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History of the Fire Knife |
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Written by Administrator
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Monday, 22 December 2008 |
(from Wikipedia)
The Fire Knife is a traditional Samoan cultural implement that is used in ceremonial dances. It was originally composed of a machete wrapped in towels on both ends with a portion of the blade exposed in the middle. Tribal performers of fire knife dancing (or Siva Afi as it is called in Samoa) dance while twirling the knife and doing other acrobatic stunts. The towels are set afire during the dances thus explaining the name.
Knife dancing has a history which goes back several generations. The modern fireknife dance has its roots in the Samoan "Ailao" - a Samoan warrior's knife dance which was done with the "nifo oti", which means "tooth of death".this is similar to the "Kailao" of Tonga. The Samoan's eventually combined the nifo oti with the "lave" - which was basically a hook and was used to snare parts of an enemy's body. When modern machetes became available, the Nifo Oti evovled into its current form, a machete with the tip cut off, fashioned into a hook, and then welded back on. The Ailao dance was done both pre-battle, to intimidate the enemy and to psyche up the warrior, and also post-battle as a victory dance. The hook was often used to carry and display the head of a defeated enemy.
Fire was added to the knife in 1946 by a Samoan knife dancer named Freddie Letuli, later to become Paramount Chief Letuli Olo Misilagi. Letuli was performing in San Francisco and while practicing, noticed a Hindu Fire eater and also a little girl with lighted batons. The fire eater loaned him some fuel, he wrapped some towels around his knife, and the fire knife dance was born.
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