Sennit

Magimagi sennit of Fiji around wooden ceiling posts.

Sennit is a type of cordage made by plaiting strands of dried fibre or grass. It can be used ornamentally in crafts, like a kind of macrame, or to make straw hats. Sennit is an important material in the cultures of Oceania, where it is used in traditional architecture, boat building, fishing and as an ornamentation.^[1]

Oceania

A sacred god figure wrapping in sennit for the Tahitian war god 'Oro.

Polynesian ceremonial stone adze (toʻi or toki in Polynesian languages lashed in sennit around the blade with carved handle, 1891-1892

Tonga

Sennit in Tonga is called kafa.

Fiji

Sennit is the western term used for magimagi, an exclusive craft product of the Fiji Islands. Only Fijian artists know how to weave the beauty of magimagi into the traditional Fijian look.

Hawai'i

The term is also used in Hawaii and throughout Polynesia for cordage made by braiding the fibers of coconut husks. It was important in attaching the ʻama (outrigger float) via the iako (spars) to the hull of canoes, stones to war-club handles, erecting hale (houses), etc.

Samoa

In the Samoan language, sennit is called ʻafa. It was used as cordage in the construction of traditional Samoan architecture, boat building with many other functional uses. ʻAfa is handmade from dried coconut fibre from the husk of certain varieties of coconuts with long fibres, particularly the niu'afa (afa palm).^[2]

Sennit is mentioned in Robert Gibbings book Over the Reefs (1948).^[3] He refers to its use in Samoa in 1946, where he was able to observe its being made on many occasions. He notes that its crafting was a constant occupation in Samoan villages, because so much of the material was required. A significant quote from the book, made by a village chief to Gibbings, emphasises the importance of sennit in Samoan culture: "In your country," said a chief to me, "only a few men can make nails, but in Samoa, everyone can make nails." (p. 118) He was referring to the sennit that is used to bind the structures or huts in which they lived. Sennit had a variety of other uses, including in shark fishing, where it was used as a noose that was placed over the shark's head as it came alongside the canoe.

"They showed me the sennit noose they had used - five years old and as good as new. They said it would last another five years if cared for." Robert Gribbings.

References

↑ Hiroa, Te Rangi (1964). Vikings of the Sunrise. New Zealand: Whitecombe and Tombs Ltd. p. 27. Retrieved 21 August 2010.
↑ Grattan, F.J.H. (1985). An Introduction to Samoan Custom. New Zealand: R. McMillan. pp. 164, 165. ISBN 0-908712-13-8. Retrieved 14 August 2010.
↑ "Over the Reefs", J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd., London, 1948.

Knots

By type

Bends	Adjustable Albright special Ashley's Alpine butterfly Basket weave Beer Blood Carrick Double fisherman's Fisherman's Flemish Grief Halyard Harness Heaving line Hunter's Nail One-sided overhand Racking Sheet Shoelace Shroud Simple Simon under Single carrick Surgeon's Surgeon's loop Triple fisherman's True lover's Water Zeppelin

Binding	Boa Bottle sling Constrictor Corned beef Granny Ground-line hitch Jamming Miller's Packer's Reef Strangle Thief Transom

Climbing	Autoblock Bachmann Beer Bowline on a bight Alpine butterfly Directional figure eight Double bowline Farmer's loop Figure-eight Figure-eight loop Figure-of-nine loop Friction hitch Klemheist Munter hitch Overhand loop Prusik Trident loop Yosemite bowline

Coils & Shanks	Alpine coil Butterfly coil Over/under cable coiling Chain sinnet Sheepshank

Decorative	Carrick mat Chinese button Celtic button Diamond Fiador Friendship Ghiordes & Senneh Matthew Walker Turk's head Wall and crown

Fishing (angling)	Angler's loop Arbor Bimini twist Blood Fisherman's Half blood Improved clinch Knotless Nail Palomar Snell Trilene Triple fisherman's Turle Uni

Hitches	Adjustable grip Anchor bend Axle Bachmann Bale sling Barrel Becket Blackwall Blake's Boom Buntline Cat's paw Clove Cow Distel Double overhand noose Falconer's Farrimond friction Friction hitch Garda Ground-line Half Halter Highpoint Highwayman's Hitching tie Icicle Improved clinch knot Killick Knute Lobster buoy Marlinespike Munter Ossel Pile Pipe Sailor's Snuggle Swing Taut-line Timber

Loop	Angler's Artillery loop Bale sling hitch Bowline Bumper Carrick bend loop Cossack Cowboy bowline Diamond Double bowline Dropper loop Eskimo bowline Fiador Fireman's chair Friendship knot Halter hitch Handcuff Honda Jury mast Overhand Portuguese bowline Rigid double splayed loop in the bight Slippery eight Span Spanish bowline Tom fool's Trident Triple bowline Triple crown Water bowline Yosemite bowline Zeppelin

Running (slip)	Hangman's Running bowline Running highwayman's hitch Tarbuck

Splices & splicing	Eye Fid Marlinspike Rat-tail T Western Union

Stopper	Ashley's stopper Button Double overhand Monkey's fist Overhand Stevedore

Whipping	Common Overhand knot with draw-loop Portuguese Sailmaker's West Country

Lists of knots
Related topics

Lists of knots	Bends Bindings Decorative knots Hitches (friction) Mathematical

Related topics	Chinese knotting Density History International Guild of Knot Tyers Macramé Mizuhiki Norigae Ropework Lashing Splicing Seizing Sennit

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