Building the Maneaba

Cassandra, Lucy, Teaote and Marita share how the maneaba is built.

Cassandra and Lucy: So the first post, when you construct the maneaba, the first hole gets dug by the elder in the village and it's kind of blessing the maneaba construction with the first pothole being dug.

Teaote: There are maneaba builders—the people who build maneabas—and because the maneaba is, to the Kiribati mind, the maneaba is built with magic as well. And they believe that they have to do a ritual to bless them... so the building of the maneaba won’t kill them, it won’t interfere with their... it will bless them all the time. And so these people are well known all through the islands.

Marita: The thing that I really like about the construction of the maneaba, or te va, the canoe, is that even though it’s the men's role to build the structure, I really love the fact that it can’t be built without the women making the rope with the coconut husk. I use that as my own identity, thinking well, they can’t get anything done without the women … (laughter) literally holding together the community, that’s how I interpret it. Because they have built the rope that holds this huge structure, it's all dependent on how strong the rope is and how well made it is and so that’s dependent on the women's skill. So nothing, none of these structures can be built without rope and the coconut husk.