The culture of Niue

Like all Polynesian people, Niueans love to celebrate. A major event for teenage boys is their "hair cutting ceremony". Many boys keep a long tail of hair since childhood and this is ritually removed at a gathering held at the boy's home, usually on a Saturday. Guests invited to the feast contribute considerable amounts of food and money to a fund that goes to the boy after expenses are paid. The pastor and close family members cut locks of hair that have been tied with ribbons. and everyone sits down at the following feast.

Polynesian culture is still alive and well as displayed at the Festival of Pacific Arts. Taoga Niue is a government project which promotes Niuean culture and heritage. The Niuean language is a western Polynesian language closely related to Tongan, with slight pronunciation differences between the Motu and Tafiti moieties and different spelling conventions. Most Niueans are bilingual: Niuean tends to be the language of family and village life, and English the language of business. Considerable switching between languages occurs in almost every setting.

	Hair cutting ceremony	Women and children	Cutting brother's hair	Offering cakes and taro
	Children at the party	Weaving a basket	Bundles of taro	Boys of Hikutavake
	Boy of Hikutavake	Children of Hikutavake	Traditional dance of Niue	Dance of Niue

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