CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Spinning Top
1890 - 1900
About the object
Numerous ethnographic reports pertaining to Nauru that emerged from the colonial era pointed to the great many games that the people on the Island played. A spinning top game was one of those described. In order to play this game, one needed five coconut shell halves that were chosen so as to fit as seamlessly as possible inside one another. Any uneven points were sanded away using a piece of coral. Resin was then used to stick them together. A wooden peg that widened out at the end was inserted through a small hole drilled through the middle of the shells. In this way a spinning top was formed, which could be spun by means of a dried aerial root of a gum tree.
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The game was a much-enjoyed form of entertainment and was held in front of an audience in the meeting house in a given district. According to descriptions, it was played predominantly by adult men and was characterised by competition, with gambling involved. Two men would then go against one other in competition, armed with their spinning tops. Upon a starting command, they set their spinning tops in motion on top of a smooth surface (for example, an oiled mat or a wooden board). Once the top began spinning, assistants would carefully place tortoiseshell boards under the players and would take care to ensure the smoothest spin possible, through either gentle touch or the shooing away of insects. Whoever’s spinning top remained standing for the longest time had won and would await a new challenger. The competition travelled to all the districts on the islands one after the other and would take place in every meeting house at least once a year.
Making the spinning tops was demanding work, which required a lot of time and care. Typically, every top had its own name. The name of this spinning top has not been passed down. Similarly, the small inserted stick has not survived. The largest of the coconut shells is lined with a strip of material and the hole in its base is closed with plant fibres and a piece of coconut.
Author: Godwin Kornes, Translation: Timothy Connell
Making the spinning tops was demanding work, which required a lot of time and care. Typically, every top had its own name. The name of this spinning top has not been passed down. Similarly, the small inserted stick has not survived. The largest of the coconut shells is lined with a strip of material and the hole in its base is closed with plant fibres and a piece of coconut.
Author: Godwin Kornes, Translation: Timothy Connell