Samoan Knives

jbmonkey

jbmonkey

poop tosser
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^way off topic, and wrong place to ask...my apologies to the op and participants.........but would ya mind posting a picture of a samoan dance knife..your description sparked my curiousity. I assume the dance knife is from an actual knife? Off to google to learn more thanks.......
 
jbmonkey: The Samoan dance knife is a rectangular blade about 16 inches long attached to a wooden, sennit-wrapped handle about 24 inches long. There is a hook on the end; supposedly used to drag bodies after warfare. One of them is hanging on the wall now, as it was sent to a female family member to use for her school presentation. They are pretty commonly seen in Polynesian dance displays or in old photos of South Seas ceremonies. They look fierce, but are not used today for anything except dance displays - a lot of young Samoans practice this just like other youngsters practice baton twirling.

I really should post pictures, but my Peace Corps experience in Samoa had more taro planting than digital picture posting - I am showing my age here. I will try to do better, but for now you can try to search for Samoan Dance Knife or Nifo Oti (translated as the Tooth of Death). Apparently, they are even advertised in dance supply equipment companies.
 
Faiaoga said:
jbmonkey: The Samoan dance knife is a rectangular blade about 16 inches long attached to a wooden, sennit-wrapped handle about 24 inches long. There is a hook on the end; supposedly used to drag bodies after warfare. One of them is hanging on the wall now, as it was sent to a female family member to use for her school presentation. They are pretty commonly seen in Polynesian dance displays or in old photos of South Seas ceremonies. They look fierce, but are not used today for anything except dance displays - a lot of young Samoans practice this just like other youngsters practice baton twirling.

I really should post pictures, but my Peace Corps experience in Samoa had more taro planting than digital picture posting - I am showing my age here. I will try to do better, but for now you can try to search for Samoan Dance Knife or Nifo Oti (translated as the Tooth of Death). Apparently, they are even advertised in dance supply equipment companies.
Click to expand...

:cool: a good article about the Samoan dance knife or nifo oti is on a site from web.prm.ac.uk/weapons

This seems to be a British museum that has useful information. Try this contact. As the article notes, the design is probably a fusion of Samoan and Western design. The modern form of the knife is commonly sold in tourist shops and is used for dances and ceremonies. It pretty clumsy for any practical use, though I have used mine once in while to hook small branches to trim. "Ailao" is a word used for a dance with the knife, and "siva afi" (fire dance) is a dance performed if kerosene-soaked cloth is wrapped around the knife and lit.
 
@Faiaoga...good info and reading. Thank you Sir. Learned something new, greatly appreciated.
 
Talofa lava (hello) jbmonkey. I was glad to help. I have never spent any time in the South (Dixie) but I have been privileged to live and work in the South Pacific.:cool:
 
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