SAMOAN HISTORY & CULTURE

sifiolepacifica · Member

samoan navigators....

sifiolepacifica · Member

The Canoe of Lata
There was a period of vigorous voyaging during five generations, or about a hundred and fifty years, between Te Alutanganuku, who made the first voyages, and Tangi'ia, who made the last. The first canoe spoken of was built on Savai'i, in a forest belonging to Lata, by Atonga and his two brothers, Olo-keu and Olo-i-nano. The two brothers, Olo-keu and Olo-i-nano, first started the building, being impelled to do so by the harsh treatment of Atonga. They went to a forest on Savai'i belonging to Lata, and without his permission cut down a tree for the purpose of making a canoe in which to seek a home in other lands. Having cut down the tree, they returned to the coast, intending to return next day to proceed with the work. Meantime Lata appeared, and resented the tree having been felled without his permission. He repeated a charm causing the branches, bark, chips, and leaves to fly again into their places and join together, so that the tree would stand again where it was.
"Stand upright," said Lata; "I am Tutamaotamea" ; on which the tree stood upright, and Lata returned to the coast.
The brothers returned in early morning, and found that their tree had disappeared; but they recognized it by the axes left at its butt, and cut it down again, dividing it ready for dragging it to the coast. Then they returned home.
On their way they encountered another marvel: an owl and a snake were engaged in combat. The owl, claiming to be the lord of the forest in disguise, said to them, "Friends, my brothers, come to my assistance, and put an end to this conflict." But the snake said, "Chiefs, proceed, and do not interfere in the quarrel between a snake and an owl "; on which the brothers prepared to go on, not caring to interfere. They paused, however, when the owl continued, "Behold, I am the lord of this forest in which you two cut down the tree; if you do not put an end to this conflict, never shall you paddle in your canoe," and, remembering how their felled tree had been set upright again, they turned back and killed the snake. Thereupon the owl said, " Go, you two; prepare your canoe, a va'atele, with its outrigger, and seats, and set of paddles." In due time, when the canoe had been built, they prepared to drag it to the sea; but when they reached the ridge of the mountain they both died.
Atonga, finding that his brothers did not return, sought them, and found them lying dead on the ridge, where he buried them, and took the canoe for himself. There is a mystery about this Atonga. He had something to do with the building of the canoe. He was a man of two sides, one side spirit, the other human. The human side worked as a servant, the spirit side built the canoe, finishing it in one night, from which it was first called The Canoe built in a Night.
The fame of the canoe reached Upolu, and the chief Te Alutanga-nuku longed to possess it. He sent his wife to Atonga, and she apparently wiled the canoe from him; for Atonga sent a message by the wife presenting the canoe to Te Alutanga-nuku, and directing him to prepare a house for its reception. " Summon all Upolu to come and build a house quickly," said he to the wife, "for the canoe shall be taken to him in the morning. Command that none of the people stand upright, but that all sit down and watch the canoe as it is taken, listening to the song of the birds bearing it."
The woman hastened to her husband with the message; he summoned the people, and the canoe-house was built by daylight of the next day, when the song was heard of the birds approaching with their burden. Atonga had sent his commands to all the birds to carry the canoe, and instructed them what song they should sing in lifting it." This," said he, "shall be your song when you take the canoe:
The thousands of Kupolu
In the early morning assemble and behold!
[Chorus] Olo-keu e; Olo-i-nano e!
Olo-keu e ; Olo-i-nano e !
Atonga had changed the name of the canoe to Manu-a-lele (Birds about to Fly). It was landed and safely housed at Upolu, the chief changing its name to that of his wife O-le puta-o-le peau (The Fullness of the Wave), which was its third name. After this preparations were made for the first voyage of the canoe.
On the first voyage it visited all the lands on the south south-west and west side of the heaven, but did not go to the upper side of heaven, or toward Tahiti ; and when the year was finished the chief gave the canoe to his son Te Alutanga-langi, who made the second voyage.
On the second voyage the name was again changed to O-le folau-loi-i-Fiti (The Voyage direct to Fiji, but it did not go eastward. At the close of that year the chief gave the canoe to his son Kau-kulu.
On this third voyage the canoe visited Fiti and the lands Kau-kulu's father had visited. It also went to another land, called Tonga-leva, which was then known for the first time. After this Kau-kulu returned to Upolu, when he saw that the canoe was opening in the joints. He anchored it beneath the water and named it Tuna-moe-vai (Eel sleeping in the Water). When a season had passed he gave the canoe to his son Malu, who again changed its name to Numia-au (Confusion of Currents).
On the fourth voyage, under Malu, the canoe sailed to the upper side of the heavens, east or north-east, whither Malu went with his father Kau-kulu. They discovered a small island named Toku-tea, where Malu left his father. After further sailing he returned to Samoa. On his return to Savai'i Malu married a woman named Ruamano, by whom he had two girls. One of these married a man named Tutapu, and had a son, who was adopted by Malu as he had no son, and by him named Te Uen&127;a. The boy fell sick; but two aitu came, who were Tangaloa and Tongaiti, and looked at the boy. Tangaloa said,
"Alas, poor boy! "and, addressing his companion, said, "What do you say-suppose we let the boy live? If he lives he will be our rejolcing." On this they called the boy Tangi'ia, which means " Compassionated " literally "Cried over" because of the sympathy of the two spirits for the boy when near death. This Tangi'ia became the famous voyager.

sifiolepacifica · Member

The Traditions of Aitutaki, Cook Islands
The First Inhabitants of Aitutaki
The History of Ru
THE first man who came to Aitutaki from Avaiki [Hawaiki] was Ru. He came in a canoe named Nga-Puariki, seeking for new lands. The canoe was a large double one, a katea, namely two canoes fastened together. The name of the cross-pieces of wood which fasten on the outriggers are called kiato. The names of the kiato were as follows: the foremost Tane-mai-tai, the centre one Te-pou-o-Tangaroa, and the after one Rima-auru.
They arrived at the island and entered a passage named Aumoana. They landed and erected a Ma, which they named Pauriki, after their canoe. (Ma means a place of evil spirits.) They also erected a Ma inland, which they named Vaikuriri, which was the name of Ru’s god, Kuriri, brought with them from Avaiki.
There is much conjecture regarding where the original settler came from, however it is believed that the first settlers came during the Great Polynesian Migration in around 800 AD. In the 11th century a chief named Toi built the first coral road in Rarotonga, lying
Two centuries later the great chiefs Tangiia Nui from Tahiti and Karika from Samoa met and joined forces at sea to conquer the earlier inhabitants. The Spanish explorers Alvaro de Mendana sighted Pukapuka on August 20th 1595 and Pedro Fernandez de Quiros sighted Rakahanga on March 2nd 1606.
There was no further European contact until over 160 years later when Captain James Cook, for whom the group was eventually named, sighted Manuae atoll (Hervey Island) in 1773. On a later voyage, he also discovered Palmerston, Takutea, Mangaia and Atiu (1777). The ill fated Captain William Bligh sighted Aitutaki in 1789 and mutineer Fletcherinland, called the Ara Metua.
James Cook

sifiolepacifica · Member

Historical Collections of The Hawaiian Islands
" Keepers of the Culture "
A study in time of the Hawaiian Islands
by Darlene E. Kelley
October 12, 2000

http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Part 4 -- As told by the Ancient Hawaiians.

Hawai'i Loa's Descendants;

Kunuiakea's son Ke Lii Alia, and his grandson Kemilia, were born at
Tahiti along with Aoa, the royal tree; but his great grandson, Ke Lii Ku
[ Eleeleualani ], was born on Hawai'i.

Eleeleualani was the grandfather of Papa-Nui-Hanau-Moku. His wife was
called Ka Oupe Ali'i and was a daughter of Kupukupunuu from Ololoimehani
[ supposed to be either a name for the island of Nu'uhiwa, or a place on
that island ]. They had a son called Kukalani'ehu, whose wife was Ka
Haka-ua-Koko, the sixth descendant from Makali'i, and they two were
parents of Papa-Nui.

Papa-Nui-Hanau-Moku first married Wakea, who was the son of Kahiko and
Tupu-rani-i-te-hau, who was a Tahitian woman. Papa's first child with
Wakea was a daughter called Hoohokukalani.

Papa, having quarreled with Wakea on account of their daughter, went to
Tahiti and there she took to Te Rii Fanau for husband and had a son
called Te Rii i te Haupoipoi. She afterwards returned to Hawai'i under
the name of Huhune and had a son with Waia and called him Hinanalo.
Domestic troubles now made her crazy and she returned to Tahiti where
she had another son with Te Ari'i Aumai, who was said to be the fourth
generation of the Tahiti chiefs, and she called his name Te Ari'i Taria,
and he became chief over that part of Tahiti called Taharu'u.

Because she was the mother of Chiefs, both in Hawai'i and in Tahiti, she
is called Papa Nui Hanau Moka [ " Great Papa, the Mother of Islands" ].
She is said to have been a comely, handsome woman, very fair and almost
white.
Papa and Wakea are considered by many as the first female and male
ancestors of the Hawaiian people. " Wakea, from whom all Hawaiian
genealogies stem as the ancestors of the Hawaiian people, both chiefs
and commoners,' is regarded as a man in Hawaiian tradition, not as a god
as in southern groups [ of Polynesia]."

Papa is said to have traveled eight times between Tahiti and Hawai'i,
and died in a place called Waieri, in Tahiti, during the time of
Nanakelihi the fifth descendant from her and Wakea.

Wakea was a wicked and bad man. He instituted the bad and oppressive
kapu, such as that men and women could not eat together; that women
could not eat red fish, hogs, fowl or other birds, and some kinds of
bananas. These
Kapu were put onto spite and worry Papa, on account of her growling at
and repoaching him for his wickedness. Wakea also departed from the
ancient worship and introduced idol worship, and many people followed
him, because they were afraid of him.

Other Travels of Hawai'i Loa ---

Hawai'i Loa was born on the eastern shore of the Island of
Kapakapaua-a-Kane. One of Hawai'i Loa's grandchildren was called
Keaka-i-Lalo, whom he married to Te Ari'i Aria, one of hs brother Ki's
grandchildren, and he placed them at Sawai'i [ Samoa ?], where they
became the ancestors of that people, Sawai'i being then called
Hawai'i-ku-lalo [ Hawai'i raising downwind].

Afterwards Hawai'i Loa revisited Tahiti and found that his brother Ki
had forsaken the religion in which they were brought up, that of Kane,
Ku, and Lono, and adopted Ku-waha-ilo
[ maggot-mouth Ku]. the man eating God [ ke akua 'ai kanaka], as his
God. After quarreling with his brother on this account, Hawai'ui Loa
left Tahiti and brought with him Te Ari'i Apa as a husband for
Eleeleualani,his grandchild. From these two was born Kohala, a girl,
from whom the Kohala people sprang.

Afterwards Hawai'i Loa went again to Tahiti and Hawaii-ku-lalo [ Sawai'i
] and held a meeting with those peoples at Tarawao . but finding that
they persisted in following after the God Ku-waha-ilo and they had
become addicted to man-eating, he reproved and repudiated them, and
passed a law called ' he
Papa Enaena," forbidding anyone from Hawai'i Luna [ upward Hawai'i ]
from ever going to the southern Islands, lest they should go astray in
their religion and become man-eaters.

When Hawai'i Loa returned from his trip he brought with him Te-Ari'i
Tino Rua to be a wife to Kunuiakea, and they begot Ke Ali'i Maewa Lani,
a son, who was born at Holio in North Kona, Hawai'i, and became the Kona
progenitor.

After this Hawai'i Loa made a voyage westward, and Mulehu [ Hoku Loa ]
was his guiding star. He landed on the eastern shore of the land of the
Lahui-makalilio [ the people with the turned up, oblique eyes, i.e.,
Asians ]. He traveled over it to the northward and to the westward to
the land of Kuahewahewa-a-Kane, one of the continents that God created,
and then he returned, by the way he had come, to Hawai'i nei, bringing
with him some white men
[ po'e keokeo kane ] and married them to native women [ a h o'omoe i
ko'onei po'e wahine ]. on this return voyage the star lao was his
guiding star to Hawai'i.

After this Hawai'i Loa made another voyage to the southern and eastern
shore of Kapakapaua-a-Kane and took with him his grandchild Kunuiakea in
order to teach hm navigation. When they had stayed there long enough
they returned and Kunuiakea brought with him " he mau ha'a elua " [ two
stewards ]. one called Lehua and the other Nihoa, and they were settled
on the two islands which bear their names, as konohiki [ land stewards ]
and put in charge of Kaua'i, the youngest son of Hawai'i Loa.

When Hawai'i Loa returned from the conference with his brother Ki and
his descendants, his wife Hualalai bore him a son who was called
Hamakua, and who probably was a bad boy
[ keiki 'ino'ino]. for so his name would indicate. Ten years later,
Hualalai died and was buried on the mountain of Hawai'i that has been
called after her name ever since.

After Hawai'i Loa was dead and gone, in the time of Kunuiakea, came
Tahitinui from Tahiti and landed at Ka-lae-i-Kahiki [ the southwest
point of Kaho'olawe, a cape often made by people coming from or going to
Tahiti was worn]. Tahiti-nui was a mo'opuna of Ki, Hawai'i Loa's
brother, and he settled on East Maui and died there.

The descendants of Hawai'i Loa and also of Ki [ which are one, for they
were brothers] peopled nearly all the Polynesian islands. From Ki came
the people of Tahiti, Borabora, Huahine, Taha'a
Ra'iatea and Mo'orea [ the Society Islands ].

From Kanaloa [ brother of Hawai'i Loa] were peopled Nukuhiwa, Uapou,
Tahuata, Hiwaoa and those other islands [ the Marquesas Islands ].
Kanaloa married a women from the man-eating people, Taeohae [ Taiohae,
on Nukuhiwa]. from whom sprang those cannibals who lived on Nukuhiwa,
Fiji, Tarapara, Paumotu, and the islands in western PolynesiaNso as it
was reported in the Hawaiian legends and Prayers. But the people of
Hawai'i and the Tahiti [ properly speaking ] did never addict themselves
to cannibalism.

sifiolepacifica · Member

CHAPTER FIVE
THE VOYAGING TRADITIONS
THE view that Polynesian navigators, having discovered distant
islands, sailed back to their home islands and then colonized
their discoveries arose from European interpretations of Eastern
Polynesian, Hawaiian, and New Zealand Maori voyaging
traditions. The purpose of the present chapter is to show that
these traditions embody transplanted and partially adapted
traditional memories of Western Polynesian voyages in the
Samoa-Tonga-Fiji area, and point to the Samoan island Savaii
as the homeland of the Eastern Polynesian, Hawaiian, and New
Zealand ancestors.
Throughout Eastern Polynesia, Hawaii, and New Zealand,
'Hawaiki' and its dialectal equivalents was an ancient traditional
name for a homeland, to and from which the ancestors of the
peoples of those islands were described in the traditions as
voyaging. 1 Hawaiki was certainly a pre-European traditional
name, having been recorded in the Tahitian islands as well as
New Zealand at the time of Cook's first visit, and embodied in
the name of the Hawaiian Island. 2 The Eastern Polynesian
name Hawaiki is the linguistic equivalent of the name of the
main Samoan island, Savaii. The Samoan 's' is pronounced
lightly and there is a check before the final vowel of Savaii.
Pursuing the name Hawaiki, we find that, according to infor-
mation obtained from Tupaea and other Tahitians by Cook and
his associates in 1769, an island with the equivalent name lay
close to islands with names corresponding to those of Upolu
and Tutuila, which are the other chief Samoan islands close to
Savaii. These three islands were described as lying to the west.
Tupaea showed them in a map which he drew for Cook, and
-75-

Questia Media America, Inc. www.questia.com

Publication Information: Book Title: Ancient Voyagers in Polynesia. Contributors: Andrew Sharp - author. Publisher: Longman Paul. Place of Publication: Auckland, NZ. Publication Year: 1963. Page Number: 75.

sifiolepacifica · Member

Tangiia and Tutapu
Te Ariki-Tara-are, high priest of Rarotonga; trans. by S. Percy Smith
________________________________________
When Tangiia was born his grandfather, Ka‘u-kura, gave him the name of Rangi. When Tangiia’s uncle Pou-vananga-roa learned that his sister Ka‘u-ngaki had given birth to a son, he adopted the boy and renamed him Tangiia-nui. The uncle also adopted Tutapu, the son of his other sister Maonga.
Pou-vananga-roa appointed Maono, his eldest son, to be ariki, or head chief, of Tahiti; Tutapu was made an ariki of Iva (Hiva, or the Marquesas); Tangiia was made a tavana, or minor chief, of Tahiti.
Tangiia was unhappy with his appointment, so he seized the insignia of the ariki at the marae of Avarua and drove Maono away to the mountains. The village and its share of kuru (‘ulu, or breadfruit) now became his. Tangiia’s younger brothers waited for their share of land and power to be distributed to them, but nothing was given.
Dissension also arose between Tangiia and Tutapu over a stream, Vai-iria, a sacred stream of Tangiia’s. When Tutapu bathed in this stream, Tangiia attacked him. Tangiia’s teeth were broken and the plumes of the people of ‘Avaiki were trampled. The two cousins also fought over rights to two sea creatures, the raratea (white-finned shark) and the onu (turtle). Tutapu insisted that when a shark was killed the head belonged to him, while the tail was for Tangiia. Tangiia disagreed, and the two cousins separated-Tutapu returned to Iva, while Tangiia went to Ma‘uke [in the Cook Islands] to visit two sisters, Pua-tara and Moe-tuma, the daughters of Tata-uru-ariki and his wife Te Puaranga-uta.
Tangiia arrived in the district of Utaki, where a koutu (sacred meeting place) named Rangi-manuka is located. He looked for the two sisters and found them beating bark cloth. He composed a love song to them [and slept with them] before returning to Tahiti.
In Tahiti, Rakanui, his sister, asked him if he had taken the kuru (breadfruit tribute), not knowing that Tutapu had taken it to Iva. Tangiia got angry and snatched a portion of the turtle from the hand of his sister’s husband Maa. An ill-feeling arose between Tangiia and Maa. Rakanui took a canoe name Kai-oi and departed with Maa for the island of Huahine.
Tangiia now dwelt in Tahiti for some years, until he decided to outfit a canoe named Tuna-moe-vai, a name given by his grandfather Ka‘ukura. After the canoe was ready, Tangiia named it Taki-pu (later it was renamed Takitumu) and then visited ‘Avaiki (Savai‘i in Samoa) and many other islands. On his return to Tahiti, he sent Tino-rere to Ma‘uke to get his children [by the two sisters Pua-tara and Moe-tuma].
When Tangiia returned to Tahiti from his voyages, he found Tutapu had arrived from Iva to make war and to secure the celebrated weapon named Te Amio-enua from Pou-vananga-roa and the rara-roroa (a tribute of some kind; perhaps human sacrifice, which in Tahiti was called te avae roroa-“the long-legged fish”). But Tangiia refused to give up the weapon and the two “fish.” Tutapu then demanded the rara-kuru (breadfruit tribute) and this Tangiia conceded in order to pacify his brother.
But Tutapu was not satisfied and a war broke out. Tutapu and his army retired to Tautira [a district of east Tahiti], and Tangiia and his army went to Puna-auia [a district of west Tahiti]. Tutapu was winning the war, so Tangiia gathered his people, prepared a canoe, and launched it, placing on board all their property, including the gods Tonga-iti, Rongo-ma-Tane, Rua-nuku, Tu, and Tangaroa, along with the chief’s seat named Kai-au-unga. Two of the gods had been taken by Tutapu-Rongo-ma-Uenga and Marumamao.
Once his canoe was anchored offshore as a means of escape, Tangiia went to fight with Tutapu again. On a mountain, Tangiia’s two children, Pou-te-anuanua and Motoro, were trapped by a fire set by Tutapu’s men. Pou-te-anuanua was burned to death. The goddess Taa-kura descended on a southeast wind, placed a cloak over Motoro, and took him to Mangaia [Southern Cook Islands], where he was deified.
After the disappearance of his sons, Tangiia fled to his canoe and for some time gazed at the burning land and lamented his losses:
Great is my love for my land Tahiti,
That I am leaving,
Great is my love for my sacred meeting place at Pureora,
That I am leaving,
Great is my love for my drinking springs,
Vai-kura-a-mata and Marama-ata-kai,
That I am leaving,
My bathing places, Vai-iria and Vai-te-pai,
That I am leaving,
My own district, Puna-auia and Pape‘ete
That I am leaving,
For my mountains, Tikura-marumaru
And Aorangi, that I am leaving,
And for my dear children,
Pou-te-anuanua and Motoro now dead.
Alas! Alas! O my children!
My children O! Alas!
O Pou-te-anuanua! Alas!
O Motoro O! O Motoro!
Two of Tangiia’s men were sent back to get a wreath and some red berries and a certain white tapa used at the marae; they also stole the god Ronga-ma-Uenga from Tutapu. To get this god back, Tutapu pursued Tangiia relentlessly over the seas.
Voyages
Tangiia sailed west to ‘Avaiki (the ancestral homeland), still lamenting the loss of his children and his home. His chief warrior and navigator was Pai, to whom he gave the name Tei-vao-ariki.
Tangiia arrived in ‘Avaiki during ceremonies for the appointment of a chief and the feast of takurua, or presentation of the first fruits to the gods. He told the gods that he left his homeland after the war with Tutapu “over the government, the position of ariki, the fish-tribute, the turtle-tribute, the shark-tribute, the human-tribute, and the weapon Te Amio-enua.” The gods promised to give him mana so that he would not be defeated in battle and to set aside for him a land named Tumu-te-varovaro (the ancient name of Rarotonga), where he would live until his death. Tangiia begged the gods to join his expedition and the following gods consented-Tangaroa and his company; Tu-te-rangi-marama and his company; Tu-tavake; Rua-i-te-kari, Kau-kura, Mumai-io; Rua-te-atonga; Ari; Tupua-nui; Taakura; Kura-akaipo; Tonga-iti; Rangi-puta-rua; Ai-mario; Maru-mamao. Tangiia then begged the gods for all the things connected with the takurua festival, including the musical instruments and the dance postures. They consented.
Tangiia then sailed east from ‘Avaiki, stopping at Uea (Wallis Island), Kuporu (‘Upolu in Samoa), and Iti (Tahiti). There he met Iro (Hiro) and asked for Iro’s son, who would be made chief (ariki) of Tangiia’s people since Tangiia’s two sons had been killed by Tutapu. Hiro agreed and revealed that his son was on Rapa (Easter Island).1
Tangiia sailed to Rapa-nui (Easter Island), which name was given to distinguish it from Rapa-iti, an island southeast of Rarotonga. When the canoe arrived at Rapa-nui, they found Iro’s son, Taputapuatea, diving for shellfish on the reef. The child was taken on board the canoe, which then proceeded to Mo‘orea, looking for Iro, but he was not there.
The canoe then sailed to Huahine. Tangiia met his brother-in-law Maa and his sister Rakanui, who at first threatened to cook him in an oven (imu); but the two were reconciled and Tangiia related to her the story of his war with Tutapu and his voyage to ‘Avaiki. Rakanui asked to see a ceremonial dance he brought back from ‘Avaiki and he consented.
After the dance was performed, Rakanui tried to persuade Tangiia to remain on Huahine-he on one side of the island, and she on the other side. But he replied, “No! I cannot remain. I must go to Tumu-te-varovaro (Rarotonga), which Tonga-iti has told me of. I am going there to live until I die.” Tangiia told his sister of his plan to make Iro’s son Taputapuatea ariki of his people. Rakanui was opposed at first, then approved, and new names were given to the boy-Te Ariki-upoko-tini (ruler of many people) and Ta-i-te-ariki. Then Rakanui gave her canoe to Tangiia, saying “Here is a second hull for your canoe.” When this canoe, named Kai-oi, was delivered to him, it was taken to the seashore and joined to Tangiia’s canoe to make a purua, or double-hulled canoe. The work was completed by the navigator Tamarua-pai. Then all of Rakanui’s property was taken on board, and Rakanui, her husband Maa, and their children joined Tangiia’s party. For his work in joining the two canoes, Pai received the name “Purua.”
News was received that Tutapu was near; so the expedition left Huahine for Porapora. When it arrived there, the expedition began a ceremony to consecrate Iro’s son as ariki, but before the scarlet-feathered belt was girded on, Tutapu arrived.
The expedition left Borabora and sailed for Rangi-atea (Ra‘iatea), where Tangiia’s canoe and Tutapu’s canoe coasted along together. Those on Tutapu’s canoe shouted “Give up my god! Give up my god!” [The god Rongo-ma-Uenga, taken from Tutapu in Tahiti.] Then night fell, and a gust of wind arose; the canoes were hidden from each other and went their separate ways.
Tangiia now returned to Iti (Tahiti). On arrival all hands were ordered ashore the better to count the crew and passengers; 200 men were assigned to the katea (the main hull) and the women and children were assigned to the ama (the other hull). Then the expedition visited many islands, even those island toward the rising sun, exulting the fame of the canoe now called Takipu [and later renamed Takitumu]. At an island called Maketu [Ma‘uke in the southern Cook Islands; or one of the Tuamotus; or Me‘etia in the Society Islands], they met the chief Karika, who hailed from Manu‘a Island in Samoa. On sighting a canoe, two of Tangiia men climbed the mast to identify it. They reported, “It is Te Tai-tonga! [another name for Karika], and you will be killed by him!”
“How many men does he have?” asked Tangiia.
“A great many!”
“What should we do?”
“You must give up the rangi-ei (the red feathers) you are wearing on your head” [that is, acknowledge Karika’s supremacy].
Soon Karika’s vessel drew up to Tangiia’s and Karika boarded Tangiia’s canoe. Tangiia had already sent below all the able-bodied men, leaving none but slaves, children, and the decrepit on the deck of the vessel, so that Karika might not see how many men he had. Tu-iti and Nukua-ki-roto now urged, “Give up your rangi!” So Tangiia took the red plume from his head and was about to hand it to Karika, when Pou-te-are, who opposed giving the chieftainship to Karika, rushed up and knocked it out of Karika’s hand, and climbed up the mast and placed it on his own head. Then the navigator Pai rushed after Pou-te-are and knocked red plume off his head. When it fell down, Pai seized it, and the fighting began. It was like a north wind and a south wind fighting for supremacy. Tangiia’s men gained the upper hand, and his canoe began to tow Karika’s canoe from Maketu to Maiao. So Karika decided to make peace with Tangiia and gave him his daughter Mokoroa-ki-aitu in marriage. Then the canoes separated.
Tangiia asked Karika, “Where is Rarotonga?”
Pointing, Karika said, “There,” and described the course downwind, toward the south (raro-tonga). The vessels now separated, Karika going his way and Tangiia his way. But Tangiia missed his mark and reached the southern ocean where he encountered great waves and currents. Tangiia thought, “This is the ‘tai-rua-koko’ [place of monstrous waves].” From there, the vessel turned north and came upon Rarotonga, which was named after Karika’s direction to the island. The island remained Tangiia’s home until he died.2
Tangiia landed on the east side of the island and after entering the channel through the reef, the crew took the rope named Te Kaa-ki-‘avaiki to fasten the canoe to the kaoa, or coral reef, and hence the name of that place is Te Kaoa. He then named the sandy point Te One-poto and going inland, constructed the marae named Te Miromiro to sanctify the land. The marae was dedicated to Tonga-iti; Parau-a-Toi was appointed the purapura, or guardian priest. Tangiia named the channel in the reef Ava-rau or Ava-tapu, being the way to ‘Avaiki.
The anchor was then pulled up and the vessel hauled on shore. Here another marae was built; it was named Iti-akaraua and was dedicated to the god Marumamao. After securing the vessel, the expedition went inland and built the marae named Itianga-te-ra; Kainuku was appointed the priest. On the completion of this marae, the expedition came down to the shore and built a house which was named Mata-enua (Looking for Land); Nukua-ki-roto was appointed guardian. This camp was at Tauna-a-rangi before the party built permanent houses.3
Tane-korea, who was descended from one of the original settlers of Rarotonga , was found inland at Roka with his two daughters named Vai-te-nui and Ata-te-poroa. Tangiia asked Tane, “Are those girls your daughters?”
Tane replied, “They are.”
“I will take them as wives for myself.” He brought his family to Tau-vae, and dwelt there.
Some time after Tangiia’s arrival at Rarotonga, the Samoan chief Karika landed at the reef-opening named E. He built a fort of coral named Are-au and settled there. The food eaten on board Karika’s canoe was human flesh, as the following song suggests:
The human-oven of Rua-koroa and Rua-ta
Wherein were cooked the eye-balls,
The dried up eye-balls,
In Karika’s oven, rei-iri e!
After he had settled on Rarotonga, Karika went to look for Tangiia and the daughter he had given to Tangiia in marriage. He followed the coast to Avarua, where he heard the sound of conch shells and drums, so he turned inland to Tau-vae, where he found his daughter. He remained there for some time in conversation, then returned seaward, and settled at a place which he named Enua-kura. Before he left, Tangiia gave him a conch shell and a drum. The conch shell was the pu-ura.
Some time after the arrival of Karika at Rarotonga, Tutapu landed at Avarua. He killed Parau. Two uncles of Tangiia, Ue and Tautenga, came to Tau-vae to tell Tangiia of Tutapu’s arrival and of the killing of Parau. Tangiia ordered some food cooked, but the two men refused it, saying they planned to return at once to Tutapu’s camp.
“Why are you in such a hurry?”
“For fear we should be seen here.”
Tangiia lamented their departure, but they told him, “Don’t regret our departure; we shall do our part. You won’t be defeated.”
Later, these two uncles deceived some of Tutapu’s forces into returning to Iva by telling them Tutapu’s warriors had all been killed.
Before the fighting began, Tangiia sent his brother Keu and his sister Rakanui to Tahiti to get a prophecy from their father, Pou-vananga-roa, about the outcome of the imminent war. The old blind man instructed them to set up one cluster of pandanus leaves at the bow of their canoe and one at the stern, the one on the bow to stand for Tangiia and the one on the stern to stand for Tutapu; the cluster that fell would foretell the defeat of the man it represented.
On the voyage back to Rarotonga, the pandanus leaves at the stern fell-a sign that Tutapu would be defeated.
The fighting continued until Tangiia’s forces (Ngati-Tangiia, Tangiia’s tribe, lit., “the offspring of Tangiia”) gained the upper hand and drove Tutapu’s forces from Avarua to the east end of the island. Many died. Because Karika assisted Tangiia and helped defeat Tutapu, certain functions of government were eventually turned over to him.
At Oro-iti, Tangiia overtook Tutapu and called out to Rongo-ma-Tane: “Let our fishing be successful!” Tutapu struck at Tangiia and cut off the little finger of the left hand. Tangiia sucked the blood into his mouth and blew it out into Tutapu’s face, blinding him. Then he struck Tutapu with his toko-toki (a battle axe) and wounded him in the leg, the blow shattering the rock beneath Tutapu’s feet. This blow caused the putiki (head ornament?) to fall from Tutapu. Tutapu now fled with two daughters of Tangiia, Te Raiti-ariki and Puanga-te-rangi, as hostages. After a short distance, his breathe failed, so the place is known as “Oro-iti.”
Tangiia pursued Tutapu up a stream. Tutapu’s ei, or necklet, named Kaa-tu, fell off. As Tutapu climbed up the course of the stream, he was dripping blood. The place where a spur comes down from a ridge into the main stream is called Ara-eke-toto (“Path of falling blood”).
Tutapu called back, “O Tangiia! Let me live!”
“Why should I spare you? Didn’t I abandoned my home in Tahiti to you, my relentless pursuer?”
Tutapu now laid down in the water to hide his face from Tangiia’s tokotoko (spear or club). Tangiia followed him and seizing his head, turned his face up and scooped out his eyeballs and swallowed them. The gods of the sky called down, “O Tangiia, you are an ariki who eats in haste.”
“O my gods, I am indeed a hasty eater! Why did he relentlessly pursue me? My patience is exhausted. I abandoned my home in Tahiti to him and departed without protest over the great ocean. Why should I spare him now?”
Tangiia’s daughter Te Raiti-ariki asked for the left eyeball, the light colored one, for Tutapu had one dark and one light-colored eye. The place where this event occurred is about four miles inland from the coast.
They took the body of Tutapu and carried it down to the shore to the district of Aroko, onto the bare rocks at Vai-tangi and Ioi, that is, at Ara-kuo. Here they proceeded to cook the body, but found that it would not cook in that place. It was then taken to Avarua, where they were joined by Karika and his army, who were carrying the god Maru-mamao and some dead bodies. This was the occassion when Karika took possession of this god Maru-mamao, and Tangiia and his forces plundered the rest of Tutapu’s property.
When they got to Kiikii, the god Maru-mamao was uncovered and displayed, and the kiikii, or wreath, was thrown away (hence the name of the place). From that place they went to Avarua again; then to Tauae; then to Kau-ariki-rangi. Here Anu, who was the god Tongaiti, asked Tangiia, “Why doesn’t Tutapu’s body cook? Have you lifted the kapu on your child and your elder, Tupa, on account of the one he slew?”
Tangiia replied, “I have not.”
“Life the kapu on your child and your elder; then you will be able to cook the body.”
Now Taivananga (a priest) took a rau-kava (kava leaf) and struck the body of Tutapu, uttering the proper karakia (incantation) at the same time. Then he struck Tangiia with the rau-kava and put it in Tangiia’s month, reciting the karakia. On completion of these proceedings, all was noa, or free from tapu, so men were ordered to collect firewood, which consisted of popo-kuru, popo-ngatae, katiara, and kakava-atua. So these were brought and the body cooked successfully this time, and hence the place was named Taana. The body was taken to the marae named Kura-angi, and there eaten.
After the feast had been consumed, Tangiia assembled all Ngati-Tangiia (his tribe) and addressed the tribe on that same day. This is what was decreed to the priests and all the tribe: “Man is sacred; no man is to be slain; the whole of the land is to be divided up from one side of the island to the other; the people must increase greatly in numbers, so the land might be filled.”4
Then he said, “If a large fleet comes here in peace, let them land; a fleet that comes armed for war, let their heads be cut off with the tokotoko.”
Death and Apotheosis
Tangiia eventually died in his house at Pure-ora. After his death his spirit flew up above to the tuputupu (wandering spirits) and there bewailed his body lying below near the sea. When the god Tonga-iti saw the spirit of Tangiia flaming amid the wandering spirits, he told him “Be calm. You will never be able to return to your body, for it is rotten by this time.”
The god Tangaroa and Tonga-iti conducted a kava ceremony in which Tangiia’s spirit was the ono (tasty food to go with the kava). After Tangaroa prepared the kava and drank it, he seized Tangiia and swallowed him, then spat him out. Tonga-iti did the same, and then Tangiia did the same to both Tangaroa and Tonga-iti.
After this ceremony, the two gods told Tangiia, “Now you possess the mana (power) of a god.” The two gods ascended to the sky to convey Tangiia to the presence of Rongo-ma-Tane.
The atua-tini (many gods) asked, “Who is this ariki?”
Tangiia replied, “It is Tangiia-ariki.”
Again they asked, “Is this the ariki who worships the gods?”
The answer was “Truly, it is so!”
After this acknowledgment, the atua-tini felt a desire to taste Tangiia and after the straining and drinking of the kava, they all swallowed Tangiia’s spirit as ono to the kava. Then he did the same to all of them. After this meal Rongo-ma-Tane said to Tonga-iti and Tangaroa, “Take him away and appoint a purapura (a medium) for Tangiia’s spirit, then return.” The gods came along and found Ruru, who was engaged in clearing land, and made him a medium for Tangiia’s spirit.
Here ends the history of Tangiia, a man who played an important part in Polynesian history and ended by becoming a god. [The narrative traces Tangiia’s 27 generations of descendants down to the time when this story was recorded.]
________________________________________
NOTES
This version of the story of Tangiia is from “The History and Traditions of Rarotonga,” told in Rarotongan by Te Ariki-Tara-are, the last high priest of Rarotonga; it was translated by S. Percy Smith (Part VI and VII, Journal of the Polynesian Society, Vol. 28: 1919, pp. 134-144, 183-197; Parts VIII-XI, Vol. 29: 1920, pp. 1-16, 45-51; 60-65). A shorter version of the history of Tangiia is found in “Genealogies and Historical Notes from Rarotonga,” Part I, Journal of the Polynesian Society, Vol. 1: 1892, pp. 20-29. A third version of the Tangiia story is given in “Floatsam and Jetsam from the Great Ocean: or, Summary of Early Samoan Voyages and Settlement” written by “a native of Rarotonga” in 1842 and translated by the Rev. John B. Stair, Journal of the Polynesian Society, Vol. 4: 1895, pp. 95-131.
“The History and Traditions of Rarotonga,” by Te Ariki-tara-are. begins with the origins of the Polynesian race, somewhere in Indonesia. The original lands are given the names Atia, ‘Avaiki-te-varinga, Iti-nui, Papua, Enuakura, ‘Avaiki, and Kuporu. The parents are named Te Tumu (“The Source”) and Papa. The first story is about Maui, a child of Tangaroa and a descendant of Papa. (Journal of the Polynesian Society, Vol. 8: 1899, pp. 61-75).
S. Percy Smith speculates that 20 generations from Te Tumu, Vaitakere was living in Java or Sumatra; and that 35 generations from Te Tumu, Te Irapanga led a migration to the Hawaiian Islands, from Tawhiti-nui (Borneo?), and later settled in either the Lau islands of the Fiji Group, or in Savai‘i of the Samoan Group. Ui-te-rangiora, one of the great voyagers, appears 43 generations from Te Tumu. The following events are set in ‘Avaiki (Samoa), on the threshold of expansion into the Pacific.
Ui-te-rangiora and the Dispersion of the People of ‘Avaiki
Ui-te-rangiora built a celebrated pa‘i (sea-going canoe); the timbers of the canoe were human bones. The keel of the canoe was called “Te Ivi-o-Åtea.”
Because no bones were long enough for kiato (‘iako, or crossbeams connecting the two hulls), a tree named Te Tamoko-o-te-rangi was cut down for the purpose. This tree was kapu to Taa-kura and Ari. When they found out that Ui-te-rangiora had cut down their tree, they waged war against him and many men were killed. But the tree was taken and cut into eight portions and made into drums, tutunga (tapa-beating logs), and boards. One drum was named Taka-enua and was used in the ceremonies at Avarua (in the Samoan or Lau Group) to install a high chief. The tutunga was named Tangi-varovaro.
Ui-te-rangiora completed his vessel and launched it. This was the first pa‘i (a canoe made of planks rather than dug out from a single log) and the beginning of the dispersions of the people of ‘Avaiki to various islands in the Pacific.
Because of the wars in ‘Avaiki, starting with Kuru down to Taa-kura and Ari, people migrated to the following lands:
‘Avaiki-runga (‘Avaiki upwind-Tahiti-nui, the Tuamotus, etc.);
Iti-nui, Iti-rai, Iti-anaunau, Iti-takai-kere (Fijian Group, Lau islands);
Tonga-nui, Tonga-ake, Tonga-piritea, Tonga-manga, Tonga-rara, Tonga-anue (Tongan Group);
‘Avaiki-raro (‘Avaiki-downwind, or Savai‘i, the main island of Samoa); Kuporu (‘Upolu), Manuka (Manu‘a);
Vavau (North Tongan Group);
Niva-ou (Niuafou) and Niu-taputapu (Keppel’s island), both north of the Tongan Group.
Ui-te-rangiora’s descendants were Makua-ki-te-rangi, Te Rangi, Ata-o-te-rangi, Tara-o-te-rangi, Te Paku-o-te-rangi, Te Uka-o-te-rangi, Uu, Ane, Taipu, Tuna-ariki.
Tuna-ariki battled Tu-ei-puka over Avarua since both claimed it. Tuna-ariki killed Tu-ei-puka, and won the chieftainship. Tuna-ariki was then killed by a pig, which ate him.
After his death, Tu-ei-puka’s son Kati-ongia ruled. His descendants were Kapua, Atonga, and Te Aru-tanga-nuku.
The Canoe of Te Aru-tanga-nuku
Te Aru-tanga-nuku wanted a canoe because there was not enough food on ‘Upolu (Samoa). His uncles Oro-keu, Oro-i-nano, Oro-taere told him to build one, so they might leave the island.
They prepared their adzes, held a ceremonial feast, and went to cut a tree for a keel. In the mountains, they met a white heron (ruru) and a snake (aa, replaced by an eel in some traditions) fighting.
Oro-keu appeared on the scene. The heron said to him, “O chief! Separate us and end the fight!” The snake said, “O chief! Leave us alone to continue the fight!” Oro-keu went on his way.
Oro-i-nano appeared on the scene. The heron said to him, “O chief! Separate us and end the fight!” The snake said, “O chief! Leave us alone to continue the fight!” Oro-i-nano went on his way.
Oro-taere appeared on the scene. The heron said to him, “O chief! Separate us and end the fight!” The snake said, “O chief! Leave us alone to continue the fight!” Oro-taere felt sorry for the heron because the heron was his elder brother. He killed the snake with his adze and wept over and healed the wound of the heron.
The heron then asked him, “What is your purpose here?”
“I am going to cut down a tree to make a canoe for the ariki Te Aru-tanga-nuku.”
“Go and cut down my tree at Ara-Punga-verevere. I did not tell Oro-keu and Oro-i-nano about the tree because they did not help me against the snake. Those two are probably dead by now.”
Oro-taere went and found the tree, a maota-mea. He rough cut it into the shape of a keel and tied the hauling ropes (kaka) to it. Then he left.
Along came Tangaroa-iu-mata. He found the fallen tree. He asked the guardian of the place Rata-i-te-vao (Rata of the forest), “Who has cut down my tree?”
Rata replied, “I don’t know.” Tangaroa went around asking who had cut down his tree, but no one knew. So he returned to the tree and re-erected it with a chant: “Stand up you maota-mea, be erect, gird on your bark again. Stand there, O you top of the tree! the large and small branches of the tree! Chips and leaves return to your places! Bark, adhere back onto the tree!” When the tree was restored Tangaroa returned home.
When Oro-taere and his crew returned, the tree was standing there, the hauling ropes dangling from it. The only thing missing was a piece of bark, which he had taken down to the sea to remove the kapu from the tree. Oro-taere returned to shore to consecrate his adze again; the kapu on the adze had been destroyed when he had killed the snake. Then he went back to the mountain with his crew and felled the tree again, stripped the bark from it, tied on the hauling ropes, and dragged the log down to where the priest Atonga lived.
Food was given to the priest. When he was satisfied, he told Te Aru-tanga-nuku’s wife Pori-o-kare, “Return and tell the ariki he must build a house. Tomorrow the canoe will be shaped. When the house is finished, let all of ‘Upolu be seated there so they may see the log being dragged along by birds.”
Aronga then summoned Tupua-ki-Amoa and told him to go to the white heron. “Tell him to tell Pirake-akaruirui-rangi [Pirake: a seabird noted for its soaring] to assemble all the birds and to drag the canoe of the ariki to the house prepared for it.” Tupua-ki-Amoa gathered the many birds. At daylight, with the moamoa (a kind of bird) on one side, the Kakia, the Ngoiro, and Katikatika (kinds of birds) on the other side, and the Kati-rori bird reciting a song, the canoe was lifted down to the house.
The canoe had been built at night by Atonga-vaerua (Atonga, the spirit), and his workmen. Iu-mata, Aa-ngu, Na-ora, and Na-oti built one side of the canoe while Tupa, Tupa-ake, Tupa-aki, and Uri-reka built the other side; there were eight builders, Atonga being the ninth. Atonga named the canoe “Taraipo” (“Built in the night”); the birds called it “Te Manu-ka-tere.”
When the canoe reached the house of the ariki, the birds returned inland, but Atonga stopped the heron and asked, “Where is there a tree suitable as a rakau-tukava (a weapon) for the ariki?” The heron replied, “At Te Po-amio.” Atonga sent Tupua-ki-Amoa to cut down the tree. After a long search, he cut down the tree called Ipi-rere and brought it down to the village. He shaped it and named it “Te Amio-enua” and delivered it to the ariki, who placed it on the canoe. [This is the weapon over which Tangiia and Tutapu fought.] The canoe was named “Te-Pore-o-kare.”
[The episode of a tree cut down for a canoe, re-erected by a forest god, then cut down again is also told as part of the tradition of Rata.]
The Voyages of Te Aru-tanga-nuku
Te Aru-tanga-nuku launched his canoe and sailed to Iva (Marquesas). At Iva, the canoe was renamed “Te Orauroa-ki-Iva” (“The Long Voyage to Iva”). From there it went to Rapa-nui (Easter Island) and on to Rapa-iti (Oparo, southeast of Rarotonga), where Irei was left on account of his bad navigation. From there they sailed to ‘Avaiki-runga (Tahiti) and all the islands near there. At ‘Avaiki-runga the canoe was named “Te Ara-ki-‘Avaiki” (“The Way to Tahiti”).
The great desire of Te Aru-tanga-nuku was to see all the wonderful things on the ocean which had been discovered and reported by his ancestor Ui-te-rangiora. He saw the rocks growing out of the sea beyond Rapa; the monstrous waves; the female dwelling in those waves, with her hair waving and floating on the surface of the ocean; the frozen sea (tai-uka-a-pia); the deceitful animal on the sea, which dived below the surface (walrus or sea-lion?); a gloomy, dark place, where the sun is not seen; a rock whose summit pierces the sky with steep, bare cliffs, where vegetation does not grow.
Te Ara-tanga-nuku had the following descendants: Te Amaru-ariki; Te Amaru-enua; Te Uenga-ariki; Te Uenga-enua; Kau-tea; Kau-mango; Vai-iti; Ka‘u-kura; Pou-vananga-roa-ki-Iva and Ka‘u-ngaki. Ka‘u-ngaki was Tangiia’s mother.
1. Iro, or Hiro as he is known in Tahitian, is a distant relative to Tangiia; they share a common ancestor named Tu-tarangi, who is said to have conquered Fiji. (See “Genealogies and Historical Notes from Rarotonga,” Part I, p. 25; and “History and Traditions of Rarotonga,” Part VI, pp. 135-143.) See the Tahitian version of the story of Hiro in this collection.
2. Karika was a great navigator born on Manu‘a, the easternmost of the Samoa Islands, where he is known a ‘Ali‘a (the Samoans do not pronounce the k’s in his name.)
Another version of the story of Karika is told in “Genealogies and Historical Notes from Rarotonga,” Part II, Journal of the Polynesian Society, Vol. 1: 1892, pp. 65-75.
A third version of the meeting between Tangiia and Karika is found in “Floatsam and Jetsam from the Great Ocean: or, Summary of Early Samoan Voyages and Settlement,” written by “a native of Rarotonga” in 1842 and translated by the Rev. John B. Stair, Journal of the Polynesian Society, Vol. 4: 1895, pp. 106-107.
3. Tangiia built numerous other marae, houses, and koutu (meeting places) on Rarotonga. For a list of these, see pages 11- 15, Journal of the Polynesian Society, Vol. 29: 1920.
4. Compare the reverence for life expressed in Kamehameha’s “Law of the Splintered Paddle”: On one occasion when Kamehameha 1st was building a heiau (temple) and needed human sacrifices, sometimes as many as ten persons were made victims; for the greater the number sacrificed the greater the power conferred upon the temple.
To secure fresh victims, he started along the coast in a canoe with his retainers. At one place they saw two fishermen walking on the shore. Bidding his retainers remain at a distance, Kamehameha endeavored to capture the men. When they saw they were being pursued both fled. Just as Kamehameha was about to grasp the hindermost, the chief’s foot got caught in a fissure of lava and he fell. The man he was after instantly struck him over the head with a paddle. The blow was so hard, the paddle splintered.
“Why don’t you kill him?” said his companion.
“Life is sacred to Kane,” replied the man, quoting the old saying “Ua kapu ke ola na Kane.”
Kamehameha had regained consciousness after the blow and heard what the two men were saying. He knew the man could easily have killed him by running a fish-spear through his body and that neither of the two had recognized him as their chief. The chief was so impressed with the reverence for life shown by the two men that he put an end to human sacrifice and promulgated the famous “Law of the splintered paddle,” – the “Kanawai mamala-hoe,” – which runs, “Let the old men, the old women, and the children travel and sleep by the roadside [in safety],” “E hele ka ‘elemakule, a me na luahine, a me na keiki, a moe i ka ala.” (Told by Kaluhiokalani; in Green, Folk-tales from Hawaii 119.)

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Maori
From LoveToKnow 1911
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MAORI (pronounced "Mowri"; a Polynesian word meaning "native," "indigenous"; the word occurs in distinction from pakeha, " stranger," in other parts of Polynesia in the forms Maoi and Maoli), the name of the race inhabiting New Zealand when first visited by Tasman in 1642.
That they were not indigenous, but had displaced an earlier Melanesian or Papuan race, the true aborigines, is certain. The Maoris are Polynesians, and, in common with the majority of their kinsfolk throughout the Pacific, they have traditions which point to Savaii, originally Savaiki, the largest island of the Samoan group, as their cradleland. They say they came to New Zealand from "Hawaiki,", and they appear to distinguish between a large and small, or a nearer and farther, "Hawaiki." "The seed of our coming is from Hawaiki; the seed of our nourishing, the seed of mankind." Their great chief, Te Kupe, first landed, they say, on Aotearoa, as they called the north island, and, pleased with his discovery, returned to Hawaiki to tell his fellow-countrymen. Thereafter he returned with seven war canoes, each holding a hundred warriors, priests, stone idols and sacred weapons, as well as native plants and animals. Hawaiki, the name of Te Kupe's traditional home, is identical with several other Polynesian place-names, e.g. Hawaii, Apai in the Tonga Islands, Evava in the Marquesas, all of which are held to be derived from Savii or Savaiki. Dr Thomson, in his Story of New Zealand, quotes a Maori tradition, published by Sir George Grey, that certain islands, among which it names Rarotonga, Parima and Manono, are islands near Hawaiki. The Rarotongas call themselves Maori, and state that their ancestors came from Hawaiki, and Pirima and Manono are the native names of two islands in the Samoan group. The almost identical languages of the Rarotongas and the Maoris strengthen the theory that the two peoples are descended from Polynesians migrating, possibly at widely different dates, from Samoa. The distance from Rarotonga to New Zealand is about 2000 m., and, with the aid of the trade wind, large canoes could traverse the distance within a month. Moreover the fauna and flora of New Zealand in many ways resemble those of Samoa. Thus it would seem certain that the Maoris, starting from "further Hawaiki," or Samoa, first touched at Rarotonga, "nearer Hawaiki," whence, after forming a settlement, they journeyed on to New Zealand. Maori tradition is explicit as to the cause of the exodus from Samoa, gives the names of the canoes in which the journey was made and the time of year at which the coast of New Zealand was sighted. On the question of the date a comparison of genealogies of Maori chiefs shows that, up to the beginning of the 10th century, about eighteen generations or probably not much more than five centuries had passed since the first Maori arrivals. There is some evidence that the "tradition of the six canoes" does not represent the first contact of the Polynesian race with New Zealand. If earlier immigrants from Samoa or other eastern Pacific islands arrived they must have become absorbed into the native Papuan population - arguing from the absence of any distinct tradition earlier than that "of the six canoes." Some have sought to find in the Morioris of Chatham Island the remnants of this Papuan-Polynesian population, expelled by Te Kupe and his followers. The extraordinary ruined fortifications found, and the knowledge of the higher art of war displayed by the Maoris, suggest (what is no doubt the fact) that there was a hard fight for them when they first arrived, but the greatest resistance must have been from the purer Papuan inhabitants, and not from the half-castes who were probably easily overwhelmed. The shell heaps found on the coasts and elsewhere dispose of the theory that New Zealand was uninhabited or practically so six centuries back.
Any description of the Maoris, who in recent years have come more and more under the influence of white civilization, must necessarily refer rather to what they have been than what they are. Physically the Maoris are true Polynesians, tall, well-built, with straight or slightly curved noses, high foreheads and oval faces. Their colour is usually a darker brown than that of their kinsfolk of the eastern Pacific, but light-complexioned Maoris, almost European in features, are met with. Their hair is black and straight or wavy, scarcely ever curly. They have long been celebrated for their tattooing, the designs being most elaborate.

sifiolepacifica · Member

The mythology of Kiribati also incorporates their own version of the mythology of Samoa. This is as a consequence of the Kiribati ancestors being seen as having their mythological roots in Samoa. This version is built around Nareau the Kiribati equivalent to the Samoan god Tagaloa. Click here for the Kiribati version of Samoan Myth of Creation.

The legend states that Karika, the ancestor of the present Makea family, came originally from an island to the westward named Manuka. This Karika was a mighty warrior and a great navigator, who, in his peregrinations at sea, discovered the island of Rarotonga. On landing, he found it uninhabited; and, after remaining there for some time, he again put to sea, and in this voyage he met with Tangiia. This man was a chief of Faaa, a district in Tahiti, who, by cutting down a favourite breadfruit tree, had so much exasperated his brother, Tutabu, the insatiable pursuer, that he was determined to put Tangiia and all his family to death.

On hearing this, Tangiia launched his large canoe, and sort safety in flight; and, taking with him his family and followers, among whom were two beautiful daughters, he sailed for Huahine, which is about a hundred miles to the westward of Tahiti, where he arrived in safety. He had not, however, been there many days, before Tutabu with his tini or thousands entered the harbour of that island with a determination to destroy his brother. To escape his vengeance, Tangiia set sail immediately for Raiatea; but was closely followed by Tutabu. Continuing his flight, he sailed to Porapora (Bora Bora), where he had scarcely landed, when he again found his pursuer at his heels. From hence he proceeded to Maupiti, the last of the Society Islands, but here also Tutabu followed him; when, seeing no possibility of escaping the fury of the unrelenting foe, Tangiia with his tini, launched upon the trackless ocean, in search of a refuge where he might happen to find it. After having been a long time at sea, he fell in with Karika, from the island of Manuka, who forthwith prepared for battle; and, lashing his canoe firmly to that of the poor unfortunate Tangiia, was about to attack him, when he made submission, by presenting to Karika the emblems of supremacy, both civil and religious, saying "Tena moi te vaevae roa" - "Yours is the long-legged," or man belongs to you. "Tena mai to vavae poto" - "Yours is the short-legged," or the turtle belongs to you; which being the most sacred fish, was considered as an emblem of supremacy in religious affairs. "Yours is the butunga, opinga, katoatoa, or the source of every treasure," reserving to himself only his "tako kete," or the food with which the people of his own district might supply him. With this Karika was satisfied, and having made a friendly covenant with Tangiia, received from him one of his beautiful daughters to wife. The brave warrior then informed his friend of the lovely island he had discovered, told him the direction in which it lay, and promised, when he had accomplished the object of his present voyage, to return and settle there. Tangiia, taking leave of his formidable ally, steered for Rarotonga, and, on reaching it, took up his residence on the east side. Karika returned to the island some short time after, and, with his tini, settled on the north side. But they had not long enjoyed the comforts of repose, when, to the astonishment and consternation of Tangiia the fleet of his determined enemy Tutabu was descried off the harbour's mouth.
Recorded Polynesian History (VICTORIA WELLINGTON UNIVERSITY).

The migration from Samoa to Tonga, alluded to above, took place in the days of Aho-eitu. According to two genealogical tables showing the descent from Aho-eitu to the time of death King George Tubou (1893) the number of generations is 34. Therefore it would have been about the year 1050 that this second element was added to the inhabitants of Tonga-tapu island. These people came from Samoa, and first landed on the east end of the island near Lafonga, where they settled, and there built the celebrated Trilithon called Haamonga, which has remained a puzzle to later generations. These people, after living there for many years, eventually removed to the east entrance into Mua inlet, and some of them still live there. For the above I am indebted to the Rev. J. E. Moulton of Tonga. This account of the origin of Haamonga. differs from that given by Mr Basil Thompson in "Jour: Anthro: Inst:" vol, xxxii, p. 81, wherein he states on the authority of Mateialonga, Tongan Governor of Haabai, that the Trilithon was built in the times of Tui-ta-tui, or circa 1275 (according to my method of deducing dates—Mr. Thompson says, about the latter half of the fourteenth century).

The late Judge Te Pou-o-te-rangi of Rarotonga told me in 1897, that previous to a visit he had made to Tonga and Samoa a few years previously, the late Te Ariki-taraare last high priest of Rarotonga, told him that the Haamonga Trilithon was built in the times of Makea Karika (of Samoa and Rarotonga), or circa 1250, and that the latter had had a hand in the work.
Pa‘ao
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Pa‘ao was a priest, Makuaka‘umana a prophet, Pilika‘aiea a chief coming after La‘au-ali‘i in the genealogy of Hema. They were from Wawau [Borabora] and ‘Upolo [Taha‘a] and islands to the west. Ka‘akoheo was the sea-cliff from which they departed; and Malaia was the mountain ridge in ‘Upolo where the grass (mau‘u) grew which Pa‘ao brought with him to Hawai‘i. (A sister of Pa‘ao who came to Hawai‘i with him was named Na-mau‘u-Malaia, or ”The grass of Malaia.”)
Pa‘ao left his birthplace because of a quarrel with his older brother Lonopele, who was a kahuna, a man of mana (supernatural power), very intelligent, with knowledge of everything of concern to a kahuna. Both were farmers. Lonopele cultivated his land near the seashore with sweet potato, taro, banana, and other fruitful plants. Once all the fruit was stolen and he believed Pa‘ao’s son was the thief. He went to his brother and told him, “Your son has stolen all my fruit.”
Pa‘ao said: “Are you sure my son is the thief?”
Lonopele replied: “I saw him in my field. I didn’t see him taking the fruit, but I believe he is guilty.”
“If that’s so,” Paao replied, “I’ll cut open his stomach and find the evidence. But if your fruit is not there, then what?”
Lonopele replied: “What you do is up to you. If you cut open your son’s stomach, that’s your affair.”
Pa‘ao answered: “I’ll cut open his stomach, and if fruit is found, you are right; if not, you are wrong.” Pa‘ao caught his son and cut open his stomach. No fruit was found. Then he told Lonopele to look and see.
Lonopele declined: “You’re the one who should look into your son’s stomach.”
Pa‘ao was full of grief over of his son’s death. He said to his brother: “I’ll find a way to kill your son. Then I will leave this land.”
Pa‘ao ordered his men to build a double-hulled voyaging canoe. His kalaiwa‘a (canoe carvers) hollowed out logs, carved the fittings, lashed and rigged the canoe, and painted the canoe black. The canoe was well-made. He placed a kapu on it: no one was to touch it until the lolo sacrifice was offered to insure a safe voyage.1
The kapu had been established for some time when the son of Lonopele came along and slapped on the sides of the canoes. Pa‘ao heard the sound and told his servants to find out who it was. They reported that the son of Lonopele was slapping the sides of the canoe. Pa‘ao commanded them to kill the boy, which was done. Then the sacrifice to the canoe was made and the kapu was lifted. Pa‘ao took the body and placed it under the supporting block at the stern of the canoe. After a few days Lonopele came to the canoe shed, greatly troubled, trying to find his son who, he feared, was lost.
Lonopele admired the fine finish of the canoe. While looking it over carefully from end to end, he noticed flies buzzing under the stern. He searched and found the corpse of his son and knew the boy had been murdered. He was sick with sorrow for his son and wailed grievously. Crazed with anger against Pa‘ao, he said: “You’ve done a crazy thing, O Pa‘ao! You’ve killed my son. You waited for an opportunity to take his life. Go! Leave this land, for you are an evil man!” With a mournful love song, Lonopele carried his son’s corpse away.2
Pa‘ao loaded his canoe with food, water, and supplies for an ocean voyage. The name given his canoe was Kanaloa-a-muia. [Or Ka-nalo-a-muia, “the swarming of flies.”] Forty paddlers boarded the canoes. Also on board were two stewards (kanaka ‘aipu‘upu‘u); the chief Pilika‘aiea and his wife Hina-au-kekele (also called Hina-‘au-aku); and Pa‘ao’sister Na-mau‘u-o-malaia. Pa‘ao was the kahuna; Maka‘alawa, the kilo-hoku (astronomer and navigator); Holau, the steersman; Pu‘ole‘ole, the conch shell blower; Nu‘u and Holawa, the ‘awa chewers. Pa‘ao was consecrated for this voyage to find new land (ka holo ana e imi ‘aina). When everyone was ready to sail, Pa‘ao stood on the canoe while some prophets were standing on the Ka‘akoheo cliff. One called to him: “O Pa‘ao! Let me go with you!”
Pa‘ao asked, “Who are you?”
He replied: “I am a prophet.”
“What is your name?”
“Lelekoa‘e (‘Leaping tropic bird’) is my name.”
Pa‘ao called back to him: “Leap onto the canoe.”
Lelekoa‘e leaped and fell on the stones below and died. Then Pa‘ao tested the powers of one prophet after another—Maku‘epali, ‘ohuku-pali, Kikaha-pali and so on, but all of them failed and fell to their deaths.
Pa‘ao sailed on and was nearly out of sight of land; only one cliff could be seen above the horizon behind him. A prophet stood there and called, “O Pa‘ao, Let me go with you!” He called two or three times before Pa‘ao heard the voice, a faint whisper in the wind.
When Pa‘ao looked back and saw a person standing on the brink of the cliff, he called out, “Who are you?”
The man replied, “A prophet.”
“What is your name?”
“Makuaka‘umana.”
Pa‘ao replied: “The canoe is full, there is but one place left, on the momoa [a projection at the stern].”
“That’s my place.”
“Then leap!” The prophet flew like a bird, landed on the momoa, and grabbed onto the manu (a piece covering the stern).
He called out: “ Here I am, where is my place on the canoe?”
“On the pola (platform between the two hulls).”
Thus, the prophecy of Kalaikuahulu concerning the prophet Makuaka‘umana was fulfilled:
A fragile-tailed fish am I,
Moving swiftly before the heavens,
Travelling the dark, dark ocean
That roars at Halekumukalani.
I am the man, Makuaka‘umana,
The prophet who traveled the islands,
Who circled the Pillars of Kahiki,
Who leapt and sat on Kaulia (a perching place).
When Pa‘ao’s canoe was out on the ocean, his brother Lonopele tried to sink the canoe. He sent the stormy south winds Konaku, Kona-nui-a-niho, Kona-moe, and Kona-ho‘apuku, and the gusty winds, the gales, and the stormy winds of Ho‘oilo. But Pa‘ao had mats to cover his hulls and keep the water out. While the wind was blowing fiercely with much rain, and the waves ran high, two kinds of fish, the aku and the ‘opelu, gathered in the waters and quieted the waves. The Kona storms died down. Because of this help, both these fish were made kapu to the Pa‘ao family and their descendants.
Lonopele looked out and saw that Pa‘ao had not been destroyed, so he sent the cold northerly winds—Ho‘olua, Malualua, Kiu, Waikoloa, and Makanihaunone, but the hulls were covered with mats to keep the water out and did not sink. Lonopele then sent a large bird, Kikaha-‘iwa–ina-pali, to defecate on the canoe and sink it. But the mats again protected the canoe.
Pa‘ao landed in Puna, Hawai‘i and built his first heiau as a temple for his god and named the heiau Aha‘ula. It was a luakini heiau (a temple for human sacrifice).
From Puna Pa‘ao went to Kohala, landing at Pu‘uepa where he built the luakini heiau called Mo‘okini. It was thought that Pa‘ao came in the time of the high chief La‘auali‘i, because Pili became the ruling chief of Hawaii after La‘auali‘i in the genealogy of Hanala‘anui. The island of Hawai‘i was without a chief, and so a chief was brought from Kahiki.3
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NOTES
This version of the story of Pa‘ao has been compiled from Thrum’s More Hawaiian Folk Tales (46-52); N.B. Emerson’s “Long Voyages of the Ancient Hawaiians”; and Kamakau’s Tales and Tradtions of the People of Old (3-5; 97-100). Another version of the Pa‘ao tradition appears in Laura Green’s Folk-tales from Hawai‘i (120–124); the story was told in Hawaiian to Mary Kawena Pukui by Mrs. Kanuikaikaina of Hilo, Hawai‘i; it was translated by Miss Green. Mrs. Kanuikaikaina begins: “Two brothers, Pa‘ao and Lonopele, were priests of the gods Ku and Lono in ‘Upolo, Samoa. Pa‘ao was the priest of Ku-ka‘ili-moku, who later became the war-god of Kamehmameha I, as ‘Ku-snatcher of islands.’”
According to Kamakau, Kuka‘ilimoku “was made of fine, soft feathers from the forehead of Kiwa‘a. Kiwa‘a was slain by Wai-kele-nui-a-iku after he had been carried away by the bird. These feathers from its forehead were sacred feathers called Hina-wi-koli‘i. They flew to the lap of Namaka-o-kaha‘i. These feathers acquired mana and became Kuka‘ilimoku” (Kamakau 3). Kuka‘ilimoku eventually was passed down through through the ruling chiefs of the island of Hawai‘i—through Liloa, ‘Umi a Liloa, and Keawenui a ‘Umi to Kamehameha the First, who conquered and united the islands of Hawai‘i. This god demanded human sacrifice. Aha‘ula heiau later became known as Waha‘ula (“Red Mouth”), perhaps because of the human sacrifices laid there to Kuka‘ilimoku.
1. The lolo sacrifice for consecrating and lifting the kapu on a canoe so it could pass from the carver to the owner involved prayers and offerings to the canoe gods. Malo says pig, red fish, and coconuts were the offering “spread out before the kahuna” (129). Kamakau says the symbolic foods were pig and dog, the “pig symbolizing the ‘rooting’ (‘eku) of the canoe into the open sea and the dog the ‘tearing apart’ (hae aku) of the billows of the ocean. Sweet potatoes and taro were the vegetable foods” (Works 121-122). The Pukui-Elbert Dictionary (1986) defines lolo as “brains” and explains that it was a religious ceremony “at which the brain of the sacrficed animal was eaten (such ceremonies occurred at a canoe launching, start of journey, completion of instruction),” apparently to signify completion.
2. The Kanuikaikaina version of this tradition gives a slightly different account of the quarrel between the two brothers: “Pa‘ao and Lonopele each had a son, and their pranks often led to quarrels between the fathers. One day, Lonopele’s son entered the temple and stole a bit of the food placed for the sacrifice. Lonopele accused Pa‘ao’s son of the theft. A few days later, Lonopele’s son stole more of the sacrifice and his father seized Pa‘ao’s son and had him put to death. Pa‘ao was deeply grieved and in his heart he knew that Lonopele’s son was at fault. He watched closely and was rewarded by seeing him run out of the temple with a bit of the offering in his hand. Then Pa‘ao put Lonopele’s son to death and hid his body under a canoe. For days Lonopele looked for his son and when at last he found him, he ordered his younger brother to depart and seek a new home.”
3. Emerson writes that Hawai‘i island had been without an pure-blooded ali‘i for a long time; those that ruled Hawai‘i were ali‘i maka‘ainana (royalty with the blood of commoners intermixed through marriage), or just commoners, maka‘ainana. Thus, Pilika‘aiea, of pure ali‘i blood, became the ruler of the island. Pa‘ao became his high priest. He established a strict religious system, introducing to Hawai‘i the custom of kapu-o (prostration), the puloulou (a royal insignia marking off a kapu area), and the walled heiau (previously, heiau had been open courtyards.)
The Kanuikaikaina version gives the following ending: Pa‘ao landed at Puna on the island of Hawai‘i. There Pa‘ao built the temple of Aha-‘ula, or “Red-assembly,” so named because of the red feather cloaks worn by the god Ku-kaili-moku and the other gods. He left priests here to care for the temple and to cover the lava rock with soil brought in pandanus baskets from the hill country, to plant rare trees and dig a well, so making an oasis in that desert place.
The priests kindled a fire in the temple grounds, which was consecrated to their gods and kept burning night and day. Whatever man the smoke of that fire fell upon, whether high or low in rank, became a sacrifice to the gods. Hence the name of that temple was changed to Waha-‘ula, “Red-mouth,” because it devoured men.
Pa‘ao went to Paka‘alana in the Hamakua district of Hawaii, where he built another temple. Here he left two white stones which were worshipped by the inhabitants of that district, especially by the high chief, Liloa. Pa‘ao saw how the chiefs, or ali‘i, had sinned by intermarriage with commoners, thus diluting the sacred blood. [The chief of Hawai‘i at that time was Kapawa (Fornander, Vol. IV, 22-23).] Pa‘ao sailed back to Tahiti and brought a chief and his family from there to restore the ancient rank of chiefs in Hawai‘i. This chief was Piliaoao, ancestor of Kamehameha 1st.
[According to Fornander (Vol. IV, 22-23), the chieftainship was first offered to Lonokaeho, who was invited to come to Hawai‘i to rule by Makuaka‘umana, the singing-priest of Pa‘ao’s expedition:
O Lono! Lono! Lonokaeho!
Lonokulani, ali‘i of Kauluonana,
Here are the canoes, come aboard
Return with us to live in green-backed Hawai‘i
A land discovered in the ocean,
Thrown up amid the waves
From the very depths of Kanaloa
The white coral jagged in the water
Caught on the hook of the fisherman
The great fisherman of Kapa‘ahu
The great fisherman of Kapuhe‘euanu‘u-la
When the canoes land, come aboard,
Sail to rule Hawai‘i, an island,
Hawai‘i is an island,
Hawai‘i is an island
For Lonokaeho to live on.
Hawaiian text:
E Lono! e Lono—e! e Lonokaeho!
Lonokulani, ali‘i o Kauluonana,
Eia na wa‘a, kau mai
E hoi e noho ia Hawai‘i-kua-uli
He ‘aina loaa i ka moana
I hoea mai loko o ka ale
I ka halehale Poi pu a Kanaloa
He koakea i halelo i ka wai
I lau i ka makau a ka lawa‘ia
A ka lawai‘a nui o Kapa‘ahu
A ka lawai‘a nui o Kapuhe‘euanu‘u-la
A pae na wa‘a, kau mai;
E holo e ai ia Hawai‘i, he moku;
He moku Hawai‘i
He moku Hawai‘i
No Lonokaeho e noho.
Lonokaeho refused the chiefship and proposed Piliaoao (or Pili-Ka‘aiea).] Pa‘ao set up Piliaoao as the highest ruler on Hawai‘i and served as his kahuna until Pili’s death. Pa‘ao’s son served the son of Piliaoao, and so on for succeeding generations. Hewahewa, who was high priest in the time of Kamehameha 1st, was a descendant of Pa‘ao and in 1819 when King Liholiho broke the tabu, Hewahewa was the first man to apply the torch to the King’s temple and reduce his ancestral gods to ashes.

sifiolepacifica · Member

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF KIRIBATI
Samoa holds a special place in the legends of the Gilbertese people. It was the predominant place, the main centre which the spirits left when they moved into the Gilbert Islands. Some moved there again. This process of spirit movement went on for a long time. Then the spirits became anti ma aomata (half spirit and half human). These remained in the Gilbert Islands and only travelled within the group. Much later they changed into human beings.
Most Gilbertese people believe that their ancestors were spirits, some created in Samoa and some in the Gilberts, and that it was the movement from Samoa which populated the Gilbert Islands for the first time.
( See Samoa: Mythology and Samoa: The Myth of Creation ).
Modern researchers would agree that a recent migration did probably occur from Samoa to the Gilberts by 500 to 600 years ago. They were not, however the first people to populate the Gilbert Islands.
There is a growing amount of evidence that suggests that the Gilbert Islands had been inhabited for at least 3000 years, and that the ancient origin of the migrants was Southeast Asia. The precise route that the first settlers follow to the Gilbert Islands is still uncertain, but there is little doubt today that they were part of a much larger movement of people from the Southeast Asia/Indonesia area into the Pacific.
Much of the evidence to support this is based on a study of the Gilbertese language. The Gilbertese language, for example, belongs to the very large Austronesian language family which evolved in Southeast Asia and began to spread into the Pacific about 5000 years ago. With the exception of some societies in the Solomon Islands and New Guinea, all languages in the Pacific including Gilbertese belong to this family.
A study of plant in the Pacific in recent years has also revealed some important evidence about the migrations of people. With few exceptions, all useful food and fibre plants found today in the Pacific islands originated outside the Pacific. All the important plants used by Gilbertese, the coconut, breadfruit, babai and pandanus, are native to the Southeast Asia/Indonesia area. Researchers can only conclude that they must have been brought to the islands by the early settlers.
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF BERU ISLAND
Beru is considered by many to be the spiritual home of the Gilbert Islands. According to the legend of Beru Island in the Southern Gilberts and some other islands, Te Kaintikuaba was made from the spine of Na Atibu. It was a tree, in Samoa, which was the home of spirits who, together with Nareau the Wise, made the islands of Tungaru (the Gilbert Islands). They and their spirit descendants became inhabitants of these islands. Te Kaintikuaba can therefore be translated as "The Tree of Life". This is one of many versions.
Nareau the Wise saw that the branches of Te Kaintikuaba grew well on Samoa and were covered with spirits of all kinds and shapes. These spirits did nothing but laze in their places all day. The topmost was Tetaake, and first branch facing north was Baretoka's place. Tekuma, Tekoroangutungutu, Tekaai and Nei Moaine were on the branch facing south, Matang East was on the eastern branch, Matang West on the western and Kairo was in the centre of the tree. Nei Boto was at the trunk, Uruba and Teuriubaba at ground level, Akau and Nei Tira at the roots, Teimone and Matennang at the tap-root, and others were on the ground in the shadows of the tree.
The first spirit to migrate was Baretoka, who took his branch with him. He went northwards. On his way, he met Nei Batiauea, a female spirit, who had originally come from the intestines of Na Atibu, Nareau the Wise's father, whom he had killed in Te Bomatemaki. Baretoka anchored Batiauea's canoe, using his branch to prevent it from moving any further. When Batiauea's canoe was stopped so abruptly, it swung around him stretching into a curved shape. It was called Teraea or Taraea, which was the original name of Tarawa. Those two spirits lived on this newly formed island and had four children; Tearikintarawa, Kirabukentarawa, Taorobantarawa and Nei Arirei.
The second spirit to leave was Tetaake, who also flew north, to Beru looking for a place to live. Unfortunately, he had to fly elsewhere because Tabuariki, the deity of the people living in the Gilberts before the Samoan, beat him cruelly. So he went further north and landed at Baberiki, in the extreme north of the Gilberts. He died there and was succeeded by his worms, who became spirits and later travelled south again.
At this time, Nareau the Wise was in Samoa procreating with the spirits there. One day, he decided to trace the whereabouts of his two children who left Te Kaintikuaba. He left Samoa, heading north, and on his way he created a resting place by trampling the sea and uttering powerful magic. Behold, land was formed with spirit inhabitants on it. He called this island Takoronga i Nano or South Tabiteuea as it is called nowadays. Feeling satisfied with his marvellous work, he left and went further north. At last, he sighted land and this was Teraea, or Tarawa.
On Teraea, he created Tubuatarawa and its spirit inhabitants (now Buariki village on North Tarawa) and renamed the whole island Tarawa. He stayed on Tarawa and started his work of creating new lands. He used his power to create Makin, Butaritari, Marakei, Abaiang, Maiana, Kuria, Abemama and Aranuka and their spirit inhabitants. When he had completed his work, he remained and procreated with the spirits on Tarawa. Marriages also took place among the spirits so there was an expansion of the spirit population on Tarawa. Nareau the Wise was pleased with his achievements so he decided to visit other islands, particularly South Tabiteuea. He made many visits among the islands he had created using adopted personalities such as Nareau the Killer, The Flatterer, The Liar, The Terror, The Seducer and all kinds of other characters. Sometimes he may visit in search of his children's partners because he was concerned about them.
During the period in which Nareau the Wise had been visiting from island to island, many spirits from Samoa migrated to South Tabiteuea and Tarawa, procreating during their stay. Some of these spirits returned to Samoa and some remained in the Gilberts. These spirit movements went on for a considerable time.
When Nareau the Wise had had enough of these visits, he changed his name to Tematawarebwe and returned to Samoa with three of his sons, Kourabi, Namai and Buatara. On reaching Samoa, he told his sons and some of the inhabitants to carry Te Kaintikuaba away to a place he would show them. The spirits who usually inhabited Te Kaintikuaba were left behind as they were absent during its removal. The tree was carried northwards until it arrived at Teakiauma, a place in a village called Bareti, on Beru Island. The next thing that Tematawarebwe and his carriers took was the Umananti (literally Spirits' House). This was carried and placed in the central part of the island. This was the Maneaba (meeting house) now called Tabontebike. Tematawarebwe remained on Beru.
The removal of these two things from Samoa affected the remaining members of Te Kaintikuaba. They left Samoa and tried to follow the route that Tematawarebwe and his group had taken. Some of them took the eastern route, some the western and some the central path. Some flew, some swam on the surface of the sea, and others swam below the waves. A few of them never reached their destination but created, and then settled on, the islands of Nonouti, Onotoa, Nikunau, Tamana and Arorae. Nei Matennang, a female spirit, lost her way and finally reached Tarawa. Akau and his daughter landed on Tabiteuea South and remained there.

THE OTHER ISLANDS OF THE GILBERTS
There are many variations regarding the creation of islands and the following may be compared with the story of Beru to indicate the range of myths and legends about the way the islands were settled.
The people of Butaritari believe that three islets were created in the northern Gilberts at the time when the earth and the sky were separated. They also say that Samoa, Tabiteuea, Tarawa and later the rest of the Gilbert Islands, were originally clouds transformed into islands when they came into contact with a plant called Terenga, which sprouted from Awaiki, the core of the earth. This tree became Te Kaintikuaba which the spirits of Te Bomatemaki saw emerging in Samoan soil. They were said to have rushed to it and remained there. The inhabitants of the islands were those spirits who dispersed from Te Kaintikuaba when it was destroyed by Teuribaba, another inhabitant. The dispersals were believed to have been to the north of the Gilberts. Their descendants later returned to the Gilberts and travelled throughout the group.

Map of 16 main islands of Kiribati.
The Tabiteuea people claimed that their island was the first to be created. Creation took place at Takoronga i Nano (Tabiteauea South). They also believed that a tree called Te Ueanikai (Tree of Kings) was grown there and one of its roots emerged at Samoa to become Te Kaintikuaba. Te Ueanikai was inhabited by many spirits who often argued as to who was to be chief on the island. Nareau the Creator forbade anyone to become chief, so everyone remained equal, and the name Tabiteuea (Tabu-te-Uea) means that chiefs are forbidden. There was also the story of one migrant from Samoa who married Nei Batiauea, who had left Te Ueanikai. After meeting and being married in the ocean, they landed on Tarawa and became its first inhabitants. There were also other migrations of spirits from Tabiteuea to the rest of the Gilbert Islands.
The people of Tarawa believed that their ancestors were the first spirits and that they lived on the first created island which is now called Tarawa. They also say that Nareau the Creator created everything from this island: all the islands in the Gilberts and the continents on earth. He created the I-Matang world, the land of white-skinned spirits, and sent Nareau the Wise to care for it. He then created the Batabata world, the land of black-skinned spirits, and sent Nareau Te Kikinto (Nareau the Cunning) to supervise it. Nareau the Creator ruled that on no account should the white and black-skinned people migrate to each other's lands. If they did, trouble would occur. The Gilberts was Nareau the Creator's world and this was where he remained.
This Web site will shortly be extended to incorporate the Traditional Genealogy of the main families of many of the islands of Kiribati. The foundation above allows us to view the contemporary genealogy within the concept of our traditional mythological beliefs. These beliefs are part of the Kiribati oral traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation.
The Oli & Carmen Liaga Ohana, of Puerto Rico, Hawaii & Samoa
Updated March 28, 2003

Carmen Carmalita Liaga
Liaga1@aol.com

Edit Your Page The Oli & Carmen Liaga Ohana.
WE HAVE REACHED 1,553 INDIVIDUALS
These are the ancestors of Oli who come from the land of Western and American Samoa. They traveled to Hawaii and now gone through America. These also are the ancestors of Carmen, who ancestors came from Puerto Rico on ships in the late 1800's. They migrated to Hawaii to become sugar plantation workers. Many of whom settled on the island of Maui, Oahu and spread throughout the Hawaiian islands.
To this day many of us search our geneology looking for any information, pictures and whereabouts of our ancestors. Remembering the words of my Grandfather 'Golito', "We have Indian blood in us". I have done research and have found out that both my mothers ancestors and my fathers ancestors came from the regions in Puerto Rico that were inhabited by Taino Indians. Both my grandfather (then) and my mother (now) have been approached by others and asked if they are Indian decent due to thier facial features. I will believe what we were told to by my grandfather, that we are Indian, and will continue my research so that my children and grandchildren will "learn the truth and respect the culture" (a Hawaiian quote).
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF KIRIBATI
Samoa holds a special place in the legends of the Gilbertese people. It was the predominant place, the main centre which the spirits left when they moved into the Gilbert Islands. Some moved there again. This process of spirit movement went on for a long time. Then the spirits became anti ma aomata (half spirit and half human). These remained in the Gilbert Islands and only travelled within the group. Much later they changed into human beings.
Most Gilbertese people believe that their ancestors were spirits, some created in Samoa and some in the Gilberts, and that it was the movement from Samoa which populated the Gilbert Islands for the first time.
( See Samoa: Mythology and Samoa: The Myth of Creation ).
Modern researchers would agree that a recent migration did probably occur from Samoa to the Gilberts by 500 to 600 years ago. They were not, however the first people to populate the Gilbert Islands.
There is a growing amount of evidence that suggests that the Gilbert Islands had been inhabited for at least 3000 years, and that the ancient origin of the migrants was Southeast Asia. The precise route that the first settlers follow to the Gilbert Islands is still uncertain, but there is little doubt today that they were part of a much larger movement of people from the Southeast Asia/Indonesia area into the Pacific.
Much of the evidence to support this is based on a study of the Gilbertese language. The Gilbertese language, for example, belongs to the very large Austronesian language family which evolved in Southeast Asia and began to spread into the Pacific about 5000 years ago. With the exception of some societies in the Solomon Islands and New Guinea, all languages in the Pacific including Gilbertese belong to this family.
A study of plant in the Pacific in recent years has also revealed some important evidence about the migrations of people. With few exceptions, all useful food and fibre plants found today in the Pacific islands originated outside the Pacific. All the important plants used by Gilbertese, the coconut, breadfruit, babai and pandanus, are native to the Southeast Asia/Indonesia area. Researchers can only conclude that they must have been brought to the islands by the early settlers.
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF BERU ISLAND
Beru is considered by many to be the spiritual home of the Gilbert Islands. According to the legend of Beru Island in the Southern Gilberts and some other islands, Te Kaintikuaba was made from the spine of Na Atibu. It was a tree, in Samoa, which was the home of spirits who, together with Nareau the Wise, made the islands of Tungaru (the Gilbert Islands). They and their spirit descendants became inhabitants of these islands. Te Kaintikuaba can therefore be translated as "The Tree of Life". This is one of many versions.
Nareau the Wise saw that the branches of Te Kaintikuaba grew well on Samoa and were covered with spirits of all kinds and shapes. These spirits did nothing but laze in their places all day. The topmost was Tetaake, and first branch facing north was Baretoka's place. Tekuma, Tekoroangutungutu, Tekaai and Nei Moaine were on the branch facing south, Matang East was on the eastern branch, Matang West on the western and Kairo was in the centre of the tree. Nei Boto was at the trunk, Uruba and Teuriubaba at ground level, Akau and Nei Tira at the roots, Teimone and Matennang at the tap-root, and others were on the ground in the shadows of the tree.
The first spirit to migrate was Baretoka, who took his branch with him. He went northwards. On his way, he met Nei Batiauea, a female spirit, who had originally come from the intestines of Na Atibu, Nareau the Wise's father, whom he had killed in Te Bomatemaki. Baretoka anchored Batiauea's canoe, using his branch to prevent it from moving any further. When Batiauea's canoe was stopped so abruptly, it swung around him stretching into a curved shape. It was called Teraea or Taraea, which was the original name of Tarawa. Those two spirits lived on this newly formed island and had four children; Tearikintarawa, Kirabukentarawa, Taorobantarawa and Nei Arirei.
The second spirit to leave was Tetaake, who also flew north, to Beru looking for a place to live. Unfortunately, he had to fly elsewhere because Tabuariki, the deity of the people living in the Gilberts before the Samoan, beat him cruelly. So he went further north and landed at Baberiki, in the extreme north of the Gilberts. He died there and was succeeded by his worms, who became spirits and later travelled south again.
At this time, Nareau the Wise was in Samoa procreating with the spirits there. One day, he decided to trace the whereabouts of his two children who left Te Kaintikuaba. He left Samoa, heading north, and on his way he created a resting place by trampling the sea and uttering powerful magic. Behold, land was formed with spirit inhabitants on it. He called this island Takoronga i Nano or South Tabiteuea as it is called nowadays. Feeling satisfied with his marvellous work, he left and went further north. At last, he sighted land and this was Teraea, or Tarawa.
On Teraea, he created Tubuatarawa and its spirit inhabitants (now Buariki village on North Tarawa) and renamed the whole island Tarawa. He stayed on Tarawa and started his work of creating new lands. He used his power to create Makin, Butaritari, Marakei, Abaiang, Maiana, Kuria, Abemama and Aranuka and their spirit inhabitants. When he had completed his work, he remained and procreated with the spirits on Tarawa. Marriages also took place among the spirits so there was an expansion of the spirit population on Tarawa. Nareau the Wise was pleased with his achievements so he decided to visit other islands, particularly South Tabiteuea. He made many visits among the islands he had created using adopted personalities such as Nareau the Killer, The Flatterer, The Liar, The Terror, The Seducer and all kinds of other characters. Sometimes he may visit in search of his children's partners because he was concerned about them.
During the period in which Nareau the Wise had been visiting from island to island, many spirits from Samoa migrated to South Tabiteuea and Tarawa, procreating during their stay. Some of these spirits returned to Samoa and some remained in the Gilberts. These spirit movements went on for a considerable time.
When Nareau the Wise had had enough of these visits, he changed his name to Tematawarebwe and returned to Samoa with three of his sons, Kourabi, Namai and Buatara. On reaching Samoa, he told his sons and some of the inhabitants to carry Te Kaintikuaba away to a place he would show them. The spirits who usually inhabited Te Kaintikuaba were left behind as they were absent during its removal. The tree was carried northwards until it arrived at Teakiauma, a place in a village called Bareti, on Beru Island. The next thing that Tematawarebwe and his carriers took was the Umananti (literally Spirits' House). This was carried and placed in the central part of the island. This was the Maneaba (meeting house) now called Tabontebike. Tematawarebwe remained on Beru.
The removal of these two things from Samoa affected the remaining members of Te Kaintikuaba. They left Samoa and tried to follow the route that Tematawarebwe and his group had taken. Some of them took the eastern route, some the western and some the central path. Some flew, some swam on the surface of the sea, and others swam below the waves. A few of them never reached their destination but created, and then settled on, the islands of Nonouti, Onotoa, Nikunau, Tamana and Arorae. Nei Matennang, a female spirit, lost her way and finally reached Tarawa. Akau and his daughter landed on Tabiteuea South and remained there.

THE OTHER ISLANDS OF THE GILBERTS
There are many variations regarding the creation of islands and the following may be compared with the story of Beru to indicate the range of myths and legends about the way the islands were settled.
The people of Butaritari believe that three islets were created in the northern Gilberts at the time when the earth and the sky were separated. They also say that Samoa, Tabiteuea, Tarawa and later the rest of the Gilbert Islands, were originally clouds transformed into islands when they came into contact with a plant called Terenga, which sprouted from Awaiki, the core of the earth. This tree became Te Kaintikuaba which the spirits of Te Bomatemaki saw emerging in Samoan soil. They were said to have rushed to it and remained there. The inhabitants of the islands were those spirits who dispersed from Te Kaintikuaba when it was destroyed by Teuribaba, another inhabitant. The dispersals were believed to have been to the north of the Gilberts. Their descendants later returned to the Gilberts and travelled throughout the group.

Map of 16 main islands of Kiribati.
The Tabiteuea people claimed that their island was the first to be created. Creation took place at Takoronga i Nano (Tabiteauea South). They also believed that a tree called Te Ueanikai (Tree of Kings) was grown there and one of its roots emerged at Samoa to become Te Kaintikuaba. Te Ueanikai was inhabited by many spirits who often argued as to who was to be chief on the island. Nareau the Creator forbade anyone to become chief, so everyone remained equal, and the name Tabiteuea (Tabu-te-Uea) means that chiefs are forbidden. There was also the story of one migrant from Samoa who married Nei Batiauea, who had left Te Ueanikai. After meeting and being married in the ocean, they landed on Tarawa and became its first inhabitants. There were also other migrations of spirits from Tabiteuea to the rest of the Gilbert Islands.
The people of Tarawa believed that their ancestors were the first spirits and that they lived on the first created island which is now called Tarawa. They also say that Nareau the Creator created everything from this island: all the islands in the Gilberts and the continents on earth. He created the I-Matang world, the land of white-skinned spirits, and sent Nareau the Wise to care for it. He then created the Batabata world, the land of black-skinned spirits, and sent Nareau Te Kikinto (Nareau the Cunning) to supervise it. Nareau the Creator ruled that on no account should the white and black-skinned people migrate to each other's lands. If they did, trouble would occur. The Gilberts was Nareau the Creator's world and this was where he remained.
This Web site will shortly be extended to incorporate the Traditional Genealogy of the main families of many of the islands of Kiribati. The foundation above allows us to view the contemporary genealogy within the concept of our traditional mythological beliefs. These beliefs are part of the Kiribati oral traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation.
The Oli & Carmen Liaga Ohana, of Puerto Rico, Hawaii & Samoa
Updated March 28, 2003

Carmen Carmalita Liaga
Liaga1@aol.com

Edit Your Page The Oli & Carmen Liaga Ohana.
WE HAVE REACHED 1,553 INDIVIDUALS
These are the ancestors of Oli who come from the land of Western and American Samoa. They traveled to Hawaii and now gone through America. These also are the ancestors of Carmen, who ancestors came from Puerto Rico on ships in the late 1800's. They migrated to Hawaii to become sugar plantation workers. Many of whom settled on the island of Maui, Oahu and spread throughout the Hawaiian islands.
To this day many of us search our geneology looking for any information, pictures and whereabouts of our ancestors. Remembering the words of my Grandfather 'Golito', "We have Indian blood in us". I have done research and have found out that both my mothers ancestors and my fathers ancestors came from the regions in Puerto Rico that were inhabited by Taino Indians. Both my grandfather (then) and my mother (now) have been approached by others and asked if they are Indian decent due to thier facial features. I will believe what we were told to by my grandfather, that we are Indian, and will continue my research so that my children and grandchildren will "learn the truth and respect the culture" (a Hawaiian quote).

Samoa maori connections

Nga Tupuna - Ancestors
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Cover drawn by Jared Lane
A graphic depiction of "a day in the life" for 40 generations of a Maori and a European family from 1000 to 2000 AD. In November 2000 an exhibition of original artworks for the book was held at the Linwood Community Arts Centre in Christchurch, 13 to 23 November.
________________________________________
This publication is a graphic chronicle of two families. On each page it depicts a moment in the lives of 39 generations of each family over a period of a thousand years.
One family is Polynesian, their story is taken up in Samoa and follows them to Aotearoa in about 1150AD. The other family is European, we first visit them in an Anglo Saxon village somewhere in England, and follow their fortunes there and in Scotland before coming to New Zealand in 1858.
Both stories run concurrent, on facing pages, which may be a little confusing at first , but this way we hope to contrast what life was like for each family throughout the years.
As there is a gap of many years between the generations visited here, each page is more or less self contained. The pages are linked only by the unbroken thread of family that goes back well before our window of a thousand years and hopefully well beyond it.
In search of tagaloa: pulemelei, samoan mythology and science.
Publication: Archaeology in Oceania
Publication Date: 01-OCT-07 Format: Online
Delivery: Immediate Online Access
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Article Excerpt
Abstract

This article touches upon views gained from traditional or oral history together with views of modern scientific method to reach at understandings of past actions. The text presents an emic view concerning the Pulemelei mound and a ceremony carried out at the site in 2003. It is an edited version of papers presented at Auckland University in 2003 (Tamasese 2003) and at the inauguration of an exhibition at the Kon-Tiki Museum in 2004, which featured the results of the archaeological excavations at Pulemelei mound in 2002-2004.

In search of Tagaloa: Pulemelei, Samoan mythology and Science

I want to begin my paper on the search for Tagaloa with a quote from Thor Heyerdahl (1998):

And both the wind and the people who continue to live close to Nature still have much to tell us which we cannot hear inside university halls. A scientist has to distinguish between legend and myth and make use of both.

Thor was one of the few scientists I know that actively engaged in an attempt to do this and to do so in a way that afforded our peoples and our knowledge respect and dignity.

Pulemelei and the archaeological excavation

In September 2002, the first archaeological excavations at Pulemelei began under the supervision of Drs Helene Martinsson-Wallin and Paul Wallin (Kon-Tiki Museum) and Dr Geoffrey Clark (ANU). The Pulemelei site is made up of several mounds. The principal mound was excavated during 2002-2004. When the excavation reached foundation level and the near approaches were cleared, the spectacle of what was exposed was awesome. It invited re-assessment.

In terms of the Samoan landscape, the Pulemelei mound seemed to me to be overwhelmingly large and high. One of the smaller mounds on elevated ground to the North gave a commanding view of the top level of the principal mound. Another platform on the Southern slope and the other stone platforms nearby each incited wonder and curiosity. Even more curious was the pathway from the East.

The pathway or auala in Samoan, is significant in Polynesian culture. Our funeral rituals are called auala or the pathway, meaning the pathway to lagi (heaven) or Pulotu (the underworld) (Pratt 1977; Mosel and Hovdhaugen 1992). From the top of the mound one has a good view to the South and it is possible to trace a "pathway" linking Manono, Apolima and Upolu islands. In early 2003 bush and trees hid this "pathway". However, today the "pathway" is clearly visible, thanks to the clearings made by the hurricane in January 2004. Whilst at the top of the principal mound one can not help but reflect on the strategic and navigational value of such a view for our ancestors.

Making connections: Polynesian mythologies, genealogies and science

In early 2003 I invited two Maori friends, an anthropologist Dr Pita Sharpies, and Rev Morris Gray, former Head of the Maori Dept at the University of Canterbury, to visit Pulemelei. We climbed the path to the Pulemelei complex and to the top of the large Pulemelei mound, where we seated ourselves on flat slabs of stones.

Shortly after, Morris stood up, walked inwards, stopped when he reached the middle, threw his arm out and pointed to the ground: "Down in the bottom in the ground level is buried an ariki" he said. He seemed like someone who was, as we say in Samoan, ua ulu i ai le agaga, meaning 'possessed'. "I know this place" he continued, "this is where our people came from. My family emblem is the wheke (octopus) and this mound is a legacy of the wheke. And, there are in this environment definitive markings which underline the sacred figure of eight".

Morris's reference to the wheke and the figure of eight impacted on me because the river that flows through the plantation on which Pulemelei is sited has eight waterfalls. He did not know this at the time. "There are links between this mound and the skies, the sun, the moon and the stars", he proclaimed. "There is a link between this mound and the pathway". The astronomy of this, he suggested, was what enabled the Polynesia Diaspora.

He then called to the plantation manager, "Where does the sun rise?" The plantation manager responded, "You are facing the direction of the sunrise". Morris was standing directly in front of the principal pathway to the top of the mound, suggesting that the pathway pointed to the direction of the sunrise. He turned to me and said, "I ask for your leave to address our forbears in chant". When given, he began to chant. At the bottom of the mound we saw the Samoan people down there instinctively stand. I pondered on this, on why they stood for a Maori chant. When the chanting was over, he walked towards me and said, "If there's going to be an archaeological excavation, in all likelihood they will come across human remains. In that case we require a purification ritual". In searching for why and how we should conduct the purification ritual at Pulemelei I became fascinated by the suggested links between Pulemelei and Tagaloa. Thus began my search for Tagaloa.

In search of Tagaloa: moving between mythology, genealogy and science

In the cosmologies of most Polynesian peoples Tagaloa is the senior anthropomorphic god. He is pre-eminent in Samoa and Tonga and is the pre-existing Creator in Tahiti. In East Polynesian cosmology, he is equal with other first order gods (Marck 1996).

The fact that important founding ancestors attained the status of gods is evidence that, for Polynesian peoples, Tagaloa was a very important founding ancestor. The correlation for Polynesians between biological origins (Cavalli-Sforza et al. 1994) and language (Pawley 2002) and culture is one therefore founded on genealogy and mythology. The fact that the name and status is so widespread suggests that he was part of Polynesian tradition from an early stage. For Polynesian peoples Tagaloa is more than a tradition: Tagaloa is mythology, history, culture and heritage. In contemporary Samoa, Samoan culture, its lands and chiefly titles are ultimately founded on mythology, a mythology which links back to Tagaloa (Stair 1896, 1898; Kramer 1994).

Tagaloa in Samoan/Polynesian mythology

In the Tagaloa mythology, the earth is the consequence of the Big Bang i.e. the separation of Lagi (heaven) and papa (rock) and human life originates from germs (ilo) (Andersen 1928). The Tagaloa thesis could be viewed as closer to the scientific explanation of evolution than what is said in biblical texts.

In Samoan/Polynesian mythology Tuli (Pacific Golden Plover, Pluvialis fulva a winter migrating bird), Tagaloa's messenger, was sent down to earth and discovered the Samoan islands. Here he introduced varieties of plants and trees. After Samoa, the plovers did the same for Tonga and Fiji. Then the plovers, by Tagaloa's commands, designated the figure of Man from germs and they were sent to populate these three islands (Fraser et al. 1891)

The Tagaloa regime is well recorded in Samoan oral history, especially its fall. To this day, it is commemorated by the chant at a chief's funeral: Tulouna ale lagi male lagi ma le lagi! The orator chants the honorifics (fa'alupega) of each of the nine heavens. When the orator reaches the honorifics of the ninth heaven, a member of the deceased family will intervene and invite them, i.e. orator and party, into a residence as official mourners. The chant is their passport into residence.

In the ninth heaven, Amoa the daughter of Tagaloa intervened on behalf of her father and offered herself in marriage in order to spare her father and his personal entourage from the wrath of the victor Lu Fasiaitu. This intervention is commemorated by the Samoan proverb: faalava le Amoa (meaning 'intervention by Amoa').

The causus belli was the theft of Lu's sacred chickens by Tagaloa's people. The discovery of the sacred chickens is commemorated by the Samoan proverb, E ufiufi atu lava tama'i moa ae 'io 'io mai, meaning the attempt to hide the chickens under the kava bowl was given away by their cry. Lu's sacred chickens meaning Sa Moa became the name of the islands (Kramer 1994:9; Turner 1884:10-15).

Lu became the first Tui Atua. According to the Samoan Tui Atua and Tui Aana traditions, the Tagaloa inheritance was divided amongst the progeny of the union between Tui Atua Lu Fasiaitu and Amoa; this provided for the separate inheritances of Tui Atua, Tui Aana, Tui Manu'a, Tui Tonga and Tui Fiti.

There is no Tui regime in the Hawaiian, Tahitian, Aotearoa or Rapanui traditions. The suggestion is that they migrated before the fall of the Tagaioa regime. In those traditions, there are several references to Savai'i (Hawaiki), Manono, Upolu, Tutuila, Manu'a, Tonga and Fiti and even To'elan and no mention of Samoa. This suggests that the name Samoa is more recent.

Along the line of genealogical reasoning, Tui Atua, Tui Aana, Tui Manu'a, Tui Tonga, Tui Fiti are of equal ranking. Notably within this list there is not yet any specific reference to a Tui Samoa of equal ranking or of contemporaneous origin. When the missionaries arrived in Samoa in 1830, Samoa, as a distinct political entity included only Savai'i, Apolinia, Manono, Upolu and Tutuila--not Manu'a. In 1900, Manu'a, by colonial design, was joined to Tutuila (however, Manu'a only acceded after considerable colonial pressure in 1904). The joining has no basis in Samoan historical precedent.

In sum, within the Tagaloa mythology, Man originates from the union between lagi (heaven) and papa (rock). Because of this genealogy, Man shares divinity with the sun, the moon, the stars, the sea and the land. The core symbols of the Tagaloa religion are celebrated linguistically in words like 'ele 'ele (earth) and palapala (mud) which are also words for blood; and fatu meaning rock, which is also the word for heart. To underline the links across Polynesia, the placenta which is whenua in Maori, is also their word for land; fanua in Samoan is used in the same way to refer to both land and placenta. Also, the umbilical cord is similarly named, i.e. puke in Maori and pute in Samoan, these (both placenta and umbilical cord) are buried ritually in the earth. Rituals are a direct link to mythology, to Tagaloa (Andersen 1928).

Mythology in Samoan rituals: Faalanu, Liutofaga and Fono ma Aitu

Faalanu

Mythology in Samoan rituals returns us to Pulemelei. Why did we need to do a purification or faalanu ritual? The answer is: because whenever tapu (sacred bond) is broken, you have to ask for pardon. Moreover, the respectful reference to the dead is tua 'a o loo tofafa i tia which is reference to "forbears who are sleeping in their graves". When you dig graves, you are disturbing the sleep of the dead and you have to ask pardon.

I want to underline the point about asking pardon. The word for purification in Samoan is faalanu. Literally, it means cleansing by asking pardon (Pratt 1977). I was a member of a Samoan party which visited Whakatane in New Zealand in 2003 and was taken by our host Pouroto to an old Maori pa dating from the late twelfth century. On our way back, one of our party saw an avaava-a-aitu plant or in Maori kawakawa, and she said "I want to pluck some leaves". Another of our party said, "No you shouldn't. This is tapu ground and you have to ask Pouroto's permission." She then asked permission and so Pouroto launched into a chant which is faalanu before we could pluck leaves. You are breaking tapu in plucking leaves and therefore you have to ask for pardon.

Furthermore, when you cut down a tree, the word in Samoan is oia. The word oia is derived from the word oi which means cry in pain presupposing that the tree suffers pain and a tree has a life and a soul (Pratt 1977). The core of Samoan spiritual life is the tapu relationship between Man and his environment. The greatest threat to Man's survival today is the threat to the ozone layer. Sometimes one wonders whether the solution of the ozone problem is recognition by Man of the tapu relationship between Man and trees, Man and rocks, Man and rivers, Man and the sea, Man and the elements. Thus, in Polynesian belief, before breaking tapu Man must reflect on the break to that spiritual bonding.

Liutofaga

The next question was, if we were to find human remains, what are we going to do with them? In other words, what are the appropriate processes and/or methods for dealing with the remains? We concluded that it would be the process for a secondary burial, in Samoan liutofaga. Liutofaga means changing the resting quarters (Pratt 1977). In Samoa, one of the essential ingredients for performing liutofaga would be sandalwood and sandalwood leaves. This is evidenced in the Samoan, word for funerals falelauasi, meaning...

SAMOAN HISTORY & CULTURE

History of the Marquesas