely made up ofmaterial which shall adorn her for the dance,and the court of attendant girls are carefullytrained to accompany her in the siva. Sheis not a soloist in these performances, for
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KAVA PARTY, TONGA. With slones for pounding the root. Fy tlu iOnrUsy of Mr. -y. y. strangers, to entertain them, and to makethe kava without which no Samoan ceremonyis complete. If a visit is paid to a neigh-bouring village, the orator heads the pro-cession of girls, calling out the name andrank and titles of the official maid. The taupou herself is a sort of villageproperty, and a model of virtue to all theother girls. It is her duty to attract courtingparties from other villages, with their manypresents. Eventually she will be marriedto some young chief who presents so manyhundred pigs, which are divided amongst thevillage, and in return her friends contributeso many hundred fine mats for the relationsof the bridegroom. Dancing is one of theduties of the taupou. She is instructed in there is no distribution of parts, but she is-the central figure of the group, and theleader of the concerted movements of theparty. Her dancing is one of the things-about which her village boasts in ord

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