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AREOI, or AREOITI

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 453 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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AREOI, or AREOITI , a See also:secret society which originated in See also:Tahiti and later extended its See also:influence to other See also:South Pacific islands. To its ranks both sexes were admitted. The society was primarily of a religious See also:character. Members styled them-selves descendants of Oro-Tetifa, the Polynesian See also:god, and were divided into seven or more grades, each having its characteristic See also:tattooing. Chiefs were at once qualified for the highest grade, but See also:ordinary members attained promotion only through initiatory See also:rites. The Areois enjoyed See also:great privileges, and were considered as depositaries of knowledge and as mediators between God and See also:man. They were feared, too, as ministers of the See also:taboo and were entitled to pronounce a See also:kind of See also:excommunication for offences against its rules. The See also:chief religious purpose of the society was the See also:worship of the generative See also:powers of nature, and the See also:ritual and ceremonies of See also:initiation were grossly licentious. But the a m .0 0 -a O Rhyolitic ashes Upper 1 Upper Ashes Massive ashes =See also:Middle of See also:Acid andesitic ashes =See also:Lower Arenig. Daerfawr Shales. See also:Zone of Didymograptus Murchisoni. Platy ashes Lower Ashes of Arenig Great See also:Agglomerate 5 (See also:Hypersthene Andesites).

Olchfa or Bifidus—shales (Didymograptus bifidus). bn Filltirgerig or Hirundo Beds Didymograptushirundo. Erwent or Ogygia—limestone Henllan or Calymene—ashes 1 Didymograptus Llyfnant or Extensus—flags Basal Grit extensus. Areois were also a social force. They aimed at See also:

communism in all things. The See also:women members were See also:common See also:property; the See also:period of cohabitation was limited to three days, and the See also:female Areois were See also:bound by See also:oath at initiation to strangle at See also:birth any See also:child See also:born to them. If, however, the See also:infant was allowed to survive See also:half an See also:hour only, it was spared; but to have the right of keeping it the See also:mother must find a male Areoi willing to adopt it. The Areois travelled about, devoting their whole See also:time to feasting, dancing (the chief See also:dance of the women being the grossly indecent Timorodeementionedby See also:Captain See also:Cook), and debauchery, varied by elaborate realistic See also:stage presentments of the lives and loves of gods and legendary heroes.

End of Article: AREOI, or AREOITI

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