whatta
English edit
Noun edit
whatta (plural whattas)
- (archaic, historical) A scaffold used by the Tahitians for animal sacrifices.
- 1784, James Cook, A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean:
- Small offerings of fruit and roots seemed to be daily made at this shrine, as some pieces were quite fresh. These were deposited upon a whatta, or altar, which stood without the pallisades; and within these we were not permitted to enter.
- 1906, Nicholas Senn, Tahiti: The Island Paradise, page 110:
- Not only the whattas or offering-places of the morais are commonly loaded with fruits and animals, but there are few houses lacking a small place of the same sort.