Maneaba
Maneaba or Mwaneaba (newer spelling) is the name for a traditional meeting house in the Pacific island state of Kiribati , mostly with a sacred and secular function. It is understood as the common house of the community. Sometimes there are several of these houses on an island or village for the different clans , the kaainga . In addition to being a meeting place to make important joint decisions for the community, it is also always a meeting and festival center, e.g. B. for dance and singing performances. It also has a protective and asylum function , is used as a warehouse and offers overnight accommodation for guests. It is usually rectangular, open on the sides and protected by a large gable roof.
The largest maneabas had a length of 60 meters and a height of 12 meters ( Butaritari and Makin ), while today's ones are more like a length of about 25 meters and a width of about 14 meters with a coarser design. They are made entirely without nails and screws and only held together with coconut cord. The construction is supported by support posts, depending on the location, also by blocks of coral limestone. They are generally located on the western side of the lagoon, as the eastern side of the islands was reserved for spirit houses and ancestor worship.
Each maneaba has its own name; they are closely related to mythology and the history of settlement of the Gilbertese. They can be divided into three styles according to their origin: Tabontebike in Beru and originally Samoan , Tabiro in Beru and Maungatabu, mainly in connection with the islands of Nikunau and Onotoa . While a chieftainship predominated on the northern islands of the archipelago, the maneabas were mainly reserved for chiefs and warriors, the central and southern Gilbert Islands were always headed by a council of old men, the unimane , the heads of the various clans. These are reflected in a strict seating arrangement within the maneaba , the boti system, in which each clan has a specific place that also determines the status.
The Te umanibong museum in Bikenibeu displays one of these traditional maneaba .
The word is also a general term for the various buildings in which people gather. The parliament of Kiribati is called Maneaba ni Maungatabu (German: Assembly House for the General Assembly), churches are also called Maneaba te Atua (House of God).
literature
- Henry Evans Maude : The evolution of the Gilbertese boti. An ethnohistorical interpretation. Institute of Pacific Studies and Gilbert Islands Extension Center of the University of the South Pacific, Suva, 1977 (new edition from: Polynesian Society, Wellington 1963).
- Henry Evans Maude: The Gilbertese maneaba. The Institute of Pacific Studies and the Kiribati Extension Center of the University of the South Pacific, (Suva) 1980.
- Henry P. Lundsgaarde : Post-contact changes in Gilbertese maneaba organization. In: Niel Gunson (Ed.): The Changing Pacific: Essays in Honor of HE Maude. Oxford University Press, Melbourne 1978, ISBN 0-19-550518-2 , pp. 67-79.
- Arthur Francis Grimble : Tungaru traditions. Writings on the atoll culture of the Gilbert Islands. Edited by HE Maude. Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Victoria 1989 (bibliography pp. 357-375), ISBN 0-522-84386-7 .
- Arthur Francis Grimble: An anthology of Gilbertese oral tradition. From the Grimble papers and other collections. Translated by AF Grimble and Reid Cowell. Edited by HC and HE Maude. Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, Suva 1994, ISBN 0-646-17265-4 .
- Gerd Koch : The material culture of the Gilbert Islands. Nonouti, Tabiteuea, Onotoa. Museum of Ethnology, Berlin 1965.