Colonisation has influenced the traditional living culture of the Loyalty Islands without weakening it. While the ancestral context of custom is respected, the Loyalty Islands also look to the future, as is demonstrated by the numerous Loyalty Islanders who have succeeded not only in music and the visual arts but also in business, administration and politics.

External influences, which brought the Christian religion, money and cricket, have been merged with the traditional culture, resulting in the unique "tone" of these coral islands where the beauty of nature is reflected, day by day, in the art of living.

The Loyalty Island myths bind the various communities to the island land. The cultural heritage of the ancestors, who were great navigators, is expressed through the Loyalty Islanders’ grace and flexibility. Proud guardians of their distinctive heritage, they travel willingly, adjust easily and are in the avant-garde of the creative arts in New Caledonia.

Four local languages are spoken in the Loyalty Islands. Like all New Caledonia’s Kanak languages, they are of Austronesian origin. Over the past three centuries, they have absorbed Polynesian, French, English or Pidgin English words and expressions, as many Loyalty Islanders worked in Australia during the blackbirding period, when sugar cane plantations trafficked in labour.

Nengone, the old name for Maré, is the language spoken on Tiga and Maré. Drehu, Lifou's language, is also, after French, the language most widely spoken by Kanaks in New Caledonia. Ouvéa is the only one of the Loyalty Islands to have two local languages, Iaaï and Faga-uvea. Faga-uvea is a Polynesian language, the legacy of Polynesian migrations that reached these islands in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Over the last few years, teaching the local language in kindergarten classes has become the rule in 80 per cent of Loyalty Island schools.

Seloo, traditional songs in the Iaaï language, speak of the composer’s life or the area's history. The many lullabies or nursery rhymes sung by mothers over the centuries are found even in the contemporary compositions of Kaneka groups.

Pehua dances from Maré, fehua dances from Lifou, the chap or bua are still performed during the great collective festivals that maintain social ties between clans.

The taperas, or temperance songs, form an original body of music. Composed according to the diatonic musical scale imported by English missionaries, these polyphonic religious songs are now part of the Kanak musical heritage.
Today, thanks particularly to dancers like those from Wetr (a Lifou district), who continue the traditional songs and dances for their community and visitors, the Loyalty Islands’ melodic heritage is protected.

Fitting perfectly into the landscape, enhanced by neatly trimmed grass and coconut palms, the island hut has lasted through the centuries. It is found everywhere: there are no inhabited places without a hut. It is the physical expression of Melanesian culture and social relations within the clan.

An appropriate architecture: Traditionally round, the hut is built of plant materials: wood and straw or, as on Ouvéa, wood and coconut palm fronds. This Kanak house is the place where a family and others from the same clan sleep. Children usually rest at the back of this dwelling.
Inside, a hearth is placed near the hut entrance. It provides heat on some nights, even though the advantage of the hut is that it keeps heat in during the cool season and minimises it in summer. The traditional construction has another advantage: it gives the wind almost no hold during cyclones.

Symbol of social ties: The hut’s special features are seen first in its entrance. An adult cannot step across it without bowing, an attitude that symbolises the respect due to the dwelling’s occupants. Moreover, respect and custom are the concepts on which the hut’s architectural structure is based.
The dwelling becomes a metaphor for social ties. The centrepost, with its substantial diameter, represents the clan chief. The outer posts represent the chief's subjects: they lean towards the centrepost and support it to the roof. To hold it all together, there is a basket of woven creeper under the rooftop. It is an image of the group’s social cohesion.

The great hut: In tribal villages, one hut higher than the others stands out: the great hut (grande case). Built on a mound, sometimes bounded by large wooden fences, the great hut is the key symbol of the chefferie or chieftaincy. On each side of the door, doorposts in sculpted wood recall the presence of the ancestors.
The great hut is the discussion place where elders gather for all collective decisions. The chief does not live there. No one has the right to enter this sacred space without being invited to do so.4

Building a hut: a social and spiritual act. Building a hut is always a collective task. The entire community takes part in erecting the hut. Each group has its role. The men are in charge of cutting and transporting the component parts and of the construction work. The women’s job is to pick and carry to the construction site the straw that will be used for roofing. The elders prepare the creepers used to tie everything together and sculpt the wood.
Thus to build a hut is also a spiritual act. Indeed, the successive stages of construction are accompanied by custom rituals intended to protect the hut and its inhabitants.

Traditional Kanak food is basically made up of plants, sometimes accompanied by fish, seafood and shellfish, sometimes by chicken and occasionally by meat. Tuber plants form the basis of Kanak cuisine: yam, water taro, mountain taro, manioc and sweet potato.

Yam and taro, cultivated in the tribal villages, are the main plants used in cooking. Numerous varieties exist with their own taste qualities: for example, mountain taro, which can be recognised by its large leaves, is less tender than water taro. There are not just two varieties of yam (white and mauve) but more than 140. The colour of the flesh varies from purest white to deep mauve with all shades in between and even mixtures of colours. The yam is rich in iron, cellulose and the fibre required for bowel action. It contains small quantities of vitamins B and C. The yam is treated with special care. Its cycle of growth punctuates human life and in each island the yam harvest is the occasion for major custom ceremonies. It is also one of the principal items of exchange during intertribal events.
A yam must never be cut with a knife but rather with a fork. In that way it breaks open along the grain. Cutting the yam with a fork improves cooking and allows sauces to be absorbed more easily.

Starchy fruit, such as bananas and breadfruit, often accompanies dishes based on tubers. But rice, which is more economical and practical (women no longer have the time to peel the traditional vegetables), is increasingly replacing tubers. Many leaf vegetables are used as side dishes. Bush hibiscus spinach, referred to locally as "Kanak cabbage", is most common, but spider flowers, wild spinach, taro leaves, bird’s nest fern and bush greens are also found. Chokos, pumpkins, poingo bananas (cooking bananas) and pigeon peas, a kind of multicoloured lentil, are also used in many Kanak dishes. Tubers and greens are often cooked in coconut milk. They are usually served with seafood: lagoon fish, shellfish, octopus.

Roussette, metallic pigeon and also wild pig are among the dishes enjoyed by Kanaks. Consumption of turtle or dugong (sea cow) is strictly reserved for certain custom festivals. Turtle or dugong (sea cow), traditionally reserved for custom chiefs, are only served at major custom ceremonies. Catching them is under strict supervision.

Thanks to nature’s great generosity, fruit is the Kanaks’ favourite dessert: soursop, passionfruit, custard apple, mango, banana, not to mention pawpaw, which is probably the fruit most enjoyed.
Indeed, the pawpaw tree grows wild all over the place. Planting it could not be simpler: all that has to be done is to throw a packet of ripe pawpaw seeds onto soft, damp soil. Pawpaw is eaten both as a vegetable (when it is still green) and a fruit (when it is ripe). It can be used to tenderise poultry that is a bit old and tough. The poultry’s innards are simply replaced with a piece of pawpaw and left till the following day. Pawpaw can also soothe burns and some insect stings. It is excellent for treating worms.

It is impossible to pass through New Caledonia without tasting a bougna. In the Loyalty Islands, this dish is found at all ceremonies. Traditionally cooked in earth, wrapped up in banana leaves in a stove of hot stones, the bougna comes in countless forms, depending on the tubers in season. Coconut milk, the fishing or hunting catch and greens, such as bush hibiscus spinach or spider flowers, accompany taro, manioc or yam. But Kanak cuisine is not limited to the traditional bougna; it has a wide variety of dishes that tourists can try during the festivals and fairs organised throughout the year. Contemporary Loyalty Island cuisine draws inspiration from French and Asian gastronomy in using the numerous products from the sea and its protected environment. Among its unusual foods are the roussette, a cousin of the flying fox, which is served grilled or in a bougna. Lobster, spider conch or clams are eaten along with the multicoloured fish from the lagoon. As for the coconut crab, it is a special delicacy, for the species is endangered. So it should be eaten in moderation.

The coconut is a major ingredient in Kanak cuisine. Its strong fatty acid content makes it an extremely nutritious and high-energy item. To obtain the coconut milk, the Kanaks split the nut in two, then grate the inside with a scraper. The peelings obtained are then softened with hot water and squeezed by hand.

A FEW RECIPES

Curried chokos
Ingredients: 6 chokos, 6 tomatoes, 1 onion, 3 garlic cloves, a good teaspoon of curry or, depending on taste, salt.
Preparation: Peel the raw chokos and cut them in two. Take out the kernel which is edible, then cut them in two again and remove the fibrous heart surrounding the kernel (like an apple). Cut the tomatoes in pieces. Chop the onion and garlic and brown them in some oil over low heat. Add the tomatoes and soften them a little. When the juice starts to come out, add the curry and mix it in well.
Then add the chokos cut into cubes. Turn it all and add salt. Cover it and let it gently simmer in the tomatoes’ juice for around 45 minutes. If the tomatoes’ juice is not enough, add some water.
(Extract from "Les recettes calédoniennes" (Caledonian recipes), Éditions Grain de sable).

Fish with lemon and coconut milk cooked in the oven
Ingredients: Three banana leaves, 1 whole fish, 1 bowl of coconut milk, 2 lemons, 1 orange, pepper, salt.
Preparation: Wash and clean the fish. Arrange it in banana leaves softened over the heat. Cut the lemon and orange into thin round slices. Starting from the head, cover the fish with alternate slices of orange and lemon. Sprinkle salt and pepper on it and pour the coconut milk over it. Wrap the fish up in the banana leaves. Tie it with creepers. Cook it in the traditional oven for about half an hour.
(Extract from "La cuisine de Lifou. (Lifou cuisine) Aqan hnëkën la xen", Lifou Women and Girls’ Association, Éditions Grain de sable)

Avocado mousse with anchovies
Ingredients: Four small avocados, 8 anchovy fillets, 1 lemon, 2 soup spoons of sour cream, 1 teaspoon of powdered curry, 1 lettuce, salt, pepper.
Preparation: Cut the avocados in half and take out the kernel, remove the flesh, keep the skins.
Mix up in a bowl the avocado pulp, anchovies, the juice of one lemon, curry, salt and pepper. Add the sour cream and mix again. Fill the avocado skins and chill them. Serve the avocados on a bed of lettuce cut into strips.
(Extract from "L’avocat de Maré" (The Maré Avocado), Éditions du Niaouli, "Produit des îles" (Island Products) collection.)

Loyalty Island sculpture traces its roots far back to sacred objects such as the flèches faîtières (spear-like wooden totems placed on top of huts), and the doorposts and hut posts of the chefferie (chieftaincy hut). While "custom" sculpture is still practised, artists such as Pastor André Passa have become involved in individual work, introspective but also open to the rest of the world. The very expressive sculptures of Dick Bone, who comes from Lifou, were the highlight for an entire generation of Kanak sculptors. Rare island wood, such as buni, sandalwood, trelewegeth, mesup or kohu, offers a marvellous range of grains and textures. Finally, the Loyalty Islands share the art of bamboo engraving with other New Caledonia regions.

Preceded by evangelists from Tonga and Papua New Guinea, the first Protestant missionaries, closely followed by Catholics, found the Loyalty Islands favourable ground for spreading their beliefs from the middle of the 19th century. The chiefs were very soon won over by one or other of the religions, bringing their community in their wake. But the geopolitical competition between France and England, along with local disputes, triggered a small war of religions, which, on Lifou and Ouvéa, was ended by Governor Guillain’s troops in 1864 and 1865. On Maré, the disputes started up again after Guillain passed through and lasted until 1883.

Today, the majority of Loyalty Islanders are Protestant but the two religions live peacefully side-by-side. Nearly every village has a Catholic or Protestant church, or both, often facing each other, making an incredible collection of small places of worship with varying architectural styles.

Women in brightly coloured mission dresses whirl around the ground with a bat in their hands. This picture of traditional female cricket players has become an iconic image of New Caledonia’s progressive and athletic Kanak women. However, cricket, which arrived with the English missionaries’ luggage, took nearly half a century to become established. The first cricket matches go back to 1900, in the Guahma district on Maré. Meetings between the Roh and Nece teams became legendary and the sport then spread widely throughout all the Loyalty Islands.

Played for a long time simply as a leisure activity, it was not until 1969 that cricket was finally considered a sport in its own right, thanks to the establishment of the Ligue de Nouvelle-Calédonie de cricket (New Caledonia Cricket League). Initially reserved for men, this sport substantially opened up to women as Christianity spread and mentalities evolved.

New Caledonian cricket has different rules from international cricket: "bras cassé" (arm-bending) is accepted but would be a "no ball" in international cricket; the ball is made from banyan resin and the bat from local wood; the players have no personal protection. Traditional cricket matches, highlights of community life in the islands, can last from four to six hours.

If you hear a loud voice making announcements in the midst of a happy hubbub, then you must be near a bingo hall. This game of luck and memory has a major place among island distractions, especially among women who get together for games that can last up to half a day. Drinking kava, which is imported from neighbouring Vanuatu, has become popular in the Loyalty Islands and in Noumea. In the evening, men and women meet together to share the calm atmosphere and a few shells of this juice extracted from the pepper plant root.

The Loyalties have some of the most famous Kaneka groups. In this music, born at the end of the 1980s when demands for recognition erupted, traditional rhythms are fused with jazz, rock and pop influences. Both inspired by and competing with the flood of reggae, the Kaneka nevertheless stands out as an original form of expression by Kanak youth. Mexem, Edou, Gurejele, Tim and We Ca Ca are all musicians or groups from the Loyalty Islands which have already won over New Caledonia and other countries in the region.

Paul Wamo is one of the rising stars of Kanak poetry written in French and Drehu. Born in the Wetr district, on Lifou, he grew up in Noumea before reconnecting with his roots and teaching his ancestral language. Paul Wamo crafts vivid poetry and likes to recite his texts on stage or for a few friends. His poetry is read in private and is greeted with jubilation when he goes on stage for American-style poetry slams.

In reinterpreting Maré’s traditional repertoire, Édouard Guïnedr Gulaan Wamedjo, called Gulaan, has created a style of great distinction that has naturally made his reputation in New Caledonia. Leader of the group Ok! Ryos from 1994 till 2004, he has since pursued a solo career. Equal winner of the "9 semaines et un jour" (9 weeks and a day) competition in 2005, then a guest who attracted attention at the La Rochelle Francofolies Festival, this virtuoso of the guitar arpeggio continues to hold us spellbound with his contemporary ballads.

Born in 1966 in the village of Pénélo on Maré, Pierre Gope, director and poet, is above all the most famous New Caledonian playwright. In his most well-known works, Les Dieux sont borgnes (The Gods are one-eyed), Les Fils de l’igname (Sons of the Yam), La Parenthèse (The Digression), Les Champs de la terre (Fields of the Earth), he explores the fractures in New Caledonian society with humour and without avoiding taboo topics. Whether he starts from a Kanak issue or a classic European theme, Pierre Gope’s theatre draws on metaphors that tend to be universal and has taken him as far as the famous Avignon Theatre Festival.

Originally from the Hapetra tribe on Lifou, Hmej Wenehoua performed at the La Rochelle Francofolies Festival in August 2007. Winner of the RFO (Overseas French Radio) competition, "9 semaines et un jour" (9 weeks and a day), this singer, who says he has "no style and many styles", is a new voice in New Caledonia, as he has spent many years in France. Hmej has returned home aged 38. His ambition is to show that not all Kanaks do Kaneka, that there are other alternatives. He has achieved it: on his coming album, he plays zouk, flamenco and reggae.

The "toutoute", or sea conch, is traditionally used to call together the members of a clan. This shell is one of the chieftaincy’s symbols. The sea conch is also sometimes used to tell the congregation that a religious service is about to begin.

Kanak money, a kind of jewellery woven from shells and natural fibres, exchanged particularly at marriages, is becoming increasingly rare, replaced by Western money. During custom exchanges of the slightest importance, a manou or paréo (a length of coloured fabric), banknotes and matches are commonly used. Tobacco, which was included in ceremonies for a long time, is now banned from certain custom exchanges, as in the Lössi District on Lifou.
While today there exist sea clans and land clans, the first Loyalty Islanders inevitably arrived by outrigger canoe to populate these raised atolls. These days the art of the outrigger is undergoing a renaissance on Lifou.
Kanak women made the mission dress their own long ago. This Caledonian version of the Mother Hubbard dress was introduced throughout the Pacific by Christian missionaries. With high necklines sometimes enhanced with lace tops, these long, loose dresses vie with each other in bright colours. The finest are worn for festivals or market days and modern collections often have less sober lines than their austere ancestors.