[Steppes] Luau at Warlord !!

[Jann Mays]

I want to go on record as saying that I think the Luau party at Warlord was a
great success!  I know that at least a hundred people came by, visited, told
stories, imbibed, and just had a darn good time!  It was the most fun I've had
at Warlord in years!!!  Thanks unto Ludaigh (sp?), i.e., Louie, who made such
wonderful Mai Tai's!!!  The food was great.. the company was great!

It wasn't quite part of the Japanese theme (and I agree that Jimmy Buffet may
not have been period music unless he was a time traveler), but as a Polynesian
luau, not only was it period, but there is proof of exploration of the
Polynesians in period by the Japanese and the Europeans.  Please see the info
below.

Had a blast!!!  Hope those of you who made it did, too!!  Pictures will soon be
available!  Vivat House Arkham for such a wonderful revel!!!

HL Gabrielle Honorée de Saint Pierre

*******************
Polynesians – Period Culture
----------------------------

The Hongan Archipelago

Japanese Explorers
------------------
Polynesians from the Hawaiian islands may have arrived at the Hongan
Archipelago as early as 800 A.D., but the earliest permanent settlements seem
to have been around 1000.

The Polynesians of the Hongan Archipelago were discovered by the Japanese
culture. The first travellers were probably Japanese fishermen or whalers, but
explorers and merchants followed close behind. Archeological digs have found
Japanese pottery that can be dated to the 1280s, although the first actual
mention of the islands does not come until an Imperial court record in 1306
mentions a merchant making "a gift to the Emperor, of a feathered cloak,
brought from the Island of Crimson Birds in the Sunrise Land."  Beginning in
the late 13th century, Japanese traders began calling regularly at the islands.
There were never very many of them, and the trade was never vastly profitable
at the Japanese end; the islands had only a few commodities that were of
interest to the traders.

European Explorers
------------------
The early European explorers who first encountered the Polynesians could not
believe that a stone age people, with only simple sailing canoes and no
navigational instruments, could themselves have discovered and settled the
mid-Pacific islands. Accordingly, they dreamed up elaborate theories that
explained the presence of the Polynesians in the middle of the Pacific, while
denying to them the ability of having reached there through their own sailing
abilities. For example, in   1595,   the Spanish explorer Quiros imagined a
great "Southern Continent" stretching from Asia far into the Pacific across
which their ancestors walked to a point from which, by a short canoe crossing,
they could reach the Marquesas. Other early explorers invoked sunken
continents, transport by the first Spanish voyagers, and even special creation
of the islands to explain the presence of Polynesians in the middle of the
Pacific.

Sources: 
http://www.bookcase.com/%7Eclaudia/doug-hongan.htm
http://www.pbs.org/wayfinders/polynesian3.html




“... his body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backwards through the ragged veil hanging from the arch ... the look of mingled fear and surprise on his ... wasted, once-handsome face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil ...”  p. 886 (abridged).  "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."  J.K. Rowling.  Bloomsbury Publishing, London.

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