Dance Club (gugu)

From the Minneapolis Institute of Art record

Clubs were one of the most important art forms on Fiji and are found in many shapes and styles. Treasured possessions, they were used by men as weapons, dance wands and as indicators of rank. Clubs of this type were for dancing. Often mistakenly identified with the lotus, their form comes from a stylized depiction of the flat butterfly fish, gugu . The extending diagonal portions are the fins, and the raised eyes can be seen carved where the top section tapers inward and joins the shaft. Fiji Islands, Oceania