History of Poi

After being assigned the most ridiculous assignment known to man in one of my courses this semester, I decided to do a portion of the project on poi.

I was wondering if anyone had any information about the origins of Poi (other than what was listed on the site). Mostly, how it arrived in America, and how it became "popularized".

I'd really appreciate anything anyone could tell me.

Thanks!

Well, this topic has been brought up a few times before, try a search on it...

[ 14 April 2002, 17:46: Message edited by: utilitydeamon ]

I've seen some videos from martial arts movies, where they use weapons that resemble poi.

A friend of mine says she's got a video of a really great battle where the guy uses lots of body wraps to direct the weapon. Very cool.

SB, in martial arts type things, my understanding is that those things are rope darts and even nunchuka are used similarly.

She-Ra, I think in this area you might have better luck pinpointing how you can lasso the moon from here, to tell you the truth. Since poi is a subculture, very little has been documented, and more than likely it's currently popularity is based on the monkey-see monkey-do theory in life where we travel, see something cool, figure it out and bring it home. Someone sees us do it, they figure it out, so on and so forth.

Good luck though. If you see anything conclusive, let us know!

Kia ora She-Ra, if you wanted to get the real info on poi in NZ you would have to go to local marae (meeting place of Maori - the area of land on which stands the tribal "house") to speak to some of the old-heads (we call them kaumatua). Our history is becoming very distorted with the Treaty of Waitangi claims because Maori generally are sticking to the story that they were the first peoples here (the 'tangata whenua'). This is to assist their land claims. I'm Maori and I like the advances Maori have made, but I feel we should just get on with life instead of harping back all the time but conveniently only going back so far so that much of our history is getting discarded! I'm fascinated by the developments of poi and am enjoying the 'sites' here. Goodluck with your assignment and if you need any historical help just e-mail me, I have heaps of free time now!I'll check this site to see how poi did infact make the leap across the ditch to your side of the world! Ka kite ano Manu