A Kanak war club is a traditional weapon (mace) of the Kanak tribes of New Caledonia.

Kanak mace's striking head

Uses

Usually cut from a hardwood type of iron wood, gaiac or kohu[1] they were used for war. Like all the Pacific clubs, their forms were of a very wide variety and specific to each country and each purpose.[2] They were found in phallic form, but also in the form of a fungus or a bird’s beak.[3] Their striking head consisted of a root knot.[4] These weapons were originally decorated with plants, human hair, or cloths, and were wielded with one or two hands.[5]

Oceanian art specialist Roger Boulay makes a distinction between a mace, that is "an object whose percussion point is in the axis of the handle" and a club, that is "an object whose percussion point is shifted in relation to this axis".

The Kanak called the "bird beak" club a "turtle beak".[6]

Gallery

See also

References

  1. ^ La 1ère Nouvelle-Calédonie
  2. ^ Susan Cochrane, Max Quanchi, Hunting the Collectors: Pacific Collections in Australian Museums, Art … Oxford Scholars Publishing
  3. ^ Gustave Regelsperger, L'Océanie française: la Nouvelle-Calédonie, les Nouvelles-Hébrides, les établissements français de l'Océanie, Édition Notre Domaine Colonial, 1922, p.15
  4. ^ Fergus Clunie, Fijian Weapons & Warfare, 2003, p. 136-7 et 142
  5. ^ La 1ère Nouvelle-Calédonie
  6. ^ Éliane Métais, Art Neo Caledonien, p.19

Bibliography


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