Meke, in the

Fijian language Fijian (') or iTaukei is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language of the Malayo-Polynesian languages, Malayo-Polynesian family spoken by some 350,000–450,000 ethnic Fijians as a native language. The 1997 Constitution of Fiji#New Consti ...

, is all traditional style of dance. It is a

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...

of the words ''"maka"'' ( Rotuman) and ''"

mele Mele () is a ''Comune'' (Municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Genoa in the Italian region Liguria, located about west of Genoa, and historically famous for the production of paper. Mele borders the following municipalities: Genoa, Masone ...

"'' in Hawaiian. It is typically performed during celebrations and festivals. Traditionally the dances that comprise the ''meke'' art form are performed by groups of men only or women only, however, foreign influences, such as the male/female

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

n ma'ulu'ulu becoming the Fijian vakamalolo, are evident throughout.

Friedrich Ratzel Friedrich Ratzel (August 30, 1844 – August 9, 1904) was a German geographer and ethnographer, notable for first using the term ''Lebensraum'' ("living space") in the sense that the National Socialists later would. Life Ratzel's father was th ...

in his 1896 publication ''The History of Mankind'', writes about the Fijian meke as both song and dance, which only a few are given to invent and which those who do, allege that they do so in the spirit world where divine beings teach them the song and the appropriate dance. He wrote that the ideal of the Fijian poet is poetry with every verse ending with the same vowel of regular measure, which in practice is often achieved with poetic license through the use of arbitrary abbreviations or lengthenings, and omission of articles.

In popular culture

* A meke was performed by contestants for a reward challenge in '' Survivor: Fiji.''

References

{{Culture of Oceania Fijian dance