Masi

Masi is a type of textile, it is bark-cloth made from the inner bark of the paper mulberry tree (Broussonetia papyrifera). Like whale ivory, bark cloth too has a significance beyond just clothing. It is used for ceremonial occasions like weddings and funerals, given as gifts as a mark of respect and esteem, hung as a tapestry for major meetings and gatherings, restricted mostly to the chiefly classes. 

Each of the Fijian clans have their distinctive motifs. While the cultivation of the tree is the men's domain, the making of the cloth from the inner bark and producing the finished design is the creative work done by women, the skills passed on from mother to daughter. Masi is produced through out the Pacific,  it is called tapa in Tonga and has other local names in the other islands. However, production has declined or stopped in many places but Fiji still preserves and carries on the traditional methods of Masi making. 

Credit

The trees are harvested at around 9 months and handed over to the women. Traditionally,  the tough  outer bark is stripped with the teeth to expose the inner white, softer one, which is delicately lifted away with a knife, and rolled into coils. The strips of white bark are soaked and pounded with special Masi making wooden mallets till they become pliable. Then they are laid overlapped with each other and beaten again till the fibres mesh together to form a whole. Finally, the raw edges are trimmed and they are sundried to form a fine cloth. 

Stencils are used to decorate the Masi in distinctive geometric patterns. The stencils were traditionally made from banana leaves, but nowadays more durable materials are used. The dyes however remain the same, usually black and brown, though other colours may occasionally be used, derived mostly from terracotta clay, specially prepared soot and mangrove sap. Watch this video on the process of making Fijian Masi.

 

The very first time the Masi motifs caught my eye was on the flight in. The Fiji Airways logo and decorative elements on their aircraft, as well as those on other items for inflight use, air crew uniforms, and ground equipment, all have typical Masi motifs. Very Fiji, very distinctive, very fetching the brand vibe they create. 

Masi motifs on a Fiji aircraft. Nifty or what?

Fiji Airways logo and decoration at a check in  countert.

These designs were adopted with a brand refurbishment around ten years ago. Unfortunately, the Masi artist who designed the brand logo, Makereta Matemosi, passed away recently. She was only 54 years of age. Tragic!

Credit. Makereta with her Masi for Fiji Airways. 

All this month I'll be writing about Aspects of Fiji, which is where I am at the mo. And where the sum of  the constituent parts is marvellously greater than the whole! 

Did you know that the name 'Fiji' is a result of a mispronunciation? The indigenous Fijians called their homeland 'Viti' which the first Europeans encountered at Tonga during the voyage of Captain Cook. The crew misheard the Tongan's pronouncing 'Viti' as 'Fisi' and that is how Europeans came to call it Fiji.

How can I write about a culture and not include their music? Fiji is steeped in it - did you know that an oral musical tradition called Meke is the way Fijians preserved their history? Meke is a performance of song and dance that uses the lyrics to tell stories - transmit their legends, origins, practices of war and worship of spirits. It consists of the singers and percussionists sitting on the ground and dancers in traditional costumes performing the dance movements. Watch a video of a Meke performance at the International Dance Festival  below:

~ Thank you for reading ~

Posted for the A-Z Challenge 2023