Pareo
Encyclopedia
The pāreu or pareo is the Cook Islands
and Tahitian
word for a wraparound skirt
. Originally it was used only to refer to women's skirts, as men wore a loincloth
, called a maro
. Nowadays the term is applied to any piece of cloth worn wrapped around the body, worn by males or females. It is related to the Malay
sarong
, Sāmoan
lavalava, Tonga
n tupenu
and other such garments of the Pacific Islands such as the islands of Hawaiʻi, Marquesas, Aotearoa
, and Fiji
.
: te pāreu, plural
: te mau pāreu), with the pronunciation of the word with a long a (hold the sound for two beats rather than just one) and the e and u pronounced separately, rather than slurred into a diphthong. It is not clear where the variant pareo comes from. It might be an old dialectic variant or an early explorers' misinterpretation. But both terms were already used in the 19th century (the Dutch
geographic magazine De Aarde en haar Volken of 1887 had a few Southseas articles, some of them using pāreu, others pareo). Nowadays, however, pareo can be considered as the English-language form of the word (plural pareos), much less likely subject to mispronunciation.
The Tahitian pāreu are among the most colourful and bright of the Pacific. Originally flower patterns, the hibiscus
flowers in particular, or traditional tapa
patterns, were printed in bright colours on a cotton sheet of about 90 or 120 cm wide and 180 cm long, made in China. Nowadays they are also made in Tahiti itself and dye painting with varying colours is popular as well.
A pāreu can be worn in many ways. Women will usually wrap it around their upper body, covering it from breasts to above the knees. Either they rely on their breasts for it not to slide down, or they may wrap a corner around their shoulder or their neck. In more traditional surroundings the covering of the upper body is less important, but the covering of the thighs is. Then it is worn as a longer skirt. Men wear it as a short skirt, or may even make shorts out of it, especially when fishing or working in the bush where freedom of movement of the legs is needed. But during quiet, cooler nights at home, they may wear it as a long skirt too.
The ends of the pāreu are normally just tucked in, kept in place by friction only. No pins or other means are used. Only when as dress worn around the neck or shoulders, ends are knotted together. When it comes loose a few times per day, the wearer will just pull it tight again or rewrap him/herself. Nevertheless, when a lot of movement occurs, at heavy work or dancing for example, wearing a belt over it around the waist is common too. The ease of undoing it is not a burden, but rather a blessing. A woman (or man) may start her daily work on a colder morning wearing her pāreu as a long skirt and with a shirt. When it comes loose, the day may have warmed up enough for her to redo it as a shorter skirt. Again, some time later, she may discard her warm shirt and rewrap her pāreu as a dress.
Cook Islands
The Cook Islands is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand...
and Tahitian
Tahitian language
Tahitian is an indigenous language spoken mainly in the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is an Eastern Polynesian language closely related to the other indigenous languages spoken in French Polynesia: Marquesan, Tuamotuan, Mangarevan, and Austral Islands languages...
word for a wraparound skirt
Skirt
A skirt is a tube- or cone-shaped garment that hangs from the waist and covers all or part of the legs.In the western world, skirts are usually considered women's clothing. However, there are exceptions...
. Originally it was used only to refer to women's skirts, as men wore a loincloth
Loincloth
A loincloth is a one-piece male garment, sometimes kept in place by a belt, which covers the genitals and, at least partially, the buttocks.-History and types:Loincloths are being and have been worn:*in societies where no other clothing is needed or wanted...
, called a maro
Maro
Maro may refer to:*A male name emanating from the Republic of Ragusa often used by noble families, such as:**Lucijan Toma Natal Maro Frano Pucic **Maro Bona...
. Nowadays the term is applied to any piece of cloth worn wrapped around the body, worn by males or females. It is related to the Malay
Malay people
Malays are an ethnic group of Austronesian people predominantly inhabiting the Malay Peninsula, including the southernmost parts of Thailand, the east coast of Sumatra, the coast of Borneo, and the smaller islands which lie between these locations...
sarong
Sarong
A sarong or sarung is a large tube or length of fabric, often wrapped around the waist and worn as a kilt by men and as a skirt by women throughout much of South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, the Horn of Africa, and on many Pacific islands. The fabric most often has woven plaid or...
, Sāmoan
Samoa
Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...
lavalava, Tonga
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
n tupenu
Tupenu
Tupenu is the Tongan term for a wrapped garment also called a sarong, lungi, or lava-lava, worn through much of South Asia and Oceania. It is analogous to the kilt worn in Scotland....
and other such garments of the Pacific Islands such as the islands of Hawaiʻi, Marquesas, Aotearoa
Aotearoa
Aotearoa is the most widely known and accepted Māori name for New Zealand. It is used by both Māori and non-Māori, and is becoming increasingly widespread in the bilingual names of national organisations, such as the National Library of New Zealand / Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa.-Translation:The...
, and Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
.
Etymology
In contemporary Tahitian the right word is pāreu (singularGrammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
: te pāreu, plural
Plural
In linguistics, plurality or [a] plural is a concept of quantity representing a value of more-than-one. Typically applied to nouns, a plural word or marker is used to distinguish a value other than the default quantity of a noun, which is typically one...
: te mau pāreu), with the pronunciation of the word with a long a (hold the sound for two beats rather than just one) and the e and u pronounced separately, rather than slurred into a diphthong. It is not clear where the variant pareo comes from. It might be an old dialectic variant or an early explorers' misinterpretation. But both terms were already used in the 19th century (the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
geographic magazine De Aarde en haar Volken of 1887 had a few Southseas articles, some of them using pāreu, others pareo). Nowadays, however, pareo can be considered as the English-language form of the word (plural pareos), much less likely subject to mispronunciation.
Styles
Hibiscus
Hibiscus is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. It is quite large, containing several hundred species that are native to warm-temperate, subtropical and tropical regions throughout the world...
flowers in particular, or traditional tapa
Tapa cloth
Tapa cloth is a bark cloth made in the islands of the Pacific Ocean, primarily in Tonga, Samoa and Fiji, but as far afield as Niue, Cook Islands, Futuna, Solomon Islands, Java, New Zealand, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Hawaii...
patterns, were printed in bright colours on a cotton sheet of about 90 or 120 cm wide and 180 cm long, made in China. Nowadays they are also made in Tahiti itself and dye painting with varying colours is popular as well.
A pāreu can be worn in many ways. Women will usually wrap it around their upper body, covering it from breasts to above the knees. Either they rely on their breasts for it not to slide down, or they may wrap a corner around their shoulder or their neck. In more traditional surroundings the covering of the upper body is less important, but the covering of the thighs is. Then it is worn as a longer skirt. Men wear it as a short skirt, or may even make shorts out of it, especially when fishing or working in the bush where freedom of movement of the legs is needed. But during quiet, cooler nights at home, they may wear it as a long skirt too.
The ends of the pāreu are normally just tucked in, kept in place by friction only. No pins or other means are used. Only when as dress worn around the neck or shoulders, ends are knotted together. When it comes loose a few times per day, the wearer will just pull it tight again or rewrap him/herself. Nevertheless, when a lot of movement occurs, at heavy work or dancing for example, wearing a belt over it around the waist is common too. The ease of undoing it is not a burden, but rather a blessing. A woman (or man) may start her daily work on a colder morning wearing her pāreu as a long skirt and with a shirt. When it comes loose, the day may have warmed up enough for her to redo it as a shorter skirt. Again, some time later, she may discard her warm shirt and rewrap her pāreu as a dress.