They are usually manufactured by the women and always held an important place in the social life of the Polynesian high islands.
Tapa are produced starting from the barks of the mulberry tree (ute - broussoneta will papyrifera) to carry out the white fabrics, of the young breadfruit trees (tumu mei - artocarpus altilis) or of the banian (aoa - ficus prolixa) for the fabrics brown-red.
The white fabrics were used by the characters of high condition, the fabrics in banian reserved mainly to the priests.
The process consists in detaching the bark then to scrape it to keep only its internal part.
After easing in water, the barks are beaten by means of beaters out of hard wooden like the filao (toa - casuarina equisetifolia).
Then they are folded in several layers and rebattues several times until obtaining a more or less fine fabric.
Traditionally, the fabrics were seldom decorated; they were generally impregnated of a yellow dyeing of eka (curcuma longa). Today, typed them are used as support with varied decorations inspired of the reasons used in sculpture or for tattooings.
The production of tapa became one of the specialities of the island of Fatu Iva.
