Beyond Cat's Cradles: String Figures in the Pacific

Through May 2006
Special Collections Reading Room
Fifth floor, Hamilton Library

Many of us remember making string figures as children - in the process, whether we knew it or not, we were participating in a worldwide tradition that spans back many generations. In Hawaii and the Pacific, the practice of making string figures dates back to before first European contact; some were used as part of funerary rituals, others to tell stories tied (so to speak) to specific regions. In oral societies, these figures thus become more than just child's play in a sense, they are a means of preserving (and passing on) history. Please check us out.

The Special Collections hours are at http://www2.hawaii.edu/~speccoll/specialinfo.html.

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