Mena
Mena, was a sacred adornment paste. When used to dye cheeks of dancers it was called nin fau. It was also used to dye titi and other fibre adornment.
One of our elders Ilisapeti Inia talked about Mena,
“The only paint in use on the body was made from the turmeric plant, or mena”. The purple stain, before mentioned, is used to smear the cheeks for dancing to give them a colour, and also for picking out some of the tattoo marks with, but the ordinary stain for the latter is made from the soot of the seeds of the hifo tree..”http://www.rotuma.net/os/ceremonies/mena.htm
Dillon,1829
“Women are generally besmeared with a mixture of turmeric and cocoa nut oil, which gives them a reddish appearance”
1830 –
Both sexes paint themselves with a mixture of the root of the turmeric plant (curcuma longa) and coco-nut oil – Called Rang
Robert, 1832
“The chiefs generally wear their hair in a knot upon the top of the head. They use a preparation of red ochre and yellow saffron, mixed with cocoa-nut oil, which they rub upon their bodies”
Edward, 1849
“Male and female lubricating their bodies with a yellow powder made from the root of the tumeric, mixed with oil”
1875
Many of them stain their hands and skin with turmeric
Boddam-Whetha,1876
“practice of lubricating their bodies with a yellow powder made from the root of the turmeric mixed with oil. Women by this point were fined for not wearing bonnets”
1885
Seldom anointed with turmeric.
1898