ngapiene dance festival

Part of Speech noun
Phonetic Form ŋapiˈene
    • dance festival
      • Ethn
      • Encyclopedic Info These dance festivals occur seldom nowadays; but they are central to many traditional stories.
      Infobox Dance festivals: Among major community events on Vanikoro, the main one was a dance festival called ngapiene. While such events occur seldom nowadays, they are central to many traditional stories. The festival revolved around a sort of greasy pole (blateno), erected in the middle of the village area (mane), loaded with fruit and food. Stomping boards (tepapa*) were laid out in a circle all around that pole, half-buried in the ground; for days on end, villagers would stomp those boards (~wate tepapa) and dance (~mako, ~pinoe) in a joyful and rowdy atmosphere. Such dancing festivals could last for several weeks on end, bringing the whole community together.
      • Example 1947:
        li-vete ngapiene
        announce the festival
      • Example 1948:
        Ngapiene ka i-sali pon ta — bwogo tili.
        Then the festival comes to an end, after five days.
      • Example 1949:
        Kape le-tetele ngapiene pon.
        It was soon time to begin the festival.
        Example URL
        https://doi.org/10.24397/pangloss-0003352#S12

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