Home of Poi: History of the Fire Arts Revisite- Samoan Fireknife (and a little poi)

Talofa everyone !
There was a thread started by Historian which stated a couple of things were a little "off".
1) There was a comment made that the original poi were actually yams and that they were swung against rocks to make them more edible

The fact is that the original poi were made like every other "ball" in the South Pacific - they were made out of a swamp weed and attached to a rope. Yams were, and are today, cooked in umus our other types of ovens and have no need of tenderizing.

Now - on to the History of the Samoan Fireknife Dance:
The Samoan "Ailao" was a victory dance in which the victorious warriors would parade the heads of their defeated enemies before the chiefs on the hooks of their "Nifo Oti's". The original Nifo Oti was a war club - not a knife - but it was toothed on one side and could indeed inflict a nasty cut. When the white men brought blubber knives, the Samoan warriors immediately saw the advantage - it not only was sharp enough to sever a head, but also had a ready-made hook to carry it away with. These days, blubber knives - or long knives, are no longer used, so the "pelu" - or bush knife is cut and a hook attached. Competitions do not allow warriors to use knives without hooks.
The original knife dance was done with one knife, and was widely practised. An American Samoan boy - Uluao Misilagi Letuli, learned the dance when he was 15, and from that time he practised daily. Letuli also walked the 21 mile round trip to the Marine base on Tutuila to watch Fred Astaire movies - from which he learned to dance "like Fred Astaire" - that is where the name "Freddie" Letuli you see him billed as on old movies comes from.
Letuli made his way to Honolulu as a member of the crew on a yacht . Letuli worked his way from Honolulu to San Francisco with his knife dance (and slap dance).
It was in 1946 when he was practising for the Shriners Convention and saw a Hindu Fireater (Abe Singh) and a young girl - both practising their routines. He grabbed a towel, tore it into strips, borrowed some kerosene from Abe Singh, and became the "Father of the Fireknife".
Last - but not least - the comment that there is no record of any non - Polynesian performing at a luau as a fireknife dancer is not quite true. Scott Zuziak of Chicago is non-Polynesian and is one of the most accomplished fireknife dancers in the world.Letuli also had a fair haired- fair skinned boy in his original "Samoan Warriors" - although he was part-Samoan.
In our "Nifo Oti" club here in Samoa we have had more white boys than Samoan, while in Western Samoa the Ailao Club has a steady stream of white boys that both perform and compete.
You can get the book "Flaming Sword of Samoa" at Amazon - it's got tons of pictures and info on the fireknife.
You can also see more here:
www.flamingsword.net and www.sivaafi.org

Soifua,
Teejay