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One morning in September 1774, the explorer James Cook sighted islands on the horizon which he called New Caledonia, because the landscape reminded him of Caledonia, the old name for Scotland, his country of origin.
And yet the island had been inhabited by the Kanak for over 3,000 years. Despite variations in their social systems and art styles, they all share a close relationship to the land and ancestors.
The Grand Hut is one of the most powerful symbols in Kanak society. In each village, it stands on a hummock at the end of an avenue lined with New Caledonia pines and coconut palms. The most important events take place in the central avenue: the announcement of deaths, marriages, mourning, presentation of the harvests, dances and exchanges.
The Grand Hut is circular in shape representing the society organised around a pre-eminent figure considered to be the intercessor between the living and the ancestors. It is an architectural structure, but also a place for meetings and discussions, and the evocation of the chief's authority. The Grand Hut symbolises the relationship that the Kanak maintain with their land and their history.
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