A flat platform of rock, like a stage sized country wall, on the Tahitian island of Raiatea was once the site of some of the largest and most important religious and ceremonial gatherings in Polynesia. Carved stones and tikis surround the rock platform, called a marae, and there are smaller marae to the sides.

As well as having ceremonies, some sacrificial, here, elders also used these spaces to pool their knowledge of sailing and the constellations and other technological advancements that each community had separately made. When the Polynesian peoples went exploring, they took stones from the marae on Raiatea to establish new marae as far a field as New Zealand and Hawaii.

Written by  World Reviewer Staff.

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