Finding Turtle Island

1 Chapter 1 - Vision of a Birdman Prince There was a woman named Shanawdithit who died in 1829. Her death marked the complete genocide of the Beothuk nation on present day New Foundland (Great Big Sea, 1999; Inglis, 1828). Her memory must be carved upon our hearts, lest we forget an entire nation’s sacrifice.

The original inhabitants of Easter Island nearly experienced the same fate (Métraux, 1957; Routledge, 1917). Their ancient Indigenous writing system deciphered for the first time in the novel ‘Finding Turtle Island’ (Dansereau, 2011), inspired this fictional narrative of a boy named Hotu-iti. 1

I am Hotu-iti, an orphan adopted among the princes of Easter Island, a land remote and far from my first home. Many nights I dream of flying off this island. I rise high enough to see many lands across the earth.2 From the wisdom of the elders, I recall that life’s journey may take us down a path that appears unreal. It is then that our dreams become our reality and help bring back harmony to our lives. I travel out to the moon and back to earth. I descend back down upon my tiny refuge and turtle-shaped island called, Te Pito te Henua, the Naval of the Earth.3 Toward this paradise isle, the stars of my ancestors fly with me and are swept like a broom by the rays of dawn. We float together over the head of my motherland and sweep past the graves upon the sands of Hanga-tuuhata4 where stand the greatest stone moai statues of the temple Ahu Tonga-riki.

2 We fly across from the shore to the volcano quarry, Rano Raraku. Here my people have hewn gravestone monuments for these ancestors to be honoured. These statue moai stand 15 to 30 feet tall to catch the rays of dawn. In many of our stories, the moai giants come to life and are the brothers of our trickster hero, named Maui5. The moai statues were born to life when carved in the volcano.

Figure 2: Map of Easter Island6 (Illustrated by Dansereau, 2011).

quarry. They travelled out of the volcano to complete their journey by being raised up in

rows upon the ahu temple platforms.

There is a story7 told of our trickster hero, named Maui. There was a family of giants who lived among the stars. A certain star father and star mother had a child named Maui. They were part of the three-finger clan of star giants. One day, the mother noticed a grey hair on the head of the father. She cried at the thought that her husband was aging,

3 so the father asked his son Maui to go down to earth and find the magical egg containing the secret to life ever after.

His mother bid him well, “I can only offer you one thing for your journey. It is a clue about a great horn that will point the way to this magical egg.” 8 His father had this to say, “You may find some of your brothers down on the earth. If you see any while searching for the egg, bring them back with you to the stars of heaven. But only the brothers who have completed their journey to the sacred platforms can come to the stars. If you bring the others before they are ready, it will cost you your very life!”

So Maui went down to the earth, which was covered in water. He swam a vast ocean for many days and nights. Finally, Maui came to a place upon the waters. This place he called the End of the Earth, Te Pito o te Henua.

Maui looked around the island for the magical egg. He noticed there were many statues raised up on platforms around the edge of the island, but he had no idea where to find this egg until he heard some birds calling. Following the calls, he reached a certain hill that he climbed. At the top was a great circular crater of the volcano, Rano Kao. After nearly falling in, Maui regained his balance and quickly staggered around the sharp edge of the volcano. To the south, he could see a great horn rising out of the sea.

“That must be the great horn my mother said would point the way to the magical egg containing the secret of life ever after,” thought Maui.

He dove down into the sea and swam around the horn. Seeing the magical egg on the other side, Maui reached out with his giant hand of three fingers to pick up the egg of everlasting life. 9

4 When he brought the egg back to the island of the statues, he noticed that all the statues on the island came to life. So he called all the moai statues into a circle to gaze upon the magical egg.

Immediately, all 288 moai that were raised up on the sacred ahu platforms ran to the circle of Maui. They marvelled at the magical egg, but also at Maui, who was a giant of 70 feet tall.

Maui said, “You are here in my circle because you completed your journey. Well done brothers of Maui raised up.”

“What about the seven?” The moai of the platforms pointed to the seven moai in front of the ancient village, “They were delayed by the construction of the village for all of us to live.”

Maui kindly replied, “Go get the brothers of Maui in front of the village! There is still room in the circle.”

Once in the circle, the seven moai from in front of the village said, “What about the moai beside the pathways, who were delayed while giving us directions?”

Maui answered with a friendly smile, “Go get the brothers of Maui beside the pathways! There is still room in the circle.”

Once the circle was settled, the moai from beside the pathways said, “What about the 136 moai outside the volcano, who were busy helping us down to the pathway?”

Maui generously insisted, “Go get the brothers of Maui outside the volcano!

There is still room in the circle.”

Once the 136 moai outside the volcano were in the circle, these moai spoke up in their turn, “Please, do not leave our 104 brothers who are not yet fully carved on the

5 outside of the volcano. They were busy pointing out the pathways, which only they could see from their vantage point high upon the volcano.”

Maui responded with great concern: “Unfinished!? We must work hard to complete their work against the outside of the volcano, so they too can rise with the egg of life.”

So the 288 moai raised up on the platforms, the 202 moai beside the pathways, and the 136 moai outside the volcano began to work diligently at completing the moai statues fixed to the outside of the volcano quarry. It was the seven moai in front of the village that instructed the others in carving out the 104. As the carving intensified, so did a quaking increase from the volcano. At first it was slight, but as the statues began to detach from the volcano greater rumblings occurred. The scene developed into a frightful commotion of carvers anxiously trying to free their brothers before the volcano erupted.

Even Maui was furiously assisting those who were released down the slope of the volcano.

Just when the last moai statue was carved from outside the volcano, the largest earthquake opened a crack clear across the volcano crater. To the shock of these valiant brothers another 157 moai inside10 the volcano crater could be seen now reflecting the fearsome light of the molten rocks rolling and bubbling below.

Even Maui wept at the sight of 46 moai inside the crater refusing to leave their 111 unfinished brothers. Would they chip them away before the impending eruption?

Maui frantically looked around at his many brothers inside and outside the crater, knowing they were all certain to perish. He turned to the moai outside the crater and commanded them to leave with the egg of life to his star father in the sky. Against their

6 nature, they were all swept up into the sky. Then the seventy foot tall Maui entered the volcano and reached across the gaping crevasse, holding it secure even as his back opened with the wounds of the fiery blows. The 46 moai inside the crater made good use of their precious moment of time and freed all 111 moai statues even as the volcano began a most violent eruption. Over the edge fled the 157. They ran along the paths to the outlying coast of this turtle-shaped island on the waters. Upon the platforms they turned their backs to the sea to gaze upon the volcano where the brother who saved their life was now glowing red as the setting sun. With the quaking down came the rocks on the height of the volcano’s east rim, filling in the void and fixing Maui, our hidden friend, in the tomb-like crater. The final sound of the earth closing over the volcano was like the call of a great Tavake bird.

Such was the life of our ancestors in their journey to enlightenment. These are the models we follow all over this Turtle Island, until it is our turn to reach up to the stars.

To honor these moai ancestors, we have a very sacred ceremony called the Birdman Egg Hunt or Tangata-manu. It begins at the first signs of spring11 with the most colourful and festive procession up to the great island volcano, Rano Kao. On the peak of this volcano our tohunga priests enter the sacred stone houses of the ceremonial Orongo village.12 Atop the houses, the princesses and princes of each clan dance and sing the most sacred chants offered for a successful egg hunt. In the stone houses, the tohunga priests recite the chants from the Easter Island tablets, called Kohau Rongorongo. It is only the priests who know how to read the hieroglyphs from these sacred boards.

7 Then the race begins at the 46 stone houses of Orongo, where the contestants are painted white with the dye of the sacred pua root. Then they descend down the 1000 foot cliff into the ocean with a floating bundle of reeds in order to make the two mile swim to Motu-nui, the island of the Tavake bird’s spring nesting. If the current is strong and the seas are high, some of the contestants will drift out to sea and be lost, or they may attract the sharks, if they cut themselves on the rocky descent. Those that make it to the island will sleep in the narrow cave, until the first egg appears in the nest.

The one who finds this egg has the honor of crowning his own clan leader as king of Turtle Island for one year. This winner is shaved bald and given the house of honour, called Orohie, at the quarry where the statues were fashioned. 13 Being bald, he remains a young cooing chick, fed by a clan tohunga for the entire year, as an ancient chant declares: A land with a strange language is Kahiki….

One kind of men is in Kahiki – the Haole (white men); He is like a god, I am like a man….

By morsels was the food; Picking the food with a noise like a bird, Listen, bird of victory!

Hush! With whom the victory?

With Ku indeed. 14

8 Turtle Island’s ceremony starts with the tablet chants, continues with the finding of the first egg, and ends with the birdman mimicking the formation of the island statues at the volcano quarry. 15 This ceremony allows our people to follow the journey of enlightenment made by our ancestors, who are represented in the statues on the platforms decorated with shining white eyes. It is these statues that our ancestors use as stepping stones to the stars. So these platforms are the most sacred locations on the island, where offerings are carried to heaven and bountiful gifts are showered down in abundance from our Creator. 16 Our statues are lined in rows to represent harmony as the tying together of all things across our island and among our people: the ancestors of the starry sky are tied to the stones of the earth; the stones to our feet; our feet to our dance; our dance to our chants; our chants to our stories that nourish us with our feasts from birthing to the grave.17 But even in the grave there is hope, since Maui, our Lord of Life, stands with us on the birdman perch of Orongo. He is the statue of our hidden friend, Hoa-hakanana’ia, buried halfway inside one of the stone houses. 18 He is our most powerful spirit medium.

For while all the other statues must wait on the platforms, Hoa-maui, is one day going to fly to the otherworld from this perch. It is then that the message of Orongo will be truly heard and all the stones will cry out that which has been muted over the ages.

The most sacred carving of Rongorongo writing is found on the back of this Maui-hoa-hakanana’ia statue. Perhaps one day you will be permitted to glance at this mystery carving, but for now it is tapu. 19 One day a child will come and raise this

9 restriction in order to teach us that only the Creator can rightly judge the human heart, which as a bird soars only with freedom. 20 In knowing the value my people hold in finding the first egg, I cannot express my joy and wonder at the climbing to the top of the volcano, Rano Kao, to Orongo village with the victory egg of the Tangata-manu. My tohunga elder came to me and placed a tablet carved with the sacred chants within my hands. I trembled at the weight of responsibility and wonder of such a gift. The tohunga translated the line on the tablet in which he prayed for me. It was the first prayer of three that I must understand in order to be enlightened by the ways of our ancestors. These ways teach us how to be productive members of the island.

Figure 3: The Life Cycle of the Soul into Harmony21 (Wikipedia; Rongorongo.org, Dansereau 2011)

In this first prayer, we make a passage away from the land of our own demise.

This passageway of the birdmen is to journey into the underworld of the dead. In this void, we find our hidden friend who went before us to give us the power of the original migration canoe. This power is used to break through the formidable waves that

10 surround our island of death in order to pull with all our hearts to the paradise of Turtle Island. The return of the first egg is a sign of this victory over death by the overwhelming harekura wisdom and mana power that is great enough to unite us with the spirits of the ancestors beyond this life. 22 The tohunga explained how these sacred carvings are the same as those written on the back of the moai statue, Hoa hakanana’ia, our friend hidden in the Orongo stone house where the priest prays the tablets for a successful egg hunt.

Figure 4: Sacred Stone Prayer House of Orongo Village23 (Illustrated by Dansereau, 2010).

I paused with a tablet of my own to enjoy this amazing egg-hunt victory: the sounds of festive Rongorongo chants; the colors of the warriors, their tattoos and power oars; the beauty of the princesses with the reimiro tablets of royalty; and the journey past the six miles of stone-walled gardens scented with fresh soil and seeds sprouting into the

11 tender hues of green leading finally to the Rano Raraku Orohie fasting house. Here I was in the 10th heaven or Rangi-rehua, just turning twenty, in the year-long fasting house of the winning birdman. It is the sacred place where all of the senses become accustomed to silence, so that my sixth sense could perceive the enlightened ways of the ancestors.24 It was during this time of stillness that I reflected on my childhood. I was taken back as far as I can recall. It was before I was orphaned on this island, to when my original clan fled from our island at war. Under Chief Tawhaki, with our double-hull canoe, we were the clan of the trading wayfinders, the experts on the sea. So it was not unusual for us to embark out to sea. But it was on this occasion that I sensed, even though I was a four-year-old child that leaving the island in our canoe under the secrecy of dawn meant sure death if discovered by the other clans.

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Chapter 1 Notes 1. Consider the narrative as a metaphor for our current ecological crisis. Using the italics at the beginning of each chapter is an attempt to assist in understanding this relationship between Indigenous history, mythology and our current relationship with the land. “We are part of nature. Ultimately nature will always be more powerful than us, despite all our knowledge, technology, and super-weapons. If the Earth’s average temperature increases by two or three degrees centigrade more than the pre-industrial level, we will trigger a hostile climate breakdown” Dalai Lama (Stanley, Loy & Dorje, 2009).

2. Dreams are highly regarded in Indigenous world-view (Soup, 2011). When life’s journey takes us down a path that appears unreal, our dreams become our reality and they help bring back harmony to our lives.

3. Te Pito te Henua: The Naval of the Earth is the original name of Easter Island (Rapa Nui). Henua, meaning earth, is a play on the word, Honu, meaning turtle. Therefore, The Naval of the Turtle is a plausible mythic name used by the early ancestors who regarded their island as the source of life, Turtle Island (Churchill, 1912; Du Feu, 1996; Tregear, 1891). All Polynesian dialectic definitions are taken from Tregear unless the notes below state otherwise.

4. In Polynesian funerary rites, the sands of the shore are placed over the torso of the deceased. Tane Manawa, the Heart of Tane is so big, it is the ocean itself and all the sands of the sea are his gizzard stones that wash us clean when we die (Monberg, 1966; Taylor, 1855; Tregear, 1891).

5. Maui: this Polynesian trickster deity’s name literally means ‘life’ (Tregear, 1891).

6. All pictures are illustrated by Dansereau, 2011 excluding the Rongorongo script, which is from Wikipedia and belongs to the public trust. The Map includes locations of important sacred sites and clans in the narrative (Barthel, 1978; Chauvet, 1935; Pinart, 1877).

7. Storytelling: a primary means of passing on knowledge and values from Indigenous wisdom-keepers to their children and grandchildren (Black Water, 2009). Indigenous story-telling weaves the natural environment into the identity of the clan’s youth. Deified tricksters offer Indigenous stories a voice of wisdom intended to protect creation and maintain harmony among all things (Black Water, Weasel Fat & Wolf Child, 2010). This particular story of the Polynesian trickster hero, Maui, is designed and placed here by the author to tie together an understanding of the tablets, the statues and the Egg Hunt ritual from an Indigenous point of view (Dansereau, 2011; Routledge, 1917).

8. Motu-kaokao (Literally: The Island Needle) is the island shaped like a horn protruding out of the water and situated between Easter Island and the islet of the Birdman Egg Hunt (Métraux, 1940). Broader Polynesian mythology has Maui-tikitiki raised in the top-knot of his mother, Taranga, who threw him in the sea with her topknot, plausibly the horn shaped island (Tregear, 1891) 9. Motu-nui is the island where the Tavake birds lay their eggs for the Egg Hunt Ceremony. This island is shaped like a hand with three fingers, as if belonging to a giant birdman. The next little island is called Motu-iti and resembles an egg. Motu-nui, the hand, appears to be reaching out to Motu-iti, the egg and drawing it back to Easter Island (Métraux, 1940; Routledge, 1917). This sort of association of land forms into Polynesian story is very common and serves the purpose of weaving the identity of the islanders into the land itself (Beckwith, 1970). In a Hindu creation story, the Brahma or the enlightened one is fashioned from an egg, where the Creator “first created the waters (narah)… and then a seed; he flung the seed into the waters, and it became a golden egg which had the splendor of the sun. From the egg came forth Brahma, Father of All. Because Brahma came from the ‘waters’, and they were his first home or path (ayana), he is called Narayana” (Mackenzie, 1985, p. 101).

13 10. Broader Polynesian mythology identifies the locations of the moai statues of Easter Island when they describe Maui and his brothers, Maui-roto, Maui-waho, Maui-taha, Maui-mua and Maui-pae; literally Maui-inside, Maui-outside, Maui-beside, Maui-in-front-of and Maui-raised-up-on-platform. Moai, the name of the statue, then, is just an alternate form of Maui (Coleman, 2007; Tregear, 1891; van Tilburg, 1994). The statues represented standing up rods or tiki mediums of the deified ancestors (Tregear, 1904).

11. Spring is in August-September, since Easter Island is located in the Southern Hemisphere (Eyrand, 1864-66).

12. Inside the volcano, Rano Raraku, are 46 finished stone moai statues. The number corresponds with the 46 contestants chosen each year to enter the Tangata-manu Birdman Egg Hunt; Just as there are 46 stone houses upon Orongo village atop the volcano, Rano Kao, where the tohunga recite the prayers carved on the Rongorongo boards of the Easter Island tablets. There are 111 unfinished stone moai inside the volcano, Rano Raraku, corresponding with the 111 birdman carvings on stone atop Rano Kao (Routledge, 1917; van Tilburg, 2007). That is, the 46 tohunga priests can recite the tablets in prayer for the 111 birdmen contestants, since the tohunga are ‘finished’ have completed their instruction in the rites of the sacred tablets and the harekura school of the wisdom keepers. Remarkably, on Easter Island after colonial slave raids and Small Pox took their toll, there were 111 survivors who enabled Rapa Nui to continue as an island people (Fischer, 1997; Routledge, 1917).

13. The race begins at Orongo, the Listening Place, atop Rano Kao, and the race is completed at Orohie, the bird cooing or Calling Place, at the base of Rano Raraku. The winning birdman is shaved bald just like the moai statues inside the quarry, Rano Raraku. The egg is consumed by the new king. It contains the mystical life-force of the entire island for that year (Routledge, 1917).

14. Fornander, 1969, p. 388. This Hawaiian chant of Kuaii includes a description of Kahiki or Eastern Land. Since Hawaiian and Rapa Nui dialects are similar and Rapa Nui was settled before Hawaii, it is plausible that this Hawaiian chant contains a memory of the Birdman Egg Hunt of Rapa Nui, together with its location to the east (Kahiki), its strange written language, the men painted white with pua root dye, and the victory birdman fed morsels while immersed in chanting prayers at Orohie.

15. Rano Raraku, the volcano quarry where the statues were carved, can be likened to a nest of chicks or turtle hatchlings. A spiritual parallel is drawn by the young person in need of the food of enlightenment in order to complete the journey from the volcano quarry (111 unfinished and 46 finished moai), along the several mile pathway (moai appear a milestones along each pathway) and standing up on the platforms of enlightenment (288 moai). There are a total of 887 statues (van Tilburg, 1994). Enlightenment to the sacred knowledge of the tablets comes after fasting for 15 days from the tattooing ceremony at the rising of the star Vega (Edwards, 2010) to the finding of the first egg. The egg is returned to one of the 24 tohunga singers of the chants in the stone harekura temples of Orongo village (Kirby, 2008) where the moai statue, Hoa-hakanana’ia, can be found (van Tilberg, 1994). The Tangata-manu then lives at Orohie, Rano Raraku, to begin the chronicle of his life’s journey toward the 288 moai ancestors already standing on the temple platforms (Métraux, 1957; Routledge, 1917).

16. Statues, stones and canoes are used across Polynesia as grave markers of great chiefs or faithful tohunga priests. These monuments are considered Standing-up Rods, where the spirit of the deceased ancestor uses the grave marker as a medium to transfer prayers to heaven and heavenly gifts back to earth (Taylor, 1855). The tohunga priest who learns all the prayers and transmits them is called a wananga medium after he dies (Tregear, 1891). These wananga were called upon to protect the islanders from harm.

This Standing-Up Rod was the connect between Avatea (Sky) and Whatahotu (Earth) in Polynesia; in ancient India the one who descends from the sky is called the Avatar (Coleman, 2007). The first Avatar is the fish, Matsya who carries Manu, the Hindu Noah (Mackenzie, 1985). Hotu Matua is the first Avatea of ancient Easter Island. Is then Hotu Matua the first Tangata-manu, or Birdman?

17. The Tangata-manu ceremony has more feasting, dancing, chanting and dress than any other time of year (Métraux, 1957; Routledge, 1917). Such Indigenous ceremony is meant to tie together the meaning of

14 our existence from before birth to eternity; to weave our identity into the land; from the land to the afterlife in the Underworld represented by the ocean in Polynesian mythology (Beckwith, 1970). In this underworld the deceased spirit is washed or purified in order to transport their spirit forever to the ancestral home of the stars of the Milky Way, called Ikaroa (the Great Fish) in Polynesia (Tregear, 1891). The Blackfoot call this ancestral home of the Milky Way, the Wolf’s Trail or the Buffalo Trail, (Black Water, Weasel Fat & Wolf Child, 2010).

18. To give power to the birdmen as they swim, the tohunga priests recite the chants inside the Orongo village ceremonial houses. The leading tohunga recites the tablets in the Orongo house where the statue, Hoa-hakanana’ia, with the carvings on its back is half buried (British Museum.org; Routledge, 1917; van Tilburg, 2007).

19. Tapu: a sacred restriction (Tregear, 1891).

20. The tangata-manu birdman is chosen from the dreams of the tohunga. This birdman’s race to capture the first egg is a rite of passage to carve out his identity and character. The entire island shares in that rite by uniting their everyday activities to the egg itself, which contains all the life-force of the island for that year (Métraux, 1957; Routledge, 1917).

21. Notice the character with the circular left foot.

This resembles the Aztec sun god, Smoking Mirror – Tezcatlipoca, who lost his left foot in the underworld gate, which was replaced by a mirror. The mirror is the instrument used by ancient Central American priests to reflect the burning light of the Creator back to the sky, thus, the burning or smoking mirror (Coleman, 2007). The name of this figure on the Easter Island tablets is ‘tupo’, from TU, stand + PO, ball = tupo, meaning ‘grave or tomb’ (Dansereau, 2011 – see Ten Chants for a comprehensive decipherment of Easter Island chants). In the Blackfoot Sweat-lodge of the Solar Sky Father, Scarface becomes the mirror reflection of Morning Star, child of the Sun and Moon (Reichard, 1921; Black Water, Weasel Fat & Wolf Child, 2010). Smoking Mirror of the Aztec loses his foot when he steps on the lower jaw of the underworld alligator tearing it off. The Norse god, Vidar, the Silent One, does the same to the jaw of the underworld wolf. The upper jaw symbol on the Easter Island tablets represents the rising sun which swallowed the Great Flood of the Birdman, Tangata-manu (Manu also being the Hindu Noah); the lower jaw appears as a flaming moon translated as Rei, to tread upon (Coleman, 2007; Cotterell, 1999; Hamilton, 1988).

22. An Indigenous understanding of death from a Mi`kmaq woman: ‘...our people…. are very accepting of death and as far as I can see they view it as part of the natural process. Life and death are one, they`re inseparable. I think this comes from our closeness with nature. We understand nature because we observe it’ (Robinson, 2005, p. 102). Malidoma Somé of the Dagara in West Africa writes, ‘In the ritual, one has to have participants that are invisible and can actually produce results that are unexpected. And because we take the risk or the initiative of putting a request to the spirits to intervene in our affairs, their coming turns our activity (ceremony) into a ritual. It still means that we as individuals play a central role in making rituals happen (Somé, 1993, p. 33).’

23. Figure 4: Sacred stone harekura of Orongo. The perspective of a tohunga priest reciting a Rongorongo tablet in the sacred ceremonial harekura of the Hoa-hakanana’ia statue at sunset. The tablet is to the lower left. A rock carving of the mythical Tangata-manu with egg is in the lower right. The mirror image of the deified spirits of Rongo ma Tane is painted onto the ceiling of the Orongo stone house. This mirror image is the model for developing the identity of the true human being, whose broken soul can mirror the image of the Creator within. It represents one who is authentic to the highest ideals envisioned in the bird.

Attaining this twin-bird image is akin to enlightenment and is called by the Maori, hau paa-hau (Routledge, 1917; Tregear, 1891; van Tilburg, 2007).

24. Indigenous fasting ceremony: experiencing fasting rites are expected of every Indigenous youth, males in particular. Such rites include the sweat lodge or the vision quest, which are intended to cover or ‘kill’ the senses in order to awaken the sixth sense of perception. This perception might manifest itself in visions, dreams or an inner light that makes it possible to see the spiritual realities and values at work in the spiritual realm. On these occasions animal totems may be assigned to the individual (Black Water, Weasel

15 Fat & Wolf Child, 2010). The Creator uses this animal totem to express a value expressed in the nature of the animal (eg. The eagle’s value is perseverance in soaring above obstacles) and serves as a model and guide for the person in his or her own quest to live out that value in his or her daily ‘belonging’ activities (hunting, fishing, net-making, gardening, etc).

16 Chapter 2 – Vision of a Wayfinder Like Hotu-iti, all humanity belongs to this paradise of Turtle Island, which is a sustainable earth.

The Lakota Chief Crazy Horse said that in the seventh generation his people would return (Ahba Haven, 2011). Now is that seventh generation, and the voice of Indigenous peoples are crying out to a world suffering from lack of harmony with the environment. A Hopi prophesy states, “When the earth is dying there shall arise a new tribe of all colours and all creeds. This tribe shall be called The Warriors of the Rainbow and it will put its faith in actions not words.” (Manataka American Indian Council). Who can be a Rainbow Warrior? Anyone indigenous to Mother Earth.

I remember that morning before dawn, being carried by my father through the palms. The starry sky was brighter than the earth.1 When we reached the shore, the sand was a soft dusky white, and the whitecaps were all I could see and hear from the water.

My mother held me as a fire was struck and my father fetched a fish with a net from the sea. Our priest struck the double-hull canoe with a branch which was then lit in the fire of our first-fish offering. The burning branch was waved at the stars of the ancestors in order to sweep them toward the dawn. In this way, our ancestors are honoured with enlightened rays of the sun and in return will offer us a safe journey at sea.

We pushed off the shore as the surrounding clans came out of the palm trees with their spears. We did not use our own spears against our kin who were sending burning javelins our way. Our traditions taught us to do no harm to the islands left behind in the wake of our canoe.

My mother, Kore, held me tight to calm my nerves. We were safe at sea and Chief Tawhaki raised his staff of authority against the island we were leaving and turned, while pointing toward a new homeland to the east. He soon pointed the staff to the left and right with the cries of the Canoe of Rata rowers timing chant.2

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When we reached the breaking waves of the surf, everyone held onto the canoe and my mother tucked under with me snuggled tightly in her grasp. We rose on the first breaker with a solid thud and collapsed onto a higher surf. I was jolted like the stick that hit our canoe. The warriors rowed with sharp quick digs into the sea until we were assaulted by the next breaker.

“Down!” cried the chief.

The canoe rose with a thud and a collapse onto a higher surf. Again we dug in our oars to make distance on the reef. There are moments when you know you are in danger, even when you are too young to know all things. And this next breaker, the largest we would meet, presented me with one of those moments. The jolt knocked me out of my mother’s arms. Her scream struck me with twice the fear of the falling into the surf. I remember all things at that moment of tumble: the red sky of dawn; the dim crowd on the shore; the still waters of the lagoon; the giant wave we were atop; the colors of the coral below and its darting fish; the canoe and all its riggings; the entire clan huddled in safety with terror on their faces toward me. And I saw my mother and father reaching out to me, but I was in the water.

Yet, my father, Rangi-nui, was a great man in all things, especially fishing. He was halfway under the water with me. Then I was back in the safety of my mother’s

18 arms. The next breaker was lighter than the last, as was the next and after defeating one more wave we were high on the sea. Even the chief expressed a waning sigh of relief acknowledging my father’s greatest catch of a boy pulled up out of the sea.

The chief exclaimed, “Like Maui, the shapeshifter, your son is both a boy and a fish.” There was laughter throughout the canoe and then off again we went on the pathway for the canoe.

Gnau, gnau, gnau, gnau-waho The Canoe of Rata rowing chant continued3:

I listened to the Canoe of Rata chant as it weaved our own canoe across the Ocean. Our chanting united us with Rata; Rata with the oars; the oars with the water; the spray to our skin; through our skin into our souls; and our souls to the ancestors.

E ara rakau e!

A pathway for the canoe!

E ara rakau e!

A pathway for the canoe!

E ara inano e4

A path of sweet scented flowers.

We call the east, Tahiti, and this is the direction we were heading. I gazed at the pathway of the rising Sun upon the waters and recalled our stories these shining waves to the enlightened pathway for the spirit canoe of our ancestors, the Canoe of Rata.

19

Our tohunga lit a ball of incense with the clan fire and waved it around in circles at the Sun, which danced on the horizon to the rise and fall of our canoe.

With my face to the dawn I closed my eyes. All was warm and bright here in my mother`s arms, in our double canoe, on the sea and before our ancestors enlightened pillar of the sky. I could here the rowers powding to the beat of the drum and surf and song and it was here that I knew I belonged.

Though the sea was vast and high as the sky itself, my wayfinding clan settled with a calm we only felt at sea. During our first meal at sea there was joy, trickery and a sense of safety amongst everyone. When the sea was calm, the youth entertained the children in the central house of our double-hull canoe. We were taught string games and chants that would become part of important passage rites into adulthood. The string games included stories about the houses in the night sky and the ancestor stars who occupied each house.5 Each string game was associated with a star house and a tattoo design. Every family was given a few of these houses to tattoo on their bodies. Our

20 stories associated these houses in the sky with mythical heroes, such as Hina, the Moon Maiden and her son, our Lord Maui who noosed the sun to give the earth light and life.

To serve our island groups, an occupation was chosen for our clan. We were fortunate to be given the wayfinding trade for transporting goods from island to island across the sea. I was old enough to swim and young enough to wonder at all things. I marvelled at the wisdom of my parents. My mother, Kore, knew not only these string games and their chants, but also all the stories of Maui, Rata, Hina, Tawhaki, Nuku and Kui.6 These stories of our legendary heroes and gods captivated me and drew me to understand the workings of the waves, the clouds and the stars. My father, Rangi-nui, knew all the chants of the flame tossing dances and how to feed and protect us on land and at sea. Chief Tawhaki was strong, but not as composed as our elder, Turi. Yet none were as wise and mysterious as our wayfinder, Kui, atop the perch of the canoe. She was graced with years expressed regally in the greyness of her hair. She spoke very little, and with an endearing whistle, due to her missing teeth. As our guiding wayfinder, Kui faithfully spent all her time watching waves and sky, but she always had a great smile for me. So much did I love her that I felt we were the same, and she was as young as I, though her hair was grey. This devotion compelled me to learn all the words she said, especially the chants. When she chanted the ancient songs, I could sometimes see the ancestors dancing around her in the sky. There were fewer of these visions now as I grew from an infant into a child. The adults were not always ready to believe what a child perceives, and so my family thought I was just being a trickster like my uncle, Rapa. But Kui understood all of my dreams and visions.

21 How did Kui know so much of sky and sea both day and night? I believed she was from above, since she knew all things about our ancestors the stars. For weeks there was no land, but our wayfinder, Kui, knew at all times where we were on the earth. She knew where we came from and where we were heading. She could see in her mind under the horizon where all the islands were every day of the year. She understood the rising and falling of the sun, the moon, and the 32 star houses. If there were clouds, she could count up to eight wave swells on the sea at any time. On her perch she slept no more than two hours per day, and only in short naps so we would not lose our way. Even when she was very ill and slept for too long one night, the men carried her down to place her legs in the water. Within minutes she knew where we were by the way the great ocean current spoke to her. She tapped her stick and winked with her right eye to touch the course just a little to the right and the left eye for a little left. If we were more off course than usual, she would call, “Maui!” meaning ‘left’. I was given to understand that Maui tricked us, so that we would be off course more than a wink. But when she spoke his name all would laugh and race to set us straight to course again. Her knowledge and confidence on the sea convinced me that we were safe, even safer than on the land. From my infancy I came to understand what she knew a little more each day, as my parents would leave me with her to teach me to wade in the tidal pools. It was in these tidal pools that I learned how the sea could speak to me. This was the life of a wayfinder, since my father was from a wayfinder’s clan, and that was my identity as well.

There was no sense of time during my life on the sea. Day was about the sun pleasing my skin and the salt seawater soothing my feet. My legs swayed in the ocean current where many sea creatures swam. I could see a very long way down in the water

22 where the largest fish appeared small enough to catch them between finger and thumb. I could not imagine counting the many fish below. They swam in their schools with various colors and sizes, some as giant as the canoe. A company of dolphins remained with us for many days. The day was never long, for it was full of knot tying, Cat’s Cradle, and other games that our joy filled clan would play. Laughter from a loving mother was common. Tricks came from my uncle Rapa, and my father taught me the story of the tying of our sacred clan knot.

Night was full of mysteries I cannot put into words, but I will try. The night sky was bright with our ancestors. It was so bright that only the broom of Tane, the sun’s rays, could sweep them away. 7 We also knew the ancestors were in the sea, since at night the swell was also full of strange glowing lights, many lights. Some were the glowing eyes of the sea creatures, but others lights flashed upon their bodies in all the colors of the rainbow. I was only to fear the great green eyes of the underworld guardian, Wheke, the eight legged. Wheke knew all things of the deep and so was as wise as Maui the eight eyed8, who could see all things. Wheke could feel, even to the very corners of the Underworld. Maui was able to steal the fire from the underworld, since this is what he saw. It was the same fire seen in many creatures beneath the double-hull canoe at night. 9 These creatures would all speak to me in their own way, little by little, to guide me slowly and gently into the wisdom of Wheke, which was too much for me to handle all at once.

Great fear struck the clan when such a large eight-legged appeared with great green eyes larger than a couple of breadfruit10. That is why our wayfinder, Kui, groaned upon her perch, which made the hair stand on the back of my neck. The warriors quickly

23 protected us with spears, fire, and powerful chants against this great green-eyed Wheke. 11 My father, Rangi-nui, approached the face of Wheke with a torch he quickly lit from our eternal flame. My uncle Rapa came to protect my mother and I as the great arms of Wheke reached around the entire double-hull canoe. The Wheke was tilting the canoe back over itself to turn us all into the sea. All the wayfinders instinctively jumped to the far canoe in order to return balance to the canoe. At the commotion, all turned to the Wheke as if to expect a reply. There was a pause at this tug-of-war with two giant green disks looking across at 88 pairs of tiny, wide eyes.

I grasped this moment to take it all in. Here this giant taniwha octopus was causing a paralyzing spell to fall upon us all. I broke the silence when poked by a twoinch claw coming out of Wheke’s foot-wide suction tentacle.

To the bleeding scratch, I trembled out a whispering, “Awhina! Awhina!” 12 At that Rapa, my uncle, jumped high up from the prow and fell down upon the tentacle with the spear. The creatures arm was pierced clear through and it dove into the sea like lightning. Rapa’s desire to keep his spear caused him to fly through the air into the sea out of the reach of our longest oars. This distraction compelled my father to lunge at the face of Wheke, piercing its eye with a flaming torch. Wheke released us and tumbled into the deep dark sea. The canoe bounced with persons and provisions piling all around. All attention was now on Rapa swimming with speed and skill to join us on the canoe. The only problem is that the current prevented his advance.

My father cried, “Wheke will take him.”

With a dolphin’s speed, my father jumped across to our canoe. In a single motion, he slashed the throat of one of our provisional pigs, tossed it overboard, tied a

24 rope to his waist and dove in after Rapa. By the time my father reached my uncle, Wheke had accepted the pig offering. Together they swam toward us as other men pulled them into the canoe.

That night I could see its bright green eyes in the distance. One eye was flashing off and on with a wounded wink from my father’s flaming torch. I cannot describe the immensity of pride I felt for my father, whose story would be told for generations to come of the day he caused the eye of Wheke to flash in the night as a warning to all other Taniwha sea monsters to stay well away from our wayfinding canoe. And I truly believed this was the least my elder kin could do who possessed the mana and haka13 of the gods greater than Wheke herself.

Wheke, with all her wisdom, followed us until Tane appeared with the sun to turn Wheke back into the deep to wink at the Table of Rata14 on the bottom of the sea.

A day came when I again heard the fateful groan of Kui as the floating island15 approached our double-hull canoe. It appeared on the horizon as clouds and rushed toward us stirring up a nervous fervour in my clan and tying a knot in my stomach.

My father cried, “It is Wheke returned.”

All the clan responded with a sigh of agreement. But as it drew nearer we could see there were strange men upon it. Kui recited a prayer I had never heard. As the floating island approached, a distressing silence fell upon my clan. My mother held me tight.

Closer and closer the floating island came. In my heart I wished they would go farther and farther away. My eyes were wide open and my ears were on the alert. The men were close enough to hear, with the voice of a strange tongue. Suddenly one with

25 their staffs cast lightning upon us, striking one of our clan who was wielding a spear. It was my uncle Rapa, the trickster of the family. All the clan loved him for his gift of joy.

My father rushed to his side. Rapa’s breathing grew heavy and short as his chest swelled with blood. Rapa sighed, “They are Tiki’s clan of the gods.” My father looked over Rapa’s waning body and with much sorrow cried, “No... not gods, but demons.” With Rapa’s last breath he turned to me and smiled, “Our ancestors, I see them just like my Hotu-iti.”

Then, my father looked up and groaned out in sorrow just in time to receive the butt end of a lightning rod and he was out.

“Matua! Matua!”16 I called in agony. My father, Rangi-nui and my uncle Rapa were my heart and my life, but they were now dead before my eyes. My mother rushed me into the hare house between the canoes and began throwing coconuts out of the hold.

My clan was screaming, thunder was sounding, confusion took hold of me and I felt the pains of the underworld within making me weep and tremble. My mother placed me quickly in the hold and began piling coconuts upon me. I began removing the coconuts my mother was covering me with and tried to reason with her as much as was able for a four-year-old child.

I pleaded in vain, “No, coconuts, no more coconuts, no more floating island, no more thunder-sticks, no more blood, no more coconuts, Papa. 17 Bring Matua and Rapa back to me!”

Mother continued, and I resisted with other words, now pleading with the gods the chant of Maui’s ball game for mana to save us from this hell. 18

26 With eyes full of tears, mother crouched quickly and held me tight, “Maui is coming to save you, my dearest little one. Your papa and matua are walking the pathway to the stars. There we will watch over you to protect and guide you.” Through a veil of tears, she added, “You must believe me my precious son!”

“No pathway” I said, “No coconuts, until we feast again...”

Then the lightning stick reached out to Kui and she fell from her perch above the chief’s canoe. The double-hull canoe was almost completely overtaken and those of my clan captured were already being chained upon the ship to become slaves.

I wept and said, “Take me with you to the stars.”

Mother’s tears fell into my eyes and I closed them tight with the sting. “AtuaMaui19 will come and take you to us by way of another road. And Hina-ngaru20 will watch over you for the many turnings of your life.” Then I was out with a coconut my mother used to put me to sleep and save my life.

When I woke, the double-canoe was empty of staples, the ornaments were broken off and the sail was torn. All the sea was calm from horizon to horizon, without wind or wave. However, my head was throbbing like a spear twisting in my skull. But it was a gift to distract me from the greater pain in my heart, since I was alone with the sea, the heart of Tane. The sea was calmer than I had ever seen. I cried, “Tane Manawa21, still my heart, also!” over and over again. I kept still inside the hold of this double-hull canoe for days.

As the canoe drifted, I came upon a patch of drifting seaweed teaming with tiny creatures. Among them were crabs, shrimp, jellyfish and a school of tiny fish darting about in unison like a group of dancers. Some of the tiny crabs came to live on the deck.

27 I named them after their varying colors and was grateful for their company that soothed my broken heart. They would become my new family, while I drifted on the sea.

Farther on, my canoe rose and fell with each swell and I watched the sun, the moon and the stars, like a true wayfinder. I wept to think that my parents were among these stars, too far away to hold.

Then one night I dreamt of Kui. She was dressed as a great queen and looked so young with all her teeth. She still had her beautiful grey hair.22 She spoke to me many words. Some words I could not understand. But she told me to look for my mother and father shooting across the sky, sometimes alone, sometimes together. She said that in the sea at night the rainbow clan of Nuku would also give me comfort. 23 She also instructed me to eat the flying fish that offer themselves on the deck at dawn. She told me that coconuts crack open when they fight. One night I even woke to the sound of Kui. I was certain she was on the perch. I struggled to get out of the hold, only to find myself alone.

I returned to my shelter despairing as any four-year-old would and wept myself to sleep.

I dreamt of Kui consoling me, over and over again. Without her guidance out at sea, I surely would have died. Other family members comforted me and so I felt safest in my dreams. In one dream, my mother let me fly up high above the canoe where I could see land to the east. Just before I awoke, she said to me, “I have found a new family for you.

Tomorrow you will meet them.�

At sunrise, I shared morsels of flying fish with my pet crabs, and shared with them my incredible dream.24 The reality was that this double-hull canoe was leaning and half swamped. But dreams are meant to alter reality, since up ahead there was an island rising above the morning mist.

28 Upon the island of Rapa Nui, where the canoe wreck had drifted, men of the Miru clan were watching for turtles from a stone house on the coast. After some exciting instructions, a runner was sent to the harekura sacred house of the island king, Hotu-nui.

In moments the entire clan rushed toward the sea. Prince Maui-mua25 reached out upon the wreck to this blonde haired spirit-boy, as they called me.

I gazed in wonder at Maui-mua, for he resembled my uncle who had perished weeks earlier.

“Rapa! Rapa! Rapa!” I called out my uncle’s name and jumped into Maui’s arms. Maui looked to the boy and back to his clan in bewildered wonder. Everyone laughed. I reached back only for the woven line my mother taught me string-games on.

It was on this familiar twine that I learned to tie our clan’s sacred knot using the hints and story my Uncle Rapa gave me. 26 Maui-mua responded to my call, “I’ll be your Rapa, if you’ll be my Tikitawhito27, a Pillar of a Little Man to survive such an ordeal alone at sea.”

As Maui carried me, there was much discussion among the crowd. I tried to make out their words as they spoke in a tongue that was new to me, even in all the wayfinding and trading among the islands. Yet here and there the words were the same. Soon I would discover the similar sounds and speak freely once again. But my heart was broken and it was Maui who would hold it together, though as a stand-in for my uncle Rapa.

29

Figure 5: Fifteen-Foot-Tall Giant Moai Statue at Ahu Tahai (Ilustrated by Dansereau, 2011)

On the walk up the small cliff from the water, there was a giant statue on a sacred platform called Ahu28 Tahai29. The moai statue was a giant of 15 feet. He wore a red hat telling of his status as a great chief and victor in battle. His mouth was carved with a tight-lipped warning in facing death to heed the courageous message of this ancestral spirit. His most striking feature was his eyes inlaid with mother-of-pearl that shone with the brilliance of the dawn. They were the eyes of an enlightened wisdom keeper. As we approached the giant moai, I was struck with awe and fear enough to make the hair stand up on the back of my neck.

We moved past the statue moai and along a path to a small village. I was taken to the chief, where there was much discussion.

30 The matriarch, Hina-nui30, wanted to adopt me into her family, but the chief, Hotu-nui31, felt that such an act might cause the surrounding clans to question the legitimacy of the heirs of his rule. All believed, even his silenced enemies, that Hotu-nui would be counted among the great chiefs and when he died, given a place under the sacred lineage of the gods. But his wife, Hina-nui, had a strong heart and no small voice before the chief. And so, against his concerns, I was adopted under the care of his clan.

Because of this, he treated me harshly, so I learned to fear him greatly. The difficult tasks Hotu-nui gave me, though I was a mere child, would have eventually been the end of me had it not been for the intervention of his eldest daughter, Princess Hina-iti.

She was intelligent like her mother, Hina-nui, and they resembled each other in regal confidence. They knew all the customs, chants, and dances required to teach a clan of high regard. And all the families and the children of the clan followed their lead. The men, however, where preoccupied by the drills of battle and wrestling. This is how it was before my wayfinding clan fled from our island. Maui was skilled in every move of battle and use of weapons. He was the most cunning fighter and found ways to pin those who appeared stronger.

Along with Maui’s resemblance to my Uncle Rapa, it was my clan knot that gave me consolation. I kept tying it over and over again, too fast for any member of the clan to reproduce. The knot was tied in ten stages during a string game while recalling the ascent of Tawhaki to the tenth heaven. Though my new clan members could unravel it, none of them could reproduce the knot without understanding its relationship to the legendary ancestral hero, Tawhaki. And I would not reveal the secret, since it was a sacred tapu of my clan. 32

31 The string game became a wonder to the clans and they began to fear it like a hidden gift from the gods. Maui was too cunning for superstitions and was forever trying to reproduce the knot. He would often hand me the string to watch the game again and again. Then he would try and miss the mark after the first or second stage. His smile against his own frustration taught me to trust him. Maui’s kindness was rivalled by his fierce abilities in battle.

On one occasion two Miru clansmen who were giants in stature approached Maui and a challenge was underway. They were twin brothers named, Hanga and Honga. No one in the clan could come near to pinning them.

Maui jumped up slapping Honga’s knee in laughter, saying, “Well, let’s go, then!”

The two circled one another while all watched with wide eyes. Even Hotu-nui, Hina-nui and her blind grandmother, Iwi, came out to listen to the bout. Word quickly spread and the entire clan was stirring. On the surrounding hills members of other clans stood to watch. This was no ordinary fight. It was a giant against a prince.

Just as they were about to lunge, Maui stopped and said, “Wait!...”

All looked in wonder as it would be uncharacteristic of Maui to bow out of a fight.

Maui continued, “I want to fight the strongest giant! Which of the two of you is stronger?”

Each of them replied, “ME!” Maui said, “I think it is Hanga!”

“No! Honga!” Hina-iti added.

32 That is when Honga and Hanga began to fight each other. 33 This only stirred up more people to gather on the hills until over half of the island was watching the giants fight. Neither of the two believed that the other was stronger. When they collided and tumbled, I could hear the earth shake. People had to move back quickly, as their circle required more room for their tumbles. Hotu-nui motioned men to shove them away from his harekura, which was a sacred house and the greatest sign of a chief’s prestige.

The giants fell into a mound of boulders used for the hot stone ovens. The mound crumbled around them. This struck me with awe and fear, given that I could hardly move one of these boulders at play. As if she sensed my nervousness, Hina-iti drew me back into the doorway of the chief’s house.

When the giants made another loud tumble on some stone-covered thatch, grandmother Iwi shouted, “Owo!” There was an excited buzz rising among the onlookers. The only thing missing for the show was a tasty piece of smoked tuna.

Maui just stood very upright, awaiting the results with his arms folded.

Honga and Hanga would not relent, though their panting was becoming louder and their foreheads were dripping with much sweat.

Another crash, bang, and boom to the ground made the entire crowd shout in support of this activity. From that moment shouts were heard at every blow from an appreciative crowd. This only gave Honga and Hanga a second, third, and fourth wind.

Their fighting was not revealing a winner.

Suddenly, they fell into a crowd of men who were struck down like sticks by the massive giants.

33 After some time at this battle, the two finally appeared to be wearing out. That is when they fell to the ground in a lock to pin the others shoulders. Their sweat had gathered dirt on their faces mixed with blood and bruises. I looked on in fear. At first I thought, “Who could win?” Now the possibility of “Who would win?” made me worry for Maui. His was the only face that I knew, since he resembled my uncle Rapa, and I preferred if that face remained recognizable.

Just as my thoughts returned to the struggle, from over my head flew a great bird, no; a giant kite, no; it was an incredible man. It was Maui. He went up and over the chief’s house, through the air, some 10 feet high and 20 feet across, and onto the shoulders of giants!

The crowds roared as Maui pinned them both.

Maui ran with arms in the air around the circle of spectators and the cheering did not cease for some time. Not even did it cease when it was replaced by a mob chattering in disbelief from the Miru clan and beyond. All consciousness began to wane when Honga and Hanga stood before Maui with red faces firm in rage. Without flinching, Maui looked back at the giants and stepped toward them with a stern smile and both arms out in invitation. Chief Hotu-nui supported his son, Maui, with an abrupt victory cry that caught the attention of the giant cousins.

The giants’ eyebrows simultaneously relaxed and the crowd began to laugh as the two took the hand of Maui. Then even Honga and Hanga began to laugh louder and more prolonged than the entire crowd, until all was silent but the giants. When even they suddenly stopped, all was laughter again and everyone gradually dispersed.

34 Maui’s cunning and courage were among his many qualities I admired. I would forever be seeking his presence for protection from his father, Hotu-nui, who feared my adoption into his clan would contaminate his chiefly lineage. A lineage was a very sacred thing and must be perfect and kept pure lest in battle there were those who were left out just to talk and chatter like cowards.

When the king did harass me, all the others would laugh. If Maui was not around I would endlessly call, “Rapa! Rapa haere haereeeee?” 34 Princess Hina was my only other hope to stop the madness and come to my defence. She scolded even her own father and rebuked her taunting brothers and sisters.

One day the chief was in a particularly foul mood, due to the taunting of another clan in the distance. I thought for sure I would be beaten. When he started at me, I began aimlessly looking around for Maui and Hina-iti, “Maui, haere?... Hina, haereeee?” Then the king stopped to listen to another taunting at my expense: “You’re too old to have children, Hotu?” the Ngatimo clan inquired with a yell.

Maui, who had approached from the house at my call, returned a yell, “Well your face is shaped like a turtles behind!”

The king laughed out in authority and turned away from me back to his mat by the maori earth oven.

The giant twin brothers began to chase those who jeered at us from the Ngatimo clan.

Then there were words in the distance from another clan, Hiti-uiru: “We want a king, not a hen gathering chicks that are not his own!”

35 Maui stood up and yelled, “That sounds so dumb I am going to have to punch you in the face!” He ran with a small group to disperse them.

Again a third clan began from another hill. This time the clan was Koro-orongo of the Hotu-iti tribe,35 and Mata-nui, the archenemy of the chief, was present.

Mata-nui approached and growled in a hoarse powerful voice, “You named him after my tribe?! Do you wish to nullify my lineage also?”

Hotu-nui shoved me toward his brothers’ homes in order to gather our warriors from Marama’s nearby sister clan, Marama Ngaure, while he ran back to stand at the door of our own house to protect his family and lodge.

I ran towards Ngaure desperate to gather support, knowing that if it did not come I would be killed.

The marauders were those concerned with my presence in the clan. They did not want the lineage of the tribe to be tainted by foreign blood. I was meant to be a slave or dead. When his brothers arrived to support the chief, he had already been surrounded.

Many of the men were yelling and lurching toward Hotu-nui in turn. But it said something for his fierce presence that there was no bloodshed, even while he stood alone among them. It also revealed something of Hotu-nui’s character to stand in my defence so as not to cause a division within his own clan who had decided for my adoption. Then the brothers arrived and other clan members joined in the shouting to equal the odds.

But if the marauders would not shed blood, they could at least harm Hotu-nui in another way. Hotu-nui’s house was set on fire. Amid the circle no one saw who it was and the bitter clan cried, “It was a falling star!” and began to run back to their border.

Mata-nui just walked with a defiant grin.

36 The women and children began to rush out of the house one at a time, due to the small door and narrow length. But the wind was catching the length of the lodge and smoke began to billow out of the door. Hina-nui, the favoured wife of the chief, was not coming out. Another said she had stood in the smoke to reach for the sacred hanging tablet. She was found face down embracing and protecting the tablet on the ground. Not a word was burned on the tablet. It was then that I saw Hotu-nui embracing her lifeless body, while lamenting with great cries to heaven.

37 Chapter 2 Notes 1. The stars would give the boy comfort, since they believed the night sky was the abode of the ancestors.

2. The Canoe of Rata is a popular Polynesian mythical story of the deified ancestor Rata who retrieves his father’s bones with a spirit canoe, (Beckwith, 1970; Tregear, 1891). Tui-rangi is also the name of Rata’s canoe. Tuhou is the name of the nine-foot tall giant whose bones were used in sacred ceremony. Tuhou for the first time in Polynesian anthropology is equated here with Wahieroa, Rata’s father. The entire purpose of Rata’s voyage is to retrieve his father’s bones. Therefore, this author/illustrator believes that this canoe timing chant contains the Canoe of Rata story found here on the four Rongorongo tablets of Text A, P, H & Q (Dansereau, 2011; Jaussen, 1893; Olderogge, 1947; Rongorongo.org).

3. In the Canoe of Rata story, Rata cuts down the Sacred Ancestral Tree without the proper permission and it is reassembled chip by chip by the creatures of the forest. Their leader is Tane who gives Rata the proper incantation to fell the tree for the noble purpose of retrieving his father’s bones. The ocean migration chant can go on and on as Rata fells the tree and it is reassembled over and over. Rata is chipping away at the underworld floor of Raro, which is also called the Table of Rata. Once he breaks through the Table, all the souls of the underworld can escape as fish. The sacred tree-top of Raro, is actually the roof top of Rarotonga, the underworld house where the deceased ancestors reside.

4. This genuine Polynesian chant of the Canoe of Rata matches the Easter Island glyphs like a chip off the Rosetta stone. Ra`a Tiki-rangi is the dawn and also represents Tiki, the first enlightened man. The Egyptian equivalent`s name is Ra Atum. According to early New Guinea archeology, a cave writing tells of Egyptian explorers leaving their mark in 300 b.c.e, one whose name was Rata. The first man, named Adam, means Red or dawn, in Hebrew.

5. Polynesian wayfinders used star houses (constellations) to guide them across the sea (Davis, 2009).

6. Maui noosed the sun; Rata felled a tree that kept restoring itself; Hina fled to the moon; Tawhaki climbed a rope to heaven; Nuku and Kui dug tunnels after the great deluge in order to live in the ground (Beckwith, 1970; Tregear, 1891). Each deity of Polynesia had a mythical story that enabled storytellers to pass on values useful to sustaining harmony with the land and between clans. Common elements existed from island to island, with each tribe offering their own unique portion of the story (Armstrong, 2005; Beckwith, 1970; Reichard, 1921). All these story portions together form an epic story that can be gathered from across Polynesia (Dansereau, 2011).

7. Tane was the great bird deity of the sun. Tane used the sun’s rays to sweep the ancestral stars into the sun along its red path on the sea. This ‘Sweeping of the Stars’ is a ritual of the tohunga when they sweep a burning branch at the stars of dawn (Taylor, 1855; Tregear, 1891). The effect is to offer enlightenment to the ancestors in paradise above. Ask for anything at this time. The ancestors are eternally grateful.

8. Maui is a trickster with many names. Indigenous world-view gave infinite ability to their trickster heroes in order to share the Creator’s values in storytelling. Maui the eight eyed is an example of the all-seeing nature of the Creator since the number 8 corresponds to the eight directions (Tregear, 1891).

9. The creatures in the ocean glow at night with various luminous tones upon their skin. For example, the whale shark has spots on its back that glow in the dark; numerous jelly fish species have glowing qualities; as do many deep sea creatures that come closer to the surface at night (Heyerdahl, 1960).

10. Breadfruit: a large fruit used as a dietary staple on many islands of Polynesia. (Métraux, 1957).

11. Mana means power. Wheke means octopus (Tregear, 1891).

12. Awhina! Help! (Tregear, 1891).

38 13. Haka: means strength (Tregear, 1891).

14. The Table of Rata (Laka) is the bottom of the sea where all underworld deceased are held as spirit-fish.

When Maui fished up the islands, he caught the Table of Rata with his hook and broke it open, releasing all the deceased from the underworld (Tregear, 1891).

15. The Floating Island: a name used to describe the colonial ships when first seen by Polynesians, due to their immense size. Hawaiian myth also places the floating island as an inhabitation of the gods and the mythical land between the sky and the earth (Beckwith, 1970).

16. Matua: father (Tregear, 1891).

17. Papa: mother (Tregear, 1891).

18. The Ball Game of Maui: a tattoo soothing chant found on the Easter Island tablets. It might have been used as a string game chant for children to become accustomed to the story. The ball game refers to Mauipotiki being weaned in the topknot of his mother’s hair in order to gain wisdom and perhaps also noosing the ball-shaped sun to offer life (warmth, growth, enlightenment) to the world (Kaulins, 1981; Rongorongo.org; Tregear, 1891).

19. Atua-Maui: Lord Maui, the Polynesian deity who noosed the sun (Tregear, 1891).

20. Hina-ngaru: Loving Hina, goddess of the moon (Tregear, 1891).

21. Tane-manawa: Heart of Tane. The Heart of Tane is believed in early Polynesian lore to be so large that it consists of the entire ocean (Tregear, 1891).

22. Beautiful grey hair: Indigenous elders are regarded with a high level of respect and their grey hair is a sign of the essential wisdom they pass to the next generation. The hair of the goddess Hina was the only rope Maui could use to snare the sun. All other ropes burned in the heat (Tregear, 1891). It makes sense to consider Maui noosing the sun as analogous to enlightenment, which would rely on Hina’s hair as the symbol of wisdom. In the late 19th Century, a cord of hair was wrapped around a Rongorongo tablet as a gift of high honor from Rapa Nui (Routledge, 1917).

23. Nuku or Uenuku: a Polynesian deity of the rainbow associated with the oceanic deluge story and found in a chant on the Easter Island tablets (Tregear, 1891).

24. Dreams: Indigenous wisdom regards dreams as guidance opportunities (Soup, 2011). Whether by animal totems or deceased kin, the Creator has sent them to instruct us during certain crossroads in life.

Small dreams are common and can be ignored, but occasional ‘big dreams’ are to be shared with others (van Gennep, 1960; Black Water, Weasel Fat & Wolf Child, 2010).

25. Prince Maui-Mua: Maui-the-first, or eldest son, named after the Polynesian deity, Maui-potiki (Tregear, 1891).

26. The sacred knot is placed here to mimic the use of the bow of Odysseus and provides a bridge to the west with this epic adventure by Homer. You will find Homer’s writing loaded with Indigenous wisdom, providing the Odyssey is taken beyond its mere entertainment value as a passage-rite intended to transform the life of the young listener of Homer (Albion-Meek, 1957). See footnotes 51, 57 and 58 below.

27. Tiki-tawhito: lit. Pillar of a Little Man or Top-knot Dwarf. A deity of Polynesia regarded as the first deity in human form or the first man. Tiki and Maui-tikitiki are perhaps one and the same trickster deity (Tregear, 1891).

28. Ahu: temple platforms where rows of moai statues are raised-up. These were funerary monuments and so represented spirit mediums of the deceased ancestors buried there (Métraux, 1940). The eyes were inlaid

39 with mother-of-pearl to represent enlightenment in paradise and the lips were tight to remind the living of the seriousness of moment when the Creator calls us through death to live with the ancestors in the stars.

29. The moai statue shown here is a drawing of the one facing Tahai ahu on the western shore of Easter Island. It has a hat or head-dress. The moai average 15 feet in height. The ones on the platforms have flat bases for a solid stance. The moai statues partway burried in the ground on the volcano hillside of Rano Raraku, have bottoms that are wedge or boat shaped to serve to anchor them on the hillside. The area behind these statues is rendered sacred, since these mediums carry the gifts from above behind their backs.

Most of the statues on the the platforms have their back to the sea, rendering the ocean sacred (Barthel, 1978; Métraux, 1940).

30. Hina-nui. lit. Hina the Great. Matriarch of the island and wife of Hotu-nui. In this fictional narrative, the mother, Hina-nui and her daughter, Hina-iti, are named after Hina, the goddess of the moon.

31. Hotu-nui. lit. Hotu the Great. In the novel, Hotu-nui is the chief of Easter Island and the head of the Miru clan. He is named after Hotu Matua, the first ancestor who migrated to Easter Island. The narrator is named Hotu-iti, meaning Little Hotu. The two were actual chiefs of the island during the generation of first contact with Europeans (Métraux, 1957). Their purpose in this story is not intended to be factual, but rather to give context to the Indigenous wisdom found on the Easter Island tablets.

32. The knot of Hotu-iti is placed here much like the bow of Odysseus is used in Homer’s Odyssey, to offer a sacred place for knowledge to be kept and unlocked only by those given that rite of knowledge. It also draws a parallel with Homer’s work, which serves as a bridge to early Western philosophy.

33. Maui tricks the two giants into fighting each other. Essentially, this is the work of Maui in Polynesian lore, to defeat the underworld mythical giants by way of stratagem (Tregear, 1891).

34. Haere: to go (Tregear, 1891). The boy is calling for Maui who looks like his late uncle Rapa.

35. Hotu-iti is the name of the tribe containing the three clans on the east coast of early Easter Island. The name is the same as the name for the child narrator of the story, Hotu-iti, to play on the element that one’s enemy is so much an image of the self as to forever beckon the option of peace.

40

Chapter 3 - Vision of a Mermaid Princess Black Elk, the holyman of the Oglala Souix once said, “Grown men can learn from very little children for the hearts of the little children are pure. Therefore, the Great Spirit may show to them many things that older people miss” (Legends of America, 2003). Global warming has not taken the Creator by surprise. Humanity can forge ahead toward global sustainability with the meekness of children who exchange unproductive worry for creative wonder. The earth can even be called mother, since she nourishes and sustains all creatures. Today the earth is the mother with child, since a new relationship is being born out of the critical need for harmony between humanity and the environment. There is no reason to fear this travail toward that return to harmony and the birth of a new paradise.

Chief Hotu-nui buried his wife with the tablet she had embraced, and the entire island mourned for many days, since she was loved by all. Hotu-nui fell into a severe despair. He no longer carried himself with the same rigor and vitality the island had come to respect.

One day, Maui and Hina-iti tried to reason with their father for the sake of the clan, “Father!? The entire island has mourned for my beloved mother and now I fear they are becoming concerned for you.”

Hotu-nui, hopeless in his thoughts, stared right through his son.

Hina-iti added, “Mother is surely risen to the stars. Father, it is time to celebrate her life and her courage.”

There was nothing more to say, only to wait and see if the curse of death would loosen its hold on the spirit of Hotu-nui. However, each day of despair doubled the courage of his enemies and soon Koro-orongo was taunting Chief Hotu-nui from the surrounding hills.

41 The chief’s mind, full of turmoil, rolled around in his head more ideas of how to make someone pay for his sorrows. Each glance he gave my way made me feel less at ease. It did not help that the tauntings were all about me contaminating the noble lineage of the island. His eldest daughter, Hina, my only support, defended me.

“You never treated people this way before mother died!” she reminded him.

Hotu-nui looked at her with fire in his eyes that could heat an earth oven all year, “You speak of her that way again and I will banish you to the lowest tribe!”

I was soon to pay for her support of me against the chief.

Since the embarrassing confrontation with his daughter, Chief Hotu-nui was in a particularly foul mood. I was keeping myself busy helping prepare the food for the evening umu earth oven feast. I tried my best to avoid the glare of Chief Hotu-nui. His pacing carved no shallow path upon the earth around us. It was then I was gladly sent to fetch water from the spring leading down to the ocean. I brought the water up, which always contained a little salt even after a heavy rain. Then the chief came up to me to test the water I retrieved in a tuna stomach. He grabbed it abruptly and pushed me aside.

I looked around for Princess Hina and called, “Hina, haere?”

The chief howled, “Your mother is across the island gathering the royals for the feast.” He lifted a handful of water out of the bag into his mouth. “This is not fresh water,” he whined, “you pulled it straight from the sea!”

Refraining from direct violence to a child, Hotu-nui commanded me to fetch the water from Rano Kao. The trip down Rano Kao, the biggest volcano lake on Rapa Nui, was dangerous for adults, much less a child. It was very steep and full of snags and thorns. At the bottom there was no safe footing. To add to my fear, legends told it was

42 the pit of the goddess of death. Therefore, I would never dream of going down to the infamous crater lake. Yet, there I was being pushed with my tuna bag towards the edge of the decline.

As a child almost six-years old, I knew enough of passage rites to pray at the edge of my descent.

“Tagaroa,” I sighed, “save me from the bowels of Grandmother Kao, the maiden of death.” 1 The climb down was nearly impossible for me to do without injury. The best I could manage was to direct my falls. Grassy slides felt less sore than brambles, which were not much less painful than the rocks. It seemed to take me forever to reach the lake at the bottom. To keep from sliding into the water, I could only wedge between the edge and a thorn bush, cutting open more of my bruises.

Being so young, it had not occurred to me what a perilous situation I was in.

However, the fear of my dire situation had turned into panic, and I was sobbing. I closed my eyes and began to sing one of the comfort songs Princess Hina often sang to me.

Then I prayed, “Tavake, in your immeasurable kindness, provide for me the rope of Ohiro to climb out of this pit of death!”2 I waited for a moment of fool’s hope.

In the sky, the gods were stirring at the sad sight below.3 Tavake, the Sun, in command of Chaos and Order, was rocking and rolling with flames shooting out millions of miles into space like bolts of lightning. There was a trembling of the waters around Easter Island as Tagaroa fled into the depths. The moon hid its light as Hina lamented about the boy and all his troubles at sea.

43 Hina puzzled at Tavake, “How can Tagaroa scatter the stars of Hotu-iti’s family in the sea, just to swallow the boy up in the lake?”

Tavake was silent, so the gods offered relief.

Rata and Miru offered, “We have a canoe made for the boy! Double-hull!”

“But have you tightened the clan knots to rise above the breakers?”4 Maui taunted.

Tane and Marama claimed, “The boy needs our enlightenment to survive!”

Maui laughed, “He is as cunning as you both!”

Tuu and Ngatimo chanted, “We have the mana, or power, to make him stand!”

“I cannot stand you screeching like Tavake birds!” Maui protested.

Tavake finally called out to Hina, “Woman, what have you to do with me? I have no worries about human beings or the gods.”

Hina peered down the New Moon window to a world lit by the sun and a boy too small to have a face so weary and a heart so alone. She cried: You who created all things so marvellous From earth, to stars, to moon and sun, Inspire the awe of human beings and the gods.

Yet, you can stand by as they all crumble away At the hands of human beings and the gods?

With you as my witness can you be so witless With one eye open the other waxing and waning to sleep?

The only child of my precious wayfinding clan, So skilled in their trade,

44 Able to read the story you wrote on the stars; Faithfully visiting the sacred ancestors in their star houses; Taming wind and wave with courage unrivalled; Puzzling bird and fish by honing their trades; And loving the sight of Earth like a long lost mother; Embracing her palms like the rays of the Sun. And Tavake dreams as a taniwha-whale-beast after a cowering shrimp!

Never has there been, nor will be again, such a challenge to the Supreme Being and such a lament from the Princess of the Moon.

Suddenly, thunder was heard from a cloudless sky!

“ENOUGH!” Tavake roused a piercing cry, “It is finished...this lament of yours!”

All of heaven shook as the wings of Tavake fanned the dust of Rangi-rehua’s highest heaven,5 clear toward the Earth.

Seeing the half of heaven falling, Hina dove through the New Moon to the Earth below.

Hotu-iti puzzled at the shooting stars flashing from the north across the day-lit sky. Then a fireball flew overhead high above, trailing with smoke all the way to the south. The star crashed into the sea not too far beyond Motu-nui.6 But even as no small wave scattered the Tavake birds at this Tangata-manu island where the egg hunt takes place, Hina had returned above and was inquiring of my whereabouts.

45 The sign was enough to rouse the tohunga priests to inquire among themselves with an eight-day ceremonial fast.7 Hotu-nui was ordering his runners to fetch the wisdom keepers of all the clans for a meeting to determine the meaning of this sign.

Wedged between this near cliff and thorn bush, I was beginning to cramp up. I searched within the depths of me to find something ... anything I could turn to. I recalled watching the unfolding of the Tangata-Manu, Birdman ritual. Hina-iti described to me this rite of passage that determined who our next king might be. She said that each swimmer must find within the strength to do what has not been done before. The winner would be regarded as a tree of life for the entire island people. Thinking of Hina’s voice gave me a new strength. Courage began to bud on this seed of hope within me. It even occurred to me that Hotu-nui had done me a favour by sending me down here. Perhaps this journey to the abode of the goddess of death was also a rite of passage for me. There are no negatives in life, only greater challenges to overcome.

It was then that I noticed for the first time here at the bottom the islands of moss, several feet thick from centuries of growth. I looked at the water black from the sheer depth and, closing my eyes, I leapt for my life. I landed upon a wobbly small island almost too small for me. As I was pulling the tuna stomach bag through the water to fill it, I realized that the small floating island was not big enough for both the bag full of water and a boy. My balance gave way to a head-over- heels summersault into the deep water under the mosses.

All the bruises on my skin awoke in sharp pains by this chilly water. As the pain decreased, my mind relaxed under the surface. I was at home in water, since this is where a wayfinder is raised. I watched as bubbles rose to the surface. The sun made a

46 ring of rainbow rays around the turtle-like island of moss floating above me. I was content to stay here, were it not for the air that I craved. I swam to the shore and struggled to secure myself, but the angle was too steep and I kept sliding back into the water. So my only hope was to prop myself up on the moss.

I felt like a log rolling over and over with my little moss island, which became the trickster8 in this fateful ball game. I wanted to play, but the moss preferred to keep me under. I was running out of energy, so I took a deep breath and let go. I had been taught to be comfortable in the water, but knew that perhaps only my spirit would rise out of this swim. Deeper I sank and I saw in the water the certain divide between light and darkness, life and death.

Suddenly, there was a great surge of force into the water beside me. The initial impact was like a hard strike of lightning with the rising bubbles like a soft rolling thunder. Whatever it was dove below me at an alarming speed. I backed away to gaze at what it might be. There I saw a beautiful woman swimming toward me under the water as if the goddess Hina herself had fallen from the moon.

It was Princess Hina-iti. She swam with me to a ledge for drawing water on the shore of this lake in Rano Kao crater. There she let me rest to recover my breath and sat with her feet in the water singing me a comfort song.

She took me back by an easier path to the clan’s sacred house. We approached the feast hidden by the house. There was much laughter, song and a big celebration on the other side. She decided to hide me in a nearby cave behind the harekura sacred house. The priests once used this cave for passage rites, where the boy would travel under the earth to find the bed of bones deep in the cave and return as a new born man. The

47 priests could only enter the cave had they fasted severely in order to pass through its narrow confines. Great visions and dreams came to the ancestors who entered. The cave was not in use since Hotu-nui’s youngest brother died attempting his passage rite within.

So it became tapu or a sacred forbidden passage.

There, I dwelt in the cave behind the harekura, while the chief was led to believe my body was lost in the waters of Rano Kao volcano. Hina-iti rescued me not only from this volcano’s belly, but also from the fears of island royalty. Hina planned it perfectly and provided morsels for me to eat. She wrapped them in her prayer tapa cloth and lowered them on a line. She gave me another line for finding my way from where I would rest, back through the narrowest hall to the small opening above. I would leave the cave at night and wander the island. I became acquainted with trail, cave and quarter of the clan’s territory and even ventured beyond.

Listening from the cave entrance, the chief was planning an all out war of reckoning for the loss of Hina-nui. This made me sad to think I would lose Maui, who was like my Uncle Rapa returned from the sky world above. And I feared for Hina-iti whose kind heart resembled that of my mother, Kore.

Nothing can prepare a boy for the terrors of death in a cave of haunting spirits, cold and alone. All the boys have to face the same fears. It is important to overcome this fear of the passage rite by offering the child a great feast of affirmation. But for me, Hotu-iti, there was no feasting in the cave where I might spot a ghost in the darkness.

Yet, my worst fear was that, in wandering inside such a pit, I might be swallowed up as a boy and, if fortunate, vomited up as a man.9

48 There I was, against the warnings of Hina-iti, venturing into the cave, following a dim light that beckoned me down a certain shaft. As I dared myself along the narrow shaft, nothing was visible, except something of a slight haze ahead in the darkness. My childhood pleaded with my soul not to go, to stay back and rest by the safety of the thread Hina provided. It was more than being too restless from the strains of lying on the cold stone floor of the cave. It was more than the piercing pains of hunger. Something deep within drove me and spoke to me clearer than even the sense of touch, taste, smell, sight or sound. Though I had little of these five senses at work in the cave, I perceived something even more real that was drawing me on.

As the light was getting clearer I turned to gaze at the solid darkness from where I had come. It dawned upon me that I had no understanding of how to find my way back.

I looked ahead at the uncertain light and crawled toward it as my only hope. My heart felt the parallel between light and life, much as I had experienced in the crater lake.

Then, around a corner there was an opening from above too small and too high to be reached. Around me the glow of this tiny bit of daylight exposed the inner walls of the cave. Its shaft was of a tubular shape and where the light shone there was a crossroads of three passageways.10 I turned back from where I had come and was uncertain which of two openings I should chose for my return. I needed Hina-iti, since I was too young to find my way.

Though I was old enough to remember that at every crossroads was a passage-rite territorial marker. But there were no marking to guide me.

Through tears of fear, I mustered up the courage to call into the darkness for those I had loved, yet were all gone. My call had always been answered in the circle of the

49 clan, but now there was no reply. There was no family, no friend, not even foe. With the fear came doubts that this was not a true passage-rite. There was no elder to cover my forehead with red ochre that I might mark the outline of my hand deep within the cave.

I sat where there was light to console myself, though it was too far above to offer me salvation. Just as my spirit began to wane from loneliness, out of the darkness appeared a tiny flame in the distance. Perhaps I was imagining the heavenly trickster, Maui, stealing the fire of the underworld.11 But as the flame drew near I was enlightened to something new.

Never before had a woman entered this cave. Hina-iti fit like a thin man well fasted for the rite, and she came down with compassion to my underworld of despair filling this box-like cave with hope.12 With her was a torch of tied dry reeds soaked in fish oil, and some flint. She sat with me under the skylight and put out her flame letting the red tipped reed raise a smoke offering13 to the day above. 14 Hina sat with me and spoke as if I were a man. She told me her fears about the clan war about to unfold. She wanted to reassure me of the goodness of her father, Hotunui, even though he had been harsh.

Then she said, “Let me tell you the story of this cave and why it is tapu15 for all to enter now. “When Hotu-nui was a child, his elder brother died in this cave during his passage rite. The next year, Hotu-nui took his turn to recover a chicken bone from the belly of this cave. For the bone an elder would give him a chicken as a sign to prepare to support a family.

50 As Hina-iti spoke within the cave of Hotu-nui’s rite of passage as a child through this cave, I could imagine as if I were truly there, for indeed I was. “The apprentice tied his line to a rock and buried it before a cave. His mother tied a bundle of coconut fibre and sticks around his left wrist and a bracelet she had made for each of her seven apprentice sons. To the bracelet she attached a prayer for power, or mana. She asked her apprentice son to learn if her lost son had become a man. Her request puzzled him. The leading men lifted the boulder at the cave front and the smoke from the fish offering suddenly drifted into its yawning mouth as if Mother Earth were breathing. This is our second mother, who would swallow our boys into the heart of her cave to soon vomit out men. The apprentice was the youngest of seven and each brother painted their hand marks in the depths of this cave to confirm the rite of passage to manhood. All but one uncle made it out. His name was Rupe. Hotu-nui entered the cave in the usual manner, feet first. The cave was so narrow that one must keep the arms above the head. The hands of the apprentice were forced together as he held the long line and released it in time with his descent into the cave. After a time, the feet of the apprentice came to a hard surface and he had to fight the trapped feeling in his body. Bending his knees, the apprentice shuffled his feet to the sides of the cave. To his relief, one of the four sides was open. Using the instructions of his brothers, the apprentice kept pushing with his back and shoulders, so that his chest would more easily expand. This enabled him to rise to his knees and from his knees to hunch and drag horizontally as the cave beckoned. After a few more body lengths, the apprentice shuffled to another 90 degree turn and again was taken down. The process continued even as he ran out of thread. The apprentice was given the instruction to find an open shaft with the bones of rats, birds,

51 fish and perhaps even humans. The apprentice was instructed to light the fire that represented the enlightening of his soul to manhood and paint his hand print from the ochre and sweat on his brow. He was told to prepare for any obstacle. Without the thread, he was lost. The apprentice decided to move on without it and, coming to a fork, he left some coconut fibre behind as a sign for his return. The process occurred again, twice, when the apprentice finally reached an opening in the cave. There were no bones. So he shuffled ahead feeling his way singing the songs our people had always sung to Mother Earth to remind him that he was safe. Then, as the apprentice was moving ahead, he hit a hanging wall with a dizzying blow. He could taste the salty warm blood running down his face. The apprentice rolled over and fell into a small room full of bones. A gust of fresh air was coming in from a small hole. This comforted him. The apprentice took his time to light a small fire with the coconut fibre remaining. It gave him enough light to see the prints of his six brothers. The apprentice pressed his hand from forehead to wall, staining it with ochre and sweat and blood. Returning the way he came felt much more difficult.

He was exhausted, bruised, and beaten. The man came to a fork in the cave and felt the fibre that was left behind. He continued along until the last clump of fibre, but upon holding it up was too weary to recall from which way he picked it up. So the man prayed and took a guess. To be at such a crossroads meant life or death. The man went down a fateful tunnel. After a distance he came to a 90 degree turn and felt he was close to home. A few more lengths ahead though, the crawl spaces seemed smaller, and the man did not remember the mud. He pushed his way forward in an increasing frenzy that lead to panic. The air became thicker, the rock was heavy on his back and chest. The man could not find any fibres. He was stuck. Like a child, the man began to cry. Even then, he

52 had to stop the sobs cold at his throat, lest they enter a heaving chest and produce a certain suffocation. The man had to relax. What did he have left? … He was a man. What would a man do? He started to breathe and to pray again. The prayer his deceased brother used to sing came to mind. The man reached ahead, breathing in, moving an inch, breathing in… another inch. He could go on another 10 feet and then he would be out of breath. There had to be an opening. Then the man felt ahead of him the bones of his brother who could go no further. The man understood the language of the bones that guided him back to the fork and a thread and a light and a mother holding him tight like our Mother Earth.”

And my grandmother asked him about the bones, “But whose?”

The man replied, “They were one of the seven whose hand print was made on the wall with red ochre and sweat, and he was the spirit guide who took my place in the grave below.”

Hina-iti concluded, “My grandmother wept knowing that all of her seven sons had become men.”

Then Hina-iti said, “I tell you this so that you know Hina-nui and in knowing him become a part of him some day, even though he has chosen wrongly to be your enemy for a time.”

With the sky light above, Hina-iti was able to light the torch, and suddenly I was enlightened to my underworld.

53 Chapter 3 Notes 1. Tagaroa: the Polynesian deity of the sea, elsewhere pronounced Tangaroa. He was involved in the battle of the gods to separate their mother, Papa, the earth, from their father, Rangi, the sky. This is one of the most popular ancient Polynesian myths from which the other myths often follow (Beckwith, 1970; Tregear, 1891).

2. Tavake: the name of the bird that lays the egg for Birdman Egg Hunt. Also, the name of a primary bird deity of Easter Island. The syllables of this name, Tavake, are transferable with the major Polynesian deity, called Tawhaki, who climbed the rope to heaven lowered by his Grandmother Whaitiri whose sight Tawhaki restored. In Easter Island lore, Tavake’s characteristics combine the Polynesian sun bird deity, Tane and, the rope climber, Tawhaki. The Hindu Tavatimsa is that level of heaven the Enlightened One carries up his teachings to his Mother (Coleman, 2007; Tregear, 1891).

3. Homer’s Odyssey works in a dialogue among the gods who have a stake in what happens among humans. A similar dialogue is used here with Polynesian deities to draw a bridge to Western literature.

Indigenous wisdom offers divine values essential to participate in creation and such values are understood in relation to the stories of divine heroes (Albion-Meek, 1957).

4. The wayfinding clans are experts in knot tying in order for the double-hull canoes to stay together against the impact of the waves on long journeys.

5. Rehua: the tenth and highest heaven in the Polynesian paradise of Rangi, the Sky (Tregear, 1891).

6. Motu-nui: meaning large island; the largest of three islets to the south of Easter Island. This is the island of the Birdman Egg Hunt. Just to its north is Motu-iti, meaning Small Island. Motu-kaokao, meaning Needle Island, is between Motu-iti and Easter Island (Routledge, 1917; Map, Ch. 1, P. 2).

7. Fasting ceremonies are common Indigenous activities to increase the occurrence of dreams and visions to acquire spiritual guidance from the Creator, who often assigns animal totems and ancestral spirits for this guiding purpose (Black Water, Weasel Fat & Wolf Child, 2010).

8. The trickster: Indigenous storytellers use tricksters to offer a playful energy to youthful listeners. The youth need this energy source and the values acquired from the story to face their passage-rite into adulthood. For example, the value of courage and the energy to complete a difficult task is obtained when the trickster, who often represents the Creator, makes a game of even the most impossible circumstances involving life. Of the African Yoruba, the trickster is Anansi, the Creator turned into a spider (Coleman, 2007). Anansi gathered the sun, moon and darkness in a bag and blinded people by exposing them to the sun. Of the Cherokee, Grandmother Spider gathers the sun across a sky web into a clay urn (Erdoes & Ortiz, 1984). In Africa, Anansi (Anase) captures the sun and protects creatures in the weavings of his web.

Ford confirms that Anase’s web is a “metaphor for the World Axis that connects humanity to divinity” (Ford, 1999, p. 96). Anansi bought all the stories of the Sky Beings with his animals. The Native Americans are told the stories of the animals in their dreams. It makes sense then to consider the stories of the animals as carrying the wisdom of the Creator. Anansi’s collection of stories is called, Anansesem.

When the Hindu Shiva appears as ‘Lord of Knowledge’, his name is Anantesa (Coleman, 2007). In Anantesa’s throat is the poison of Ananta, the world snake. Anantesa’s throat became blue and he died while pulling the snake to Churn the Ocean and produce Turtle Island. Maui, the Polynesian trickster, is caught in the throat of the deity of death, in order to same humanity. Maui’s noosing of the sun of enlightenment occurs at the End of the Earth, Te Pito te Henua, the earliest known name of Easter Island (Coleman, 2007). Weave these ancient stories together unifies ancient Indigenous voice into a melody all people can understand. One story may apply to one group of people. However, the common elements of many stories can be applied to all people.

9. The cave was regarded as the insides of Mother Earth, the goddess of life and death. To enter the earth by way of a cave was a passage into the underworld where the deceased are sent after they die (Beckwith, 1970). Therefore, returning from the cave is a contradiction of fate, as if one were vomited out before

54 being fully digested to an eternal resting place. The boy who entered the cave, however, has been transformed within by the powers of the underworld and so returns with values of courage and maturity to live no longer as a child, but as a man (van Gennep, 1960).

10. Details are used to enable the reader to experience the passage rite of the child in the cave, much like Homer uses details to captivate his students listening to the story of the Odyssey (Albion-Meek, 1957; van Gennep, 1960; Black Water, Weasel Fat & Wolf Child, 2010).

11. Maui is the Polynesian trickster stealing the underworld fire or noosing the sun and is a common theme across Indigenous creation stories (Reichard, 1921; Tregear, 1891).

12. Pandora’s Box released all the ills known to humanity into the world. But the box also contains hope (Coleman, 2007).

13. The use of offering fish and vegetables by the tohunga was an important part of early Easter Island ceremony. Grass was even offered atop the volcano Rano Kao in the village of Orongo, since grass was the only organic substance near the windy stone houses (MÊtraux, 1957; Routledge, 1917). Here, Hina’s smoke offering is akin to American Native smudging or incense of eastern religions. The point of the smoke is to find a bridge to world-views beyond an Easter Island context in order to encourage others to wrestle with the wisdom its mysteries have to offer.

14. The Blackfoot use sweet-grass and sage to provide a smoke offering with their prayers, not unlike the Tibetan monks who offer incense to the four directions or the Orthodox priests who use incense (A View on Buddhism, 2011).

15. Tapu: a sacred restriction upon a certain item or place (Tregear, 1891).

55 Chapter 4 - Three Years in the Underworld The Cherokee have a saying, “When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice” (InspirationalSpark.com). Harmony is rejoicing in the inheritance of our children. The greatest inheritance for the next generation is a sustainable planet. This inheritance will benefit a circle of children eager to act upon this harmony with a renewed paradise they will call Mother Earth.

Hina boldly took me along through the cave, but was just as amazed at all that we saw. Once through the narrow tunnel, there was a wide opening into a tunnel made smooth and round by the mysterious forces of the underworld.1 The tunnel forked off at times. Sometimes the tunnel narrowed into a small smooth end and other times the narrowing went on into the dark large enough for only a hand. Then we found an opening hewn out by the ancients large enough for a small clan to dwell. There was a pool resting deeper in the wall with a stonewall crescent holding the water back. Just above was a shelf made to enable a family to access the water. There we drank. In all my life there has been no sweeter water to quench my thirst. I looked up at the drip, wondering what source provided such a benevolent fountain. Hina only hummed with delight in the discovery of such a resource, for our island had no springs clear of sea salt apart from rainwater gathered in shallow hollows found here and there upon the island.

Hina-iti said, “If there is ever an urgent need during war, all the women and children of our clan could take refuge here. The tunnels are long and many with the feeling of air from several sources. This water has no salt and tastes like it came from the heavens.”2

56

Figure 6: Cave system under Easter Island3 (Illustrated by Dansereau, 2010).

There were other such rooms and more tunnels. The rooms were hewn by ancestors, but the tunnels appeared to be made by the gods.

“Princess Hina?” I inquired, “Why are there tunnels?”

Hina said, “Hotu-iti, this tunnel was made by Nuku and his wife Kui the blind.

They were here before the arrival of our first ancestor, Hotu Matua. They fled underground, just like you, to protect themselves and their sacred teachings. The world around us will change when they return from under the ground.”

I replied, “How will it change?”

“A child will lead us to the ancient sacred teachings of old,” Hina continued, “in order to protect us from a great desolation.”

Suddenly, Hina’s face lit up like the torch itself. “A child will lead us...! You! Hotu-iti! You!”

57 “What! What!” I said, only wanting to keep her content and at ease.

“No! It’s okay!...” she paused “It’s perfect... It’s wonderful! You are the child who will lead us!”

We entered a smaller room designed as a circular crawling space that Hina described as a ceremonial fasting room. My curiosity took over as I explored every corner of the room. There was a pile of stones that I rummaged through in the corner. In that pile were a number of stone carvings. “Hey! Hina! Look at this!”

Hina gasped and pulled me back, “Hotu! Those stones will kill you!”

“What!? What?!” The commotion caused me to panic and even wonder as I began to control my breathing and put my hand up to my throat.

Hina replied, “The stones are territorial markers to protect the cave from other tribes. They are considered tapu. Incantations are made over these stones during the tohunga’s yearly fasting rites. You must not touch them.

“The stone skull is the deadly one. The hole in the forehead has crushed bones of our ancestors in it and a tapu covering of the most serious kind. The tohunga chanted over this skull a curse for all who touch it. It is the curse of manaia, the curse of death.”

I did not touch the skull. I inquired about the two stones with fish carvings, which reminded me of my father, Rangi-nui, who was a great fisherman.

Figure 7: Sacred Statuettes passed down for generations in ancestral cave 4 (Dansereau, 2011).

58 “What is their story?” I prodded.

Hina said, “Only the tohunga who has the transfer right for this cave and this bundle of stones knows the full story. The story itself will be lost if it is scattered to everyone who asked. Telling only a few makes it a desirable mystery and a gift of greater value to affirm our youth who are transferred the sacred rites.”

“That is where you come in, Hotu-iti. You have been given the right to enter our story, because our ancestors spoke of you before you came and our elders had dreams about your arrival. Our wisdom keepers are always so protective of the children, because they are hoping for the one to lead us. The elders, too, have spoken highly of you. But set against you are the young warriors who know little of our stories and more of the war.

We must find a way for you to belong.”

Hina spent the rest of the day teaching me her plan and what I must do. She provided a line for me to follow to the fresh water and a ledge to place my meals in the skylight. Hina showed me how to enter the long end of the harekura behind a divide, meant only for the storage of provisions and where only a small child could sit. This side of the house was just a few metres from the cave entrance. There I could see through the seams, hear all things and learn the teachings of the tohunga priests.

“Why must I learn all these teachings?” I asked Hina.

“Before my mother, Hina-nui, died,” Hina-iti replied, “She shared with me what her grandmother had said. That when the men begin to lead from the head and not the heart, the women must provide a way to rescue them from their own fear.”

I prodded on, “How do you know they are not leading with the heart?”

59 “The way they treat you.” Hina continued, “We would always leave the first fish for a guest, even if no one came. Yet, when the guest is here, look how they treat you.

And when sacred wood drifts in from the sea they no longer make sacred teaching boards, but clubs and spears. When our heads are full of fear, our vision is blurred. If danger were truly upon us, we would not even know it.”

I did not understand all the things that Hina told me. So I would ponder her words in my heart.5 And there I sat, behind the tohunga priests, learning all that they taught their students. Some elders taught the sacred rites and stories of fishing, others of bird snaring, or house building, gardening, battle, courting, inter-tribal relations, food preparations and even sweeping out the sacred house. Other tohunga taught the science, mystery and stories of wayfinding, astronomy, string games, lineage recital, chanting, dancing and various other ceremonies and passage rites. But what I craved the most was the teachings of the Rongorongo boards, their chants, stories and ceremonial uses. For three and a half years I was hidden by Hina, to learn all that was taught by my new clan.

Hina and I would discuss much of what I was learning. She explained how meaningless all this knowledge of stories would be without the values associated with each story. “The Creator gave all the stories to the first man, Hotu Matua, and the first woman, Rei Pua. We know they are from the Creator, because they teach us how to protect the land. When you see a clan whose gardens grow poorly, season after season, or whose chickens are thinner than the wild ones, you know that they have forgotten the stories. Then, it is up to the elders to approach them. Our code of respect requires that the elders speak to them in humility when they make this request: ‘We want to hear your stories.’ A great feast is provided and the stories are sung. What is missing in the stories

60 of those with poor land produce is added in turn by the elders with good produce. The next season, the gardens are bountiful and the chickens are plump.”

“Then why not teach all men and women all things, like I am learning from the tohunga?” I boasted.

Hina laughed and then let out a groan like my beloved Kui, when the men of the evil floating islands approached. “No, Hotu-iti! You must receive all these teachings with the heart of a child. Never regard yourself as superior when all sacred and tapu knowledge is raised in front of you. This wisdom does not belong to you. It never will.

If it does, it will crush you. Always find a way to let it go. Only Maui, our Lord of Life, can raise the world on his shoulders.”

I inquired, “How can I remain a child when I am in the cave of the rite of passage for a man?”

Hina-iti replied with words I will always take with me, “You are not here by the red-ochre blessing of a man, but you are here by the providence of the gods. The gods have anointed you and washed you clean by the great ocean of Tane-tavake6 who brought you to us. You came to us in great need as a child from the gods and no one can take that innocence from you.” Hina continued, “When you learn the writing boards, it will also be by the blessing of the ancestors and the gods. Do not seek the approval of mere men.

You need no tohunga or living priest, when you have the wananga, ancestral medium.

Let the tohunga teach me.”

“But the tohunga cannot train women in the writing boards and I also want you to learn about them,” I said.

61 “You are just dodging me, little man!” Hina replied referring to the game of dodge that helped us boys develop the agility of a warrior. This captured my attention.

But then she added, “All that men need to know and take for granted has been given them by their mothers as infants.”

Hina had this way of leading me to a greater understanding by the means of the knowledge I had already acquired. This was the way of our great wisdom keepers and story tellers.

Hina forbade me to teach her some of the Rongorongo chants.

I persisted, “But why not raise the tapu for the women also?”

Hina was pensive for a moment and then said, “Because the men would never learn that a woman can perceive all things in her heart, even when not understood by the mind.”

“Are you just dodging me now Hina?” I replied with a chuckle.

She said, “You are talking heavy for someone so young. I wish you were free to learn and play with the other children...” Hina stopped herself and continued, “... but here you are buried in a cave. Even here you have a calling and a purpose for our island.

No matter what the circumstance, everyone has a particular role to play:” In Makemake, the Creator’s stellar design, we all belong.

The tavake-birds? They humble us who cannot fly, This compels us to dream.

And they call us to the enlightenment of the rising Sun. In Makemake, the Creator’s stellar design, we all belong.

The plants? They cannot walk upon the earth

62 Yet they feed us who can run.

In Makemake, the Creator’s stellar design, we all belong.

The fish? They provide the first offering By laying down their life in our place.

You will seek a lifetime to find a greater friend.

In Makemake, the Creator’s stellar design, we all belong.

Yet, even if the wayfinder is lost at sea The tortoise is willing to be noosed So as to carve out a pathway in the sea.

In Makemake, the Creator’s stellar design, we all belong.

And the smallest of all of our kin, the Mosquito, Teaches us persistence, the greatest of all virtues.

And she reveals by satiated call the source of our mana power.

Hina concluded the chant by adding a line with my name to weave my identity into the song, the dance, the creatures, and the land.

And you, Hotu-iti, small as a naunau mosquito, Are also little more than a buzz about the island, But your song can be heard by the long eared moai statues.

Hina repeated the song like so many other chants of Rapa Nui, sung with the earth drum beating like a heartbeat, again and again, giving life and constancy to the ceremonies.7 Hina continued, “These statues also are beginning to hum, so that the entire island will begin to stir. Indeed, the tohunga met in their sacred circle to determine how they

63 would enable you to belong. For if there is no room in our circle for the little ones, how can we justify that there is room enough for the great? Yet, they believe you are dead.”

I sat there silently for a moment and then jested, “So can I teach you some Rongorongo chants?”

Hina nudged me and chuckled. Then she became pensive, looking off into the distance. “There are chants on the tablets that the grandmothers passed on to me. The garden of our hearts is beginning to fail. The rooster crows at noon. Perhaps it is time to teach the men these stories that they have lost.”

This saying from Hina taught me the meaning of kindness. That is, she would teach mercy to her own clan who refused her love. Since her father wanted to protect his rule with reigning sons, his eldest child, being Hina, was not allowed to marry, lest the husband’s family compete for the rule. This caused Hotu-nui to lose the devotion of his daughter whose heart was broken from a banished soul mate and at a cost of having no children of her own. Hina was left to lavish her nurturing qualities upon me in the finest training of the royalty, though without the knowledge of her father. From this time forward, Hina began to teach me the chants of her grandmothers, lost even to the tohunga.

It was at this time, when at night, I secretly began to sit outside the harekura of other clans and the tribes that were not too far away. If my rite of passage into manhood were denied me, at least I could endlessly learn as an apprentice the chants of mana power, haka strength and aroha devotion for these island people.

Then one night, I found Hina secretly meeting with her soul mate, Turi, from the Koro-orongo clan.

64 Hina was weeping. “But Turi, if we marry, the war will be over.”

Turi replied, “Our fathers will not allow it. Until they die or have a change of heart, we must wait.”

Hina tried to stir the envy of Turi, “But there are suitors from the clans of my tribe.”

“If you love me,” Turi replied, “You will brush them off.”

“I do love you,” Hina insisted, “But how do I brush off a tsunami of men?”

Turi suggested, “Men need to prove themselves. Set to them an unwinnable challenge and they will leave you alone to meet the task.”

From that moment on, Hina made the request that the man she would marry would be the one who could fasten the knot of Hotu-iti. And her father supported her, for only the man that could do the impossible was worthy of the royal line.

Yet, Hina’s greatest rite of passage was soul crushing in this lost love. She was painfully aware that the bitterness of her father was spiralling into the tribal wars and resulting in poverty for her people.

This sorrow was expressed in her walks along the shore as she lamented for the island with a petition to Tane-tavake, our sacred bird. On one of her seaside journeys her lament turned into joy, when she found drift wood from the rigging of a lost ship. I sat behind the veil as Hina-iti presented the wood in the harekura to the chief and tohunga.

I gasped in fear at the sight of the wood that could only have come from such a floating island as the one that stole and killed my wayfinding people. The tohunga must have heard my shock as he turned toward the screen, but was distracted by the request of the chief.

65 Hotu-nui said, “The rigging is of a design unknown to our island clans.”

Tohunga Tagaroa-ika replied, “We must discuss with the elders what this sign could mean. Our eldest seer has had fearful visions and I warn that this wooden sign is indeed a great portent8 for our people.”

Later in the cave I pleaded with Hina, “This is a very bad sign. My first memory as a child was of the terror caused by the floating island.”

Hina tried to console me, “With every portent there is a sliver of hope. Why else did you survive from the torment of these people?”

Hina wore her new wooden tablet as a neck ornament that I would come to know as her princess reimiro pendant worn by all members of the royal line during ceremony.

It was the sign of her sovereign authority over the island. On this wooden pendant were carved the words: Tuhinapo-rapa – Guardian of Ocean Migration9

Figure 8: Chief’s Reimiro neckband engraved with Tuhinapo-rapa (Illustrated by Dansereau, 2011)

This was the first word I had learned. It represents an important deity of our people.

Tuhinapo-rapa is the deity of ocean migrations. He is our guide on a very important migration across the sea of life to the underworld of death and back again. That is why

66 he needs the most powerful oar. From this island, the fishermen and canoe wayfinders, call out to Tuhinapo-rapa above all other deities.

Suddenly, I realized that the wayfinder of my birth clan, Kui, called out to this deity against the floating island that destroyed my clan. Yet, this call to Tuhinapo was a powerful call that saved my life. This means that this deity was known both by the island of my birth and this island of my wanderings. I pondered this discovery in my heart and I learned to call, “Tuhinapo!” just as Kui did.

I learned the entire chant of Tuhinapo while I hid in the rocks at night watching a priest dance. I watched the priest carve a figure of Tuhinapo on a Reimiro chiefly neck ornament. Instead of dancing the chant of the clan according to protocol, he danced to a Rapa power-oar song. As I listened to the song being sung at a funerary rite, I noticed that Tuhinapo-rapa was repeated in the sacred whisper of the priest who stood close to my hiding place.

Early in the morning when the dawn was still dark, Princess Hina came to me, “We must go to a sacred fire.”

On our way, I shared with her the song of Tuhinapo. Hina listened with her hand over her heart.

She took me to a place under the stars where an old woman was sitting. She was blind. Hina told me not to speak. We sat there for a long time and, just before dawn, we lit up a fire. The old woman took a branch and began to pray: O Tuhinapo!

She began with the same chant I had been pondering. I gasped in amazement.

O Tuhinapo! Ensure that my grandson, Hotu-iti has your protection.

67 Guide and protect us all with your mana-power.

Though he is too young, he knows your name.

Since this was your wish, to bring children to know you, Teach him the sacred chant of the Sea that only the grandmothers knew.

O Tuhinapo, Guardian of Migrations, Atua-lord, you have not forgotten us.

I asked Hina, “What does this prayer mean?”

“Tuhinapo will train you,” Hina declared, “to be worthy of the sea. He will not allow his canoe, this island, to be swamped by a crew who do not know so much as how to bail.” 10 “Surely not!” I responded with pride, “Not on my life! Princess Hina.”

Hina corrected me sternly, “This is not something you earned, but a very unusual and free gift from the gods!”

The old woman tapped Hina on the arm and said, “Granddaughter, do not scold the boy. In order to prepare us for a difficult time a child has been chosen!”

The old woman smiled and spoke to me, “Child, I am, Iwi, Hina’s grandmother. I want to introduce you to the first woman, who was named Hina, when the Creator dreamed her into existence. I named my daughter, Hina-nui, who died in the fire, after her. My granddaughter, Hina-iti, is also named after her. She is the princess of the moon. The moon was the gift given to her for birthing humanity and the moon is her window to watch over us. She will forever be a faithful and kind mother. When you really need something, call out to her and she will answer your distress. But only if you are truly in need.”

68 Iwi continued, “She has taught us celestial navigation, so as to know our way about the ocean.”

Hina looked at me with a gaze that solidified her grandmother’s words in my memory.

Iwi pointed directly at the moon, though she was blind. She described how the first Hina pounds the mulberry bark into tapa cloth and that her face and mallet appear on the full moon.11 “When Hina has finished making a white tapa dress, another deceased spirit is ready to dwell with the immortal ancestors among the stars.” The wisdom and power of Iwi reminded me so much of my Grandmother Kui, the wayfinder. And so I opened my heart to Iwi and harkened every word she spoke as if she were Kui. “I thought the full moon was the flying cook and the three red hot stones of the umu oven?” I inquired.

“Yes.” Iwi replied. “You have heard the tohunga tell their stories. But in order to catch a giant fish, you have to use a net with many more threads.”

Then Iwi leaned toward me and said words I will always recall, “My daughter Hina-nui did not die in vain. She held the prayers in her heart, long before she held them in the fire.” Smoke billowed out of the mouth of Iwi as she spoke, caused by the cool air of the dawn as she told her stories and I fell into a tranquil sleep. As I slept, I had a dream of being seated by Hina’s fire on the moon as she pounded her tapa cloth.12 Then the goddess reached down and plucked the spirit of Hina-nui out of the house fire. The goddess, Hina, placed Hina-nui beside me and Hina-nui reached over and handed me the tablet she offered her life to save. I held the tablet close to my heart. As this great dream

69 came to me, Hina-iti carried me back to the cave. Hina informed the elders that I was indeed alive.

As I slept the tohunga elders of the two leading clans were meeting privately to discuss what to do with me, the orphan boy, Hotu-iti. Their meeting was without the knowledge of the leading warriors and chiefs. Nor did they invite the sorcerer, Pungavarevare, from the Koro-orongo clan.

Rega-varevare13, from Koro-orongo and the leading wisdom keeper of the island, began: “The warriors and chiefs want to kill the child. We have lost the ways of our ancestors in the fog of this war.”

Tangaroa-ika replied, “When the power of the sorcerers prevail, the tohunga and their clans are powerless to prevent wars and even the worst kinds of abuses, such as, infanticide and cannibalism. Even now, the cave of the great Kai-tangata is misunderstood in a twisted rite to eat flesh by a small group of young tohunga who meet privately.”14 Rega-varevare was the eldest and wisest of all tohunga. He said, “Do not be afraid.”

Tangaroa slightly bowed his head as Rega continued, “Kai-tangata was the first man whose Hau-ahua strength is transferred in ceremony into a pig, a fish, or even a kumara, so we can eat the mana power of the first man. In this way, we can overcome the underworld goddess who married Kai-tangata, because she thought that his name meant that he also was an underworld man-eater.15 But loathing his benevolence, she herself consumed him and became the deity of death. Yet, the Creator did not allow the first man to die. Instead his benevolence lived on in the underworld until Hina’s lament

70 for his desolation could be heard from the Rangi heaven above. The timeless story tells that when Hina saw her precious son, Kai-tangata, she jumped into the abyss and swam to the underworld refuge of Turtle Mountain. There she gathered the frail body of the first man and cried a lament for all of us, her children. Her lament rose from the underworld like a great volcano, so great that Rangi and the gods fell from their seats in the tenth heaven of Rehua. In their discussion, their great anger and indifference was appeased by the song of the Sirens coming from the heart of Hina. All the gods confessed their faults and offered a morsel of their heavenly feasting to send to the underworld for Hina to feed her children. Makemake, the Supreme Being, was offended by their initial and meager benevolence. A great flashing of lightning and peeling thunder shook all of heaven opening a great chasm to the underworld. As a result, half of all divine treasures fell down into the underworld exposing the immeasurable benevolence of Makemake, the Creator of All. Far below, on Turtle Mountain a host of the lost climbed the chains of gold and beads of pearls that hung down from the gap.

Others climbed the magic vines and trees of life that began to sprout. But most of the underworld was too lame, too broken and too decayed to climb. Hina remained. For the lost, Hina is building a paradise in the underworld and so has become the princess of the moon, where her work is constantly waxing and waning as she pounds the tapa cloth to dress the forgotten for the feast of paradise, the feast of Kai-tangata.�

Rega stumbled from his stance and Tangaroa helped him down and they sat together.

Perceiving his wisdom and his weakness all at once, Tangaroa lamented, “What are we going to do when you are gone, my teacher?�

71 Rega replied, “I will make a good song for you. A good tohunga always has a dream to leave you with in order to guide your way.” Rega added, “I have had a dream of the boy. The boy must live, for he knows much about the original teachings in his wayfinding years. Many of these teachings we have forgotten after only 1000 years.

Find the boy, and take him with the leading warrior to Ana-kai-tangata and he will remind us of the meaning of that sacred place. Take him to all the sacred sites.”16 Tangaroa and Rega walked off into the misty darkness and they were hidden from the watchers over the miles to their harekura. They were hidden from all, but the island’s leading sorcerer, Punga-varevare, who in his heart declared, “The boy must die!”

72 Chapter 4 Notes 1. The cave is a smooth oval passage made by escaping gas from molten stone during the formation of the island (Heyerdahl, 1958).

2. Thor Heyerdahl visited this cave and fresh-water fountain in the late 1950s. The tunnels in the cave created by escaping gas from ancient volcanos are plausibly the source of the broader Polynesian mythic story of Kui and Nuku tunnelling under the earth. When these deities return out of the ground many lives will be lost, perhaps a warning regarding the effects of earthquakes (Heyerdahl, 1958; Tregear, 1891).

Though Heyerdahl is criticized for his theory of Polynesian colonization from the east, his Kon Tiki expedition did help motivate the Hawaiian Hukole’a team to restore the legacy of the early Polynesian wayfinders (Davis, 2009). For a more accurate picture of Easter Island archeology there are several important sources to consult (Barthel, 1978; Stevenson, Wozniak & Haoal, 1999; van Tilburg, 2007; Vargas, Cristino & Izaurieta, 2006). Also, consider Edmundo Edwards soon to publish work resulting from close to four decades of research on Easter Island (Davis, 2009).

3. Drawing of an Easter Island cave as described by Norwegian scientist and adventurer of the Kon-Tiki expedition, Thor Heyerdahl (Heyerdahl, 1958). It is chosen here as the safe haven of the Narrator, Hotu-iti.

Since he is a foreigner adopted at a time of war, there are many who want him killed to protect the original lineage of the island. Early Polynesians would hesitate to adopt foreigners until they were purified by various rituals from the powers and spirits of the land of their origin (Beckwith, 1970; Monberg, 1966; Taylor, 1855).

4. These sacred carvings are true to those photographed by Thor Heyerdahl and kept in a clan cave as most sacred and tapu objects (Heyerdahl, 1958, p. 256g). On the left, the mythical story of the elder woman who carried the great Tuna on her back with a rope. On the right, Ikaroa, the long fish of the Milky Way, seated on six stars, and supporting the sacred house of the deceased. On the tail of the great fish is an umu earth oven. The hole in top corresponds to the mythical journey of Maui through the body of death and making a second door to sweep the ancestors to eternal enlightenment by the rays of dawn. In the earth oven, the first fish and kumara sweet potato are cooked to weave the story into the meal so that digestion itself will assist in the process of enlightenment. All the islanders participated in this first tuna offering at the sacred site of Vinapu weaving their story into the land itself to Ikarao above and the goddess of the underworld below. Therefore, Ana-kai-tangata, the cave of the Man-Eater, was named after the husband of the goddess of the underworld and links Easter Island place names to broader Polynesian story (Tregear, 1891).

5. The sayings of the wisdom keepers are treasured and kept in memory for the day they will unlock the essential values of life worth so much more than gold. For example, the prophecy of the Rainbow Warriors, from First Nations elders across the American plains, speak of a time of ecological crisis and instructions on how to restore the earth (Manataka American Indian Council).

6. Tane is the great bird deity of Polynesia. Tavake is the great bird deity of Easter Island, akin to the tavake birds of which the first egg is retrieved from the nest of Motu-nui (Birdman Island). As mentioned above, Tavake may well be a variation of the Polynesian mythical hero, Tawhaki. Therefore, the climbing of the rope to heaven and the raising of the first tavake egg might have been understood on Easter Island as parallel rites of attaining enlightenment (Routledge, 1917; Tregear, 1891).

7. For more examples of Indigenous chants that weave personal identity into the environment, consider the ancient creation chants of Polynesia, Africa and the drum songs of the Blackfoot (Ford, 1999; Jefferson, 1955; Shand, 1895; Black Water, Weasel Fat & Wolf Child, 2010).

8. Indigenous elders share gifts unusual to Western thinkers. They have gifts of interpreting dreams, of prophesying and of reading the signs of the times (Black Water, Weasel Fat & Wolf Child, 2010).

9. Reimiro: neck ornaments worn by early Easter Island royalty. The syllables of Tu-hi-na-po unravel from the appearance of the glyph where each section forms a syllable from the symbol it signifies, starting from the bottom two legs: TU (representing to stand); HI/hianga (to stoop or to fall); NA/nao or wha (to feel

73 for/to reveal); PO/poi (a ball) = TU – HI – NA – PO + the RAPA oar as the Guardian of Ocean Migrations (Dansereau, 2011; Tregear, 1891). The Easter Islanders have retained enough of the old Rapa Nui words to confirm: Tu (to crush); Higa (to fall); Naonao (a mosquito or one who feels for); Popo (a ball).

10. The history of Rapa Nui tells that Rongorongo tablet writing was practiced only by the men. However, after discovering the tattoo soothing chant upon the small Reimiro tablet, it suggests that the princess who wore this particular tablet of authority must have been singing the chant to ease the sufferings of her clan members being tattooed (Routledge, 1917). Hina, as a true leader, is aware that every occupation is essential, even the bailer who with every sweep of the gourd is saving the life of the clan. Also, Hina acknowledges the authority of the Creator, named Tuhinapo, who guides and influences the everyday actions and identity of the child (Tregear, 1891).

11. From Polynesian lore (Tregear, 1891).

12. On the moon, Hina is forever pounding her tapa cloth from the bark of the celestial tree to make cloth for the dead to be clothed for Polynesian paradise among the stars (Tregear, 1891). In China, Wu Kang offended the gods and as punishment forever chops down the celestial tree on the moon. He is given the elixir of immortality and is built a jade palace by the deity, Archer I, husband of moon goddess, Heng O (Coleman, 2007). In India, it is the moon god Chandra who is identified with the drink of the gods, called Soma, from a tree lost in history (Mackenzie, 1985). The Polynesian moon goddess Hina belongs to the circle of deities, including Rata, whose tree was also restored every time he chopped it down. Eventually, this tree was made into the Canoe of Rata. Hina produced immortal clothes for ancestors by pounding the white tapa bark from this tree (Tregear, 1891). Archer I also built the palace of Hsi Wang Mu, who rewarded him with the elixir of immortality produced from her fruit tree. She flew on the wings of a crane.

Weka and Mu (Tregear, 1904, p. 475) are the broken winged birds that support Maui carved on the back of Hoa- hakanana’ia at Orongo village, Easter Island. Heng O is transformed into a three legged toad on the moon for swallowing the elixir of Wang Mu. The three-legged toad appears pierced on the Easter Island tablets’ tattoo soothing chant that produces the complete human being. Archer I of China shot down nine of the ten suns. Tawhaki of Polynesia stole 9 of the 10 sweet potatoes and in exchange healed Whaitiri of blindness. Rata in his canoe followed Tawhaki with lost spirits across the arch of the rainbow to the sky.

(Coleman, 2007; Tregear, 1891). All these parallels with early Chinese and Hindu mythology confirm a global Indigenous symmetry among ancient storytellers.

13. In Easter Island history, Rega-varevare was the visionary who shared his great dreams of the coming of the Europeans (www.rongorongo.org). Like Indigenous elders of the Blackfoot and so many other tribes, these dreams were shared to help prepare the people for the changes coming to their land (Soup, 2011).

14. The first foreigner to stay on Rapa Nui for an extended period of time was Brother Eyrand. For several months he stayed with a clan leader that did not participate in any particular rituals. (Eyrand, 1864-66). Yet, there were tablet writers on the island (Routledge, 1917). This would indicate that there was a divergence of beliefs and devotions among the islands few thousand inhabitants, perhaps in stark contrast to one another (Eyrand, 1864-66).

15. Kai-tangata, Maui and Hoa-hakanana’ia were plausibly one and the same mythical being. Kai-tangata is a mythical personage in Polynesian story representing the defeat of death and its manifestations, such as, cannibalism, much like the broader Polynesian story of the defeat of the man-eating Paoa bird (Tregear, 1891).

16. Indigenous trickster stories reveal a shape-shifter taking multiple forms to identify the Creator who is above any particular identity, yet encompasses them all. This Ultimate Reality speaks through creation to define the identity and essence of the real person as one who maintains harmony with others and harmony with the land (Black Water, Weasel Fat & Wolf Child, 2010).

74 Chapter 5 - Tupahotu: To Carry the First Man The prophecy of the Rainbow Warriors comes from several separate Native American traditions (Fuller Stone, 1990; Manataka American Indian Council). There have been many Indigenous visionaries with tales of the bearded ones who would come from over the Eastern Ocean. The Indigenous Americans were given a list of signs to watch for as to whether these newcomers would be friendly or hostile. Like Maui and Hina-iti, the Indigenous people are always looking for relationships they can trust. The world has been waiting over 500 years for the Rainbow Warriors. How will these Warriors of the Rainbow be received? These are the warriors of peace who tread lightly on the land, giving back at least as much as received.

Many nights went by and I spent them finding the harekuras1 of the other clans and listening to their chants, their stories and their lineages. I began to learn them and notice their differences and similarities. Each clan had its own unique stories, yet there was always a common thread that bound them all together weaving a patch-work quilt across the island. I would always return to my cave before sunrise.

I began to develop a growing interest toward the Tupahotu clan. There was something about that clan who watched over the volcano quarry, called Rano Raraku, since it was located on their territory. I hid at night just outside their harekura, listening to the Tupahotu tohunga tell their stories. These stories were most related to this volcano quarry where all the statues were made. They often spoke of how the moai statues walked from the quarry after a time being fed just like the winner of the birdman egg hunt. In fact, the statues were considered to be like baby birds hatching from the volcano nest. Another story described them as baby turtles, where the entire island was the mother turtle.

75 My curiosity kept me going back to this clan night after night and I was developing a fondness of those who would kill me had I been discovered.

Then one night, when the moon was full, I easily found my way outside the harekura of the Tupahotu clan. I sat as if in open daylight, yet none of the watchers or warriors had noticed me.

However, far off on the hill toward Poike, was the silhouette of a sorcerer.

Punga-varevare sounded the alarm and I was discovered and ran for my life. A halfdozen men were after me. I slipped around rocks and shrubs in a waning hope to escape.

Though I ran very fast, a warrior caught me by the arm. He struck me with a strong man’s blow. All at once, my head went numb and rang with the force of this adult hitting me on the nose. He hesitated at his assault on the innocent, so I broke away and ran down a ravine to the shore. There was a hollow in the rocks and I took refuge there.

Nervously wiping the blood from my nose, I fully expected to be discovered and killed. I looked up at the stars and there was Taranga, all alone outside Ikaroa.2 Taranga is the celestial mother of Hina. Taranga found lost children and put them back in the canoe which floats across the river of the Milky Way through the underworld. I prayed to her as I gazed at her in the sky during this time of terror.

“Taranga, come and rescue me, for I too am alone.”

Above an abrupt struggle began. Men were yelling; there was a number of swift thuds with a club and the noise of a great fight dwindled down to a final, “And don’t come back!” Then silence. I listened with my heightened senses as a single set of steps approached. My heartbeat kept time with each second of suspense. My mind had

76 nowhere to wander. I had already wandered too far into the enemies’ desolate territory, only to realize that fear mingled with loneliness produces despair.

I gazed up again at Ikaroa, the Milky Way, blurry now through tears of terror and I prayed: Taranga, if this be my time, O Taranga, Take my hand.

For I am outside the Great Canoe3 If only the Great Fish would swallow me Then I would be hidden from the foe.

Take me to Ikaroa, I am alone in the darkness just like you, Taranga, mother of Hina.

And what if Hina were left alone on Turtle Island?

Her own son, Maui would have died In the same desolation I find myself.

Then you would have no grandson, to steal the fire from the Underworld, To noose the Sun at the End of the Earth, Te Pito te Henua, To fish up the islands of life, Maui, to replace my uncle, Rapa, who died And now gazing upon me from Ikaroa, with compassion he beckons you To swim to me and rescue me.

I know you are not just a spark of light I know you are a spark of hope I know you enlighten lost wayfinders When they see you and the anchor, they are safe.

77 There you are; there is the anchor; I am safe.4 How will you rescue me? Is it by magic? Is it by mana? Tell me.

I know you want me to imagine The most astonishing event that will pull me out Of this impossible pit.5 In confidence I pause for your swift reply For a grandmother can run unhindered By age or obstacle to rescue her own children.

Suddenly, the face of Rapa, my beloved uncle stepped before me. My emotions overwhelmed me. It was actually Maui, for they looked so much alike. He was wounded though victorious over six men. “There is my little starboy, Hotu-iti. Did you think the ancestors in the stars would watch down on you without sending their servant to intervene on your behalf?�

My face lit up with a wide uncontainable grin that made my bruised face sore, though I was too elated to care about the pain.

His face was focused on me and shone all at once with a concern and a relief that made me feel like I truly belonged in his circle.6 My relief raised my heart to perceive the stars of our common ancestors glittering in his eyes.

78

Figure 9: Maui, Prince of Easter Island, who welcomed Hotu-iti7 (Illustrated by Dansereau, 2010).

He lifted me up in his arms, my nose pressed out blood upon his shoulder to mingle with his wound. And then I was enlightened. Then I knew, I belonged to this island. True, I had not earned the right, I has not a claim on the land, I had nothing of value to purchase a seat, nor was I as wise or as strong as any other. But someone greater than I has taught me that the blood beating from frail hearts pumps out the same sacred color in all people. And there is no reason for that Elixir of Immorality to flow red upon

79 the earth apart from a testimony that all people, even all creatures, belong. By this blood, which came from the red clay of Mother Earth, all creatures will return to her embrace.

Maui began to carry me home to my cave. He had been watching my movements at night and was ready to protect me had there been such a discovery. We had not reached Tuu territory when over a dozen men began to pursue us. Maui made a high whistle, the kind of sound he used to gather his warriors. Maui thrust me over his good shoulder and began to run even faster than his enemies. Unfortunately, I had my face turned to the pursuers as Maui ran. Since he had a wound and a load, they eventually began to gain on us. I was quite concerned. Some spears were being thrown, but to no avail. More frightening was the slow gain of the dozen that seemed to drain the hope of my life. I had nothing to do but look at the face of the man who wanted to kill me.

Closer he came, ten feet away; closer still, five feet. Maui was my guardian, my hope.

Yet, this enemy had the look of rage. It was the look of men at war. My mind searched aimlessly for a hope, for I did not want to prepare for death. The hopelessness and fear caused me to begin to cry.

Maui whistled again, as if to command. This stirred me from my trance of despair long enough to notice the face of the enemy upon me turn quickly from a face of rage to a sudden cowering fear.

Then, all at once, the two giants, Hanga and Honga, were upon the dozen. I felt the arm of Hanga breeze past my head in time to connect with the neck of my pursuer.

Maui kept his run and I watched a dozen men being tossed like the reeds of Rano Raraku.

My sobbing turned into chuckles of delight, not so much over the pain experienced by my enemies, but in the relief that my life was saved. It was a comical and terrible sight to see

80 so many men, stronger and bigger than I, being scattered like twigs even as they threw themselves upon the giants.

Even with his wound, Maui had me at the cave, over a five mile run, in perhaps twenty minutes. Yet, we were scarcely at the cave entrance for a few minutes when Hanga and Honga had returned. Maui’s face and body glistened in the early dawn light, but the giants had no sweat upon them, not even a scratch or a bruise.

I broke the silence by asking, “Did you all know I was alive?”

Maui replied, “Hina-iti cared to share of your whereabouts to the circle that cares about you.”

I added, “It is good to have Hanga and Honga in our circle.”

The three men chuckled. They were good friends, in spite of all the pressures put upon the man by the business of the clan and the island.

Maui crouched down to my level and said, “Show me a giant and I will show you the two gentlest men of the island.”

Hanga and Honga blushed like harekura children with the tohunga’s red-ochre blessing covering their faces.

Maui was their leader because he possessed a haka-hau-ahua8 within as great and as able as the giants’ external strength. It was this inner strength, this quick spirited confidence he expressed that drew others to his leadership. His example taught me true leadership. Maui never made opportunities to boast, yet he stood up when presented with a challenge. What impressed me the most was that I never felt Maui wield his power. He never used his influence to embarrass others or for malice or deceit. He would make the children of the clan laugh with delight a thousand times before he caused his enemy to

81 shudder with fear. And in this benevolence was his haka strength. His amiable compassion enabled me to eventually trust my new island leadership and to even accept that Maui, was Maui, not Rapa.

Over the next few days, Maui’s shoulder wound had festered and he fell into no small fever. Since I was hid in the cave, Hina brought me news of his waning strength.

Hina said, “He is falling in and out of a trance. The elders are discussing his words which he repeats: ‘They are coming… unite the island… they are coming!’” Hina added, “They must be the floating islands of her grandmother Iwi’s dreams.”

I fell asleep and dreamt in my cave of these terrible things. I tried to wake myself, but was deep in the whirl-pool of unconscious fright.

Gratefully, I awoke with a nudging from Hina who had with her a very skinny uncle Rapa returning to me in my dark and sorrowful cave. But it was not Rapa, it was Maui, the brother of Hina-iti. His fever had broke and the sweat fever fast for four days enabled him to fit into the cave and visit me. Maui wanted to offer me the schooling of a prince, at least half as much as Hina was offering all of her royal wisdom.

“First,” Maui said, “I want to place a hollow bone of my great grandfather, Terahai, in each of your ears, so that you may be able to listen to the teachings of our ancestors.”

Maui paused to ensure I understood and then continued with, “Inside the hollow bones are tiny rolled banana leaves with an incantation written on them.”

Maui pierced the bones through my ears. The fierce pain brought a tear to my eye on the side of the piercing, but I refused to flinch in order to honor the ancestors of this island with my courage.

82

Figure 10: Hotu-iti, the narrator, after an ear piercing ceremony9 (Illustrated by Dansereau, 2011).

Hina sang a comfort song that distracted me from the piercing:10 Terahai o Rongo Koroharua o Rongo Riki-ka-atea o Rongo Hotu-nui o Rongo Hotu-iti o Rongo Listen to the Ancestors Our little brave blonde brother forever.

83 How did your hair light up With the rays of dawn?

Our little brave blonde brother forever, Hotu-iti.

The power of a comfort song can never be exaggerated. In the depth of pain the sweetest gift is given. In the carving out of my spirit during the painful ritual, the song filled my entire being.

After Hina repeated the song for each piercing, Maui added, “In this way you belong to us and we belong to you, our true brother.”

“This is the purpose of this island’s ceremonies, to bind our identity to the land and to reinforce the character of the real person who in future difficulties will not feel too out of place. This is the making of a true leader.”

The pain was now throbbing in my ears to the tune of the beating of my heart drum. “What was the purpose of this pain?” I thought.

As if reading my mind, Maui said, “Hotu-iti! Pain happens in life. It takes on many forms and may occur on any occasion. I have given you the gift of pain to solidify in your memory the important teachings you are now receiving.

“For your learning in our clan has already begun with the song of Hina-iti. The song named the great-grandfather whose bones are now in your ears. It also shares the name of the god of listening written on the banana leaf wrapped up inside the bones in your ears.

“Hina-iti named you, ‘Hair-like-the-rays-of-dawn.’ And everyone on the island looks to you with the same spark of life we feel when dawn stirs us up to dance to the new sun.

84 “Never forget this affirmation that Hina and I have given you. Let the pain be the bottomless pit and let the song of Hina fill it with our ngaro-aroha11, our hidden devotion for you. Our devotion is hidden in your heart like the roots of a great tree hidden in the earth, never to be exposed to decay; like the greatest trees of the island, which can only grow in the crevasses sheltered from the strong cool winds.�

The pain taught me to remember this moment and the Siren’s song satiated me with an endless fountain of hope and affirmation that I truly belonged with a sacred unbreakable family bond to Maui and Hina-iti. I was forever grateful to Hina and Maui, for I knew I belonged, in spite of the greatest pain of all, rejection. What would it be like to feel the peaceful embrace of acceptance by the broader circle of the island? For now, I clung to the affirmation of Hina and Maui.

Maui taught me how to light a fire from wood. He taught me the dances of various chants of the royal family. He showed me the trades of his clan that every prince was taught so the rites of dying elders were protected. Maui shared the lineage of the clan and ensured that I memorized every family tree, in every clan of the tribe.

At the mouth of the cave, I pondered all these teachings in my heart that was swelling with affirmation, even as my ears throbbed with the bones of the ancestors, who addressed me with the name, Hair-like-the-rays-of-dawn, not as a mere token, but as a member of the clan, and so, I sat and listened to the sweetest throbbing pain of true belonging.

Maui was amazed when I shared with him the lineage of some of the clans of the Hotu-iti tribe. He was excited to know the early wananga and most of the deities of the eastern tribe were identical to their own western tribal clans.

85 Maui shared with me the importance of his name and how the deity Maui noosed the sun at the land at the end of the earth, which was our island of Te Pito te Henua.

Maui, the trickster, needed the hair of his sister, Hina, Maiden of the Moon, for all other lines would burn up in the fire of the sun.

Maui concluded, “Only the wisdom of Hina was strong enough to resist the flames.”

Hina-iti nudged Maui over while laughing out, “I told you so!” And she whipped him with her hair. Just then a gust of fresh air came from the cave entrance close to where we sat.

Maui laughed and said, “Well okay then, Hine-ngaro! No more will I punch the face of your unwanted suitors.”

At that Maui scurried up the cave to the light of day.

“Why did Maui call you Hine-Ngaro?” I asked. I dared not ask about the suitors, for everyone knew that Hina’s love was tapu from the Koro-orongo tribe on the other side of the war. All the suitors from friendly clans she would brush off, and not a few of them had black eyes for coming around a second time due to the fists of Maui, the protective brother.

Hina-iti turned to me with a sigh and said, “Hine-ngaro, is the greatest name of Hina, the moon goddess. Her name means the wind of the underworld land of spirits, the hidden breath of life. Ngaro also means to love and to hide. That is why Maui now calls me Hine-ngaro, because I have loved you like a son by hiding you in this underworld cave.

86 “Tell me more about Hine-ngaro!” I pleaded, if for no other reason but that she might forget about Turi, her tapu love.

Hina-iti said, “My child, among the gods, Hina saw how Maui was raised in the top-knot of his mother’s hair. So she helped us hide the statue, Hoa- hakanana’ia in the Orongo village house. The wisdom hair of Maui’s mother is the Rongorongo prayers themselves wrapped around the wooden tablets as they are recited by the priests of Orongo village. That is why the tablets are wound in the protective covering of Hina’s tapa bark and that is why the hair of the statue contains Rongorongo carvings. Hina went to the moon to gather all the prayers of Orongo by using the waning and waxing of the moon to weave the threads of those prayers. With these threads she pounds out the tapa cloth that forms our pure clothing making us acceptable to sit in the sacred circle of Makemake, the Creator. To wear the clothes of Hina, is to live a good life.”

I asked, “Why did Hina choose the moon?”

“My child, the moon is a mirror of our existence, called our haka-hau-ahuastrength and this mirror shares with us a view of the sacred spirits walking among us from maata, the deep swamp of death seen in the swamp of the volcano Rano Kao. There are many good spirits reflected in the moon that protect us from evil and death.”

I pressed for more, “How can they walk among us if they are in that swamp?”

“If the swamp of death is a heartbeat away from us, how can it not be right here, my child?” Hina explained, “The first Hina is the princess of the sky who in our story fell from rangi above as the first mother and the Maiden of the Moon. Hina has made a calendar to make it easier for us to understand the patterns and tides of the moon.”

I blurted, “I know these 30 days of the moon calendar...”

87 “That is a start, Hotu-iti,” Hina began to whisper, “but that is only the beginning of what only the tohunga priests recite from our sacred tablets.”

I gasped in amazement, “You know more than the grandmother’s chants! You also know the tohunga chants!... Hina?”

She nodded modestly, “I, too, would listen at times outside the harekura sacred teaching houses. Some of the tohunga chants I learned, since some of these chants are similar to the string game chants and other chants that we all know.” 12 I was puzzled with awe and fear, “Why Hina-iti? Why are we chosen to know these heavy and powerful things?”

Hina replied, “Perhaps so I would have the power to overcome the underworld spirits swimming in the swamp of Rano Kao that day I saved you from drowning there.”

Hina spoke again with words of the sort I would become accustomed to, yet always marvel at how they elevated me to a place above the misty clouds of my ignorance and fear to the enlightened view of day.

This is what she said, “Some things are given to you, Hotu-iti, from above....

Sometimes the Creator gives you something that no man would dare to give, yet no man has the right to keep from you. All the spiritual knowledge. These are the days of raising the tapu, or lifting the restriction on things to liberate us from all our failings.” She whispered, “There is a very sacred prophecy that states: The wananga13 will appoint a child to lead us back to our precious homeland and restore it.”

Hina left me in the cave with the promise she and Maui would take me to the graves of the ancestors in the cover of darkness. This was to further confirm that I was fully adopted into the clan.

88 Though I feared the trip to the wisdom-keepers’ graves in enemy territory, I desperately anticipated the company of friends for the cave’s darkness was surpassed only by its loneliness.

It was like being woken by angels. Hina lifted me to the cave narrows and I crawled out with them. Maui was thin from fasting, but strong like a whale carrying me on his shoulders all the way. Hina led the way. The feeling of their company heightened my senses and allowed me to take in the wonderful sky, the air and the sounds.

Apart from their footsteps there was the silence of no wind, yet the breakers could be heard in the distance. There were whistles of bugs and rats. The clan watchers were quiet tonight, though we were at war. The still air cooled my face as we walked along, not too fast for the age-old path worn deep in the rocks. Occasionally, Hina would stop at a bend or a hill to scout for watchers and then we would go on; sometimes on the main path, sometimes by a hidden way. Hina pointed at the full moon as it broke through a small cloud.

“Hina gazes down her favor upon us,” she said.

It seemed that the moon lit up the earth as if it were day. The stars were bold and bright as every night of my life. 14 This night sky brought me back to the wayfinding canoe of my first clan of origin. I tried to remember the stars Kui had taught me how to see and how to open the doors of their houses on the horizon. Maui told me the stories of the stars as he had come to know them. He did not labour to carry me, even after the moon was halfway across the sky.

When we neared the graves Maui whispered, “Reach out with your arm and feel the ancestors.” 15

89 I reached out and the hair stood on the back of my neck and I said, “Rapa, I can feel an ancestor.”

Maui replied, “And they can feel you, my son.”

Everything Maui did and said was just like Rapa, my uncle. When two worlds collide, there will be one from each world that looks exactly like the other. Their parents are from different worlds, but they appear as twins to teach the world about how all creatures belong to the same family.

On Maui’s back I felt he was truly Rapa, though deep down I knew he was not.

And when I looked up to the stars that night I felt my mother and father, my Kui wayfinder and my clan looking down upon me. The feeling of kinship became so intense I began to laugh with tears of joy. I wanted this walk to never end, since I knew at that moment I was walking with my mother and father.

“My mother and father are here,” I said.

Maui and Hina-iti looked at me with a smile. They understood that they were my mother and father. And they were, but my first parents were here, too. I did not need to see them, I perceived them. The cave taught me how to perceive things when my senses were turned off in the dark. I chanted a most sacred dirge within my heart: Now that I am in the light enlightened after hiding my senses, All these things I sense mean so much more They weave together into a new reality By perception learned in darkness and sorrow When I asked Makemake the Creator To become something more in me about life and love

90 Something more that I could never know before the pain.

And even more, the stories I have learned and their chants add meaning to all that I see. I am no longer afraid to go back to the cave, since it has given me these gifts that might be called enlightenment, at least when it comes to knowing some purpose for desolation, fear and sorrow.

Maui and Hina shared with me the importance of this trip to the graves of the ancestors. They shared how the fifteen moai statues were the first deified ancestors and all others buried there are permitted to share these stones as their common Standing Up Rods under the direction of the first fifteen spirit mediums.

Maui said, “My son, you will feel their power when we get there, like lightning.

That is why the clan to the north is called, Hiti-uiru, Reappearing Flash of Lightning, to testify to the power or mana of heaven constantly sustaining us by the kindness of our Creator who is protecting us through our own grandparents.”

Maui and Hina spoke to me of the tribes whose territory we were passing through.

16

They did not tell me of the fatal danger if we were discovered on this night’s journey,

but they did say that grandmother, Iwi, had been fasting for this important passage and she is currently chanting for us.

The full moon appeared as a giant blue stone and lit up the white sands of the shore almost like day. The white caps were easily seen on the sea, but the moon to the west appeared to carve a smooth path of light through the waves.

Hina-iti pointed this path out and said, “Look the ancestors travel to and from the stars tonight.”

“Why?” I asked.

91 Maui replied as he placed me gently on the sacred sand of our ancestors’ graves, “They bring our offering to Rangi, the sky father and return to us mana or power from Rehua, the tenth heaven.”

Up from the shore one could not miss the largest ahu on the island, called, Tongariki.

The air was cool as was the sands on the feet as we walked. To honour their memory Hina wrote the calendar on the sands of the low tide.

Figure 11: The Sacred Temple Platform or Ahu of Tonga-riki17 (Illustrated by Dansereau, 2011).

I nervously spoke, “No one has ever taken me to the sacred burial shores of our ancestors.”

Maui replied, “Feel their requests beckoning your feet burrowing in the sand.”

Hina added, “My child, this was the sand heaped upon the grave, so as to fill the body after decay. That way these sacred pebbles would fill their bodies to make our ancestors pure toward heaven with the wananga, who is the spirit of the deceased who, as a faithful wisdom keeper, knew all the incantations for our sacred ceremonies. The

92 pebbles are sacred because the ocean is the belly of our most sacred bird deity, Tane, and these pebbles washed by countless waves of Tane’s heart are his very gizzard stones that purify our bodies after death.”

As Hina spoke Maui sifted a handful of stones from the shore that shone in the moonlight for they were polished perfectly by the waves.

Maui gave me a stone and said, “When you are alone in the cave of desolation and the wrath of the living begins to overwhelm you, place this stone under your tongue and a myriad of the dead will come to your aid. For it is the dead who look down upon you as the stars, so tender and full of aroha devotion for you.”

I looked up to the stars and that feeling of my parents watching over me came back as clear as ever. Then I clutched the stone in my little fist and did not let it go until I was back in the cave. After gazing at the stars, I looked down on Hina’s writing in the sand.

Maui crouched to my level, grasped my shoulders and looked me in the eye. He said, “We came when the moon was full, because this is when Hina, Maiden of the Moon, shines her light down on the words we write in the sand. The words will become clear to you in the moonlight.”

“Rapa,” I inquired, “why not just come here in the day?”

Maui replied, “My son, you will be seen and possibly killed, for the tribes fear your strange lineage. But even if there was peace, the sun would burn your eyes as you gaze at the white sands to memorize these words.”

93 I focused on the sacred words Hina had written on these most sacred pebbles and noticed a pure white bone of our ancestor protruding out of the sand to accent the sacred chant.

“Is this the way all the islanders receive their death rite?” I asked.

“No, just the royals and the most sacred tohunga.” Maui continued, “Most people are placed on a pile of rocks by the sea along the shore just to the east of here, for they must make the journey in their spirits through the stones of the Rano Raraku quarry like the statue moai themselves have. The tohunga have already made this journey in life and so when they die they are already akin to the stone moai standing on the platforms.”

Hina-iti whispered, “These are the first of Hina’s instructions. Memorize the symbols before the tide of Tane washes them away.” Within minutes the tide rushed in.

She then instructed me to rewrite on the sand the symbols that I remember. Sure enough, only a few of them were recalled. Princess Hina taught me the meaning of these few symbols.

Hina continued to explain the symbols while writing them in the sand: “The moon’s arching left represent Hina herself. The moon’s arching right represent the moon or marama in its 28 to 30 phases.18 Our language developed this way honouring the earth and sky with all its elements and creatures in order to weave us into it. That way we would learn how to rest on the earth as our mother who nourishes us and then gaze at the stories of the stars as our father, Rangi teaches us how to return all that we so graciously receive.”

Hina whispered, “I never look at the moon without reciting this prayer ... and my heart burns with devotion for the first mother’s love for us.”

94 She then stopped teaching and sat on the beach enjoying the soft sound of the surf in the moonlight.

I inquired, “Why have you stopped teaching?”

“I cannot teach you more than what you recalled before the tide washed it away,” she continued, “so another day we will try again to carve the moon calendar chant into the sand before the tide washes it away. Then I will teach you more, until you have consumed the nourishment of the chant and are enlightened to its hidden meaning. It is then that you will learn how the chant revolves in unison with the moon’s monthly cycle.

This will be the ultimate test for you.” Hina knelt and gazed into my eyes to fix her words in my mind and heart, “Hotu-iti, to test you as a harekura apprentice you must learn every sacred place, every sacred story. You will only learn this by your own curiosity and your own discovery. Ask yourself, ‘How does the moon’s circle in the sky complete the moon on the tablets and complete the circle of your clan and this tiny island world of ours?’

This last question of Hina puzzled me and I pondered it in my heart.

All of this learning was getting to me and I inquired to my elders, “Why do I have to learn all these teachings about the moon and ancestors? I am getting tired of learning.”

Hina looked at me with a smile and said, “You are right! Tomorrow you will go to the ocean and meet Hina, face to face.”

This puzzled me more than ever.

Maui only laughed.

But the laughter was enough sound for the morning watch of the Tupahotu clan to send a dozen warriors bounding toward us across the sand.

95 Maui grabbed me under the arms and followed Hina at a speed I had only travelled on the sea. It was like I was walking on air, a true birdman of the island. The sense of urgency and the sacred atmosphere made it all seem surreal. We were running north toward the ahu temple platform, while the Tapuhotu came from the east and the west. The fifteen statues and their platform was a sacred site of refuge, meaning that the enemy could not kill us there. We arrived at the wall of the back of the ahu. Hina and Maui boosted me up and in turn joined me between the moai statues. We ran towards an open pit dug out of the lower region of the ahu. Hina jumped in and reached to grab me.

Then Maui jumped in. I moved back under an overhanging rock. Hina and Maui stood like the guardians of the underworld gate protecting me.

96

Chapter 5 Notes 1. Harekura, literally, House Ablaze or Red House; the sacred houses where the tohunga priests perform ceremonies and teach sacred knowledge (Tregear, 1891).

2. Taranga is the star Canopus which lies just outside of Ikaroa, lit. the Long Fish, the Polynesian name for the Milky Way, where the ancestors live (Tregear, 1891).

3. The Great Canoe is another term for the Milky Way (Tregear, 1891).

4. Tatauro is the starry anchor or the constellation of the Cross (Du Feu, 1996). In Rapa Nui archaeoastronomy & ethnoastonomy, Edmundo Edwards writes that Tatauro is a modern name for the Crux constellation, while three of its stars are named Mata te Tautoru, the eyes of the three handsome ones, perhaps akin to Tautoru, Orion’s Belt, known as the chief and his two sons (Edwards & Edwards, 2010).

5. One of the world’s most passionate prayers comes from the Hindu where the god asks us to think of the most amazing miracle that the deity in her benevolence is eager to provide (Shaivam.org, 1996).

6. Indigenous identity involves teaching the youth their active and useful roles within the clan, which highlight the values of belonging (Black Water, 2009).

7. This is an illustration of the narrative’s fictional character Maui, son of the island’s chief, Hotu-nui.

Maui has a wound on his shoulder after rescuing the boy, Hotu-iti, from six men. Maui is named after the deified ancestral hero, Maui-potiki, who noosed the sun (Tregear, 1891).

8. Haka, hau-ahua: strength (Tregear, 1891).

9. Hotu-iti is pictured here after his ears have been pierced by Prince Maui. The pain has been soothed when the island Princess, Hina-iti offers a song of acceptance into the Miru clan.

10. Barthel, 1978.

11. Ngaro-aroha: hidden devotion (Fornander, 1969; Tregear, 1891).

12. Tregear identifies how females were also admitted to chant instruction: “…exception made in regard to women … after being specially prepared and sanctified, were admitted to learn incantations” (Tregear, 1904, p. 382).

13. The wananga were rarely spoken of and only in whispers due to their sacred status. The wananga represented the spirit medium of the deceased ancestor who was a great tohunga while living. A great tohunga was considered one who knew all the chants and ceremonies and how to implement them (Tregear, 1891).

14. Indigenous world-view includes a view of the night sky and the knowledge of the stories of the stars (Black Water, 2009).

15. Black Water, Weasel Fat & Wolf Child, 2010.

16. Miru or Miro means boat. Each year there was a ceremony called Miro-oone, or Earth-boat festival to celebrate the migration to the prosperity of the first parents of this land. Miru dwells beside Haumoana to the south. Haumoana means Blue Stone in the Sea and represents the sign of the royal line. This sign is confirmed in the stars above and the stone in the sea off of the shore to the west (Barthel, 1978; Englert,

97 1970; Tregear, 1891). Even after the generations the means of sea travel was lost on Easter Island, the Polynesian clans maintained the traditions of reading the stars in the skill of the wayfinders.

17. Ahu Tonga-riki. This statue platform is located on the beach below Rano Raraku, the quarry volcano where most of the statues were carved. This is the largest Ahu temple platform spanning over 500 feet, with fifteen moai statues. It is situated on the largest ancient gravesite on Easter Island (Barthel, 1978).

18. Matau, meaning right side, also means fish-hook, which is the moon as it begins to wax on the right side before it is half-full and is at the same time a sign of Hina’s baited fishhook used by Maui and Tagaroa to lift up the island of life. The word for left, maui, also means life (Tregear, 1891). That is why this symbol is tattooed on the left thigh of the island women, as a reminder that left represents life and Maui, is our life and helps give birth to children, helps garden and helps sustain all life on the island (Tregear, 1891).

98

Chapter 6: Called into the Light The Shawnee have a saying, “We are all one child spinning through Mother Sky�

(Quoteland.com). It is true global warming is an unprecedented crisis, but it is also an opportunity to redesign the way human beings coexist with each other and the environment (Gore, 2006). In spite of human disharmony against every ecosystem, there is a creative force that has sustained life on earth for millions of years. It holds together every system, every creature, every stone, and every molecule. Indigenous philosophy trusts that all things are related and rest in the arms of Mother Earth. Would such a mother ever forget her children? This wisdom also understands that within this embrace is a balance between chaos on the one hand and order on the other. Indigenous wisdom considers these extremes with a profound sense of hope (Black Water, 2009). There is no need to overemphasize the chaos. Rather it is more productive to focus on the shift towards a new harmony.

There were a dozen or so men with spears and clubs suddenly upon us, surrounding the empty grave at Tonga-riki. The men were talking amongst themselves as to whether or not we should all die then and there. Perhaps they could drag us off the ahu platform away from this sacred place of refuge. That was their decision. As they were dragging Hina and Maui away they reached for me. I was frightened to a feverish chill, not so much for me as for the loss of Maui and Hina who were like mother and father to me.

Thoughts were difficult to sort out in the dragging and screaming shuffle. Maui and Hina were halfway to the edge and I was still clinging for dear life to the stone overhang. Then I remembered one of the stories of the wisdom keeper when I had listened intently behind the harekura screen of this Tupahotu enemy clan. The story had a word said that saved the last Long-ear1 from being killed by the clan of the Short-ears in

99 the ditch of Poike. I replayed the story in my mind again and again. What was that lifesaving word?

“Please, Hina above!” I prayed, “The clubs are being raised against your daughter Hina-iti! The spear is about to be thrust into the heart of your child Maui!”

Just then a cloud drifted past the moon and as the sands of this sacred shore lit up, so did my mind.

And so I called, “Orro! Orro! Orohie!”

The madness came to a sudden standstill. Club was not swung and spear was not thrust. The weapons remained hung in the air and all eyes looked with bewilderment at me.

My look of terror turned into a worried quizzical pause as I called out another, “Orro?”

Yes. The story had mana. The story had power. The story meant something.

The warriors of Tupahotu showed honour to the story of our ancestors and they spared our lives. I hoped they had forgotten that the two were killed and only the one who called “Orro!” was spared.

Sure enough, back at the harekura or the house of the chief of Tupahotu, they discussed how only the one who cried, “Orro!” was spared. The tapu of my lineage was raised and an exception was made to spare the life of the ‘one’ and incorporate me into their clan. I was safe. But Maui, my Rapa, and his sister, Hina-iti, were bound and would be killed at the sunrise, so their father, Hotu-nui could be notified in the distance and watch in powerless humiliation the death of his heirs. It was believed that such humiliation would turn the strength or haka of the Tuu tribe over to the Hotu-iti tribe.

100 I was tied to the same rock of Hina-iti and Maui, since I had yet to prove their trust as an adopted servant. Hina and Maui knew of the fateful plan that would begin at sunrise with the offering of their lives.

I began to cry.

Hina-iti sang me a dirge of comfort: There was a boy with hair so blonde, He walked across the water from the East. 2 Some knew his name sounded softly Like the oar down gently Upon the White Sea Foam The crystal clear White Sea Foam.

When he came he found his people surrounded, He fought a good fight But lost his two friends on either side.

And he was only spared when he made the call: “Orro! Orro! Orohie!” The Call of the Dove.

The White Sea-foam Dove Who walked across the waters from the East.

For some reason Hina’s comfort song completely reassured me. I voiced my new found hope and premonition, “Rapa and Hina!? Something good is about to happen.”

Maui was not so optimistic: “Killing us would send our father into despair. Koroorongo would gain momentum and win the island. If this is true, there is a grave problem. Already in an act of war, the Hotu-iti tribe has destroyed the seedlings of our

101 allies, the Marama-ngaure clan. If their power became greater, they would destroy the crops of the entire island, causing everyone on the island to risk starvation.”

Though Maui’s tone rang true, I wondered how a people would turn on themselves so easily by the exploitation and abuse of all their resources from so kind and benevolent a Mother Earth.

Just before sunrise a prince from Koro-orongo came and said to the guards, “You must go get your princes to witness the killing. Alert the warriors, for Hotu-nui is approaching the hill of vision.”

There was a look of joy upon the face of Hina-iti, though she tried to conceal it, and the reason was that this Koro-orongo prince was Turi, the love of Hina-iti, coming to rescue her. Maui, too, was holding back a grin. Then, when the guards had left, the man ran up with a knife. To my relief we were all cut free of the cords. It was Hina-iti’s love, named Turi. Turi was the son of Mata-nui, the chief of Koro-orongo, the enemy of Hotu-nui.

Hina-iti embraced Turi, “My father still refuses to consent to our love, my prince of the three hills of Poike.”

Turi replied, “Go! Run for your lives. I will stall your enemy who pursues you.”

As the sun rose on Orongo, the three of us fled west toward the safety of the territory of the Tuu tribe. We could see behind us a troop of warriors from Tupahotu and Koro-orongo in pursuit, maybe a half-mile back. The royal family with their warriors were about six miles ahead.

Hina-iti was about as fast as a strong warrior and Maui also, though I was on his shoulders. Soon we reached the border of Tuu. Those warriors with the Koro-orongo

102 clan slowed their advance for they were too small to handle Hotu-nui without their own chief, Mata-nui and his guard of seasoned warriors. Instead of pursuing us further, the Koro-orongo warriors began destroying what they could of the green shoots of the Hotunui’s tribe of Tuu. With little time before the arrival of Hotu-nui, the enemy warriors retreated to the safety of their own territory. This violence to the gardens was a sure act of war. At the border of opposing territories the Koro-orongo warriors turned to taunt Hotu-nui.

As we were approaching the warriors of Tuu, they were hidden from view by a hill between us. However, I could see Hotu-nui’s chiefly headdress dancing across the terrain and revealing how quickly he was closing in on us.

“Quickly! Here!” Hina-iti commanded.

Maui shuffled me into a crevasse, where Hina had lifted a rock. Again, I was alone in a dark cave. I heard the company coming as their feet pounded the ground above and the voices muffled as I shuffled deeper into the darkness, hoping I was out of sight and out of mind.

Above Hotu-nui demanded, “Where is the child?”

Maui answered, “He is here in the cave of Marama-ngaure.” 3 Hina stepped over the cave and said, “He is brave and courageous as your own son, Maui, for saving our lives.”

Hotu-nui’s expression humbled as he imagined the loss of his own children, “He saved you?”

Maui explained the entire story as if I were a legendary hero.

103 At the words of Maui, Hotu-nui bent to one knee to gain his breath. He crawled to the cave entrance and called, “My son! My son! Hotu-iti! Come to the light where I can see the pillar of a little man who saved my Hina-iti and my Maui.”

I gazed up to the light hardly believing my ears until I saw Hina-iti hugged her father with the same joy that welled up from deep within my belly.

As I crawled out from my Mother Earth, I jumped into the arms of my new father, Hotu-nui.

Hotu-nui laughed again as in the days of Hina-nui. Then he said to me, “You are white like a spirit out from you tupo!” 4 Then he turned to Hina-iti and Maui, “Your brother was dead and now he is alive.”

Both Hina and Maui placed a hand on their father’s shoulders. The heart of the chief had softened and I was free, at least on the west side of the island.

Back at the harekura, Hotu-nui gathered his clan. He then sent runners to the all the allied western tribes and called them to gather. The chiefs of the clans did not sit in his presence, since all had lost faith in their chief. Eyes of doubt and discouragement looked on from a wide circle of kin. Grumbling could be heard, even among the warriors and matriarch of all the troubles of the island. It was no lie that there was a serious risk of famine with all the damage to the young shoots caused by the war. Many were still concerned I would contaminate the noble lineage. Perhaps a compromise could be made with the eastern clans if I were handed over.

Maui spoke out with strength in his voice, “Sit! My brothers and sisters, your father and chief is about to speak!”

104 Maui and Hina-iti were the first to sit and then the giants, Hanga and Honga, sat down. The twins then began knocking several others down as far as they could reach.

The commotion caused a stir of laughter and everyone finally sat in turn.

Hotu-nui stood as a new man before his people. Even before he spoke, his commanding presence once again kindled a flicker of hope in everyone present. After a pause that set the tone, the chief said, “How do we determine the value of another? Is it by the color of their skin?”

Then giants chuckled, for they wondered why my skin, lightened to the appearance of a spirit of the dead, was not a sign enough to bring admiration and kinship from the clans.

The chief continued, “No! Not at all! The spirits of our ancestors would have abandoned us long ago.”

Others began to respond toward the chief, since they knew their deceased grandparents continually watched over them among the stars.

“But who have the ancestors dwelt with these past four years,” Hotu-nui said with a sure look my way.

The rising hum of the crowd confirmed a strong conviction that our greatest wanangas, who were faithful tohungas in their living years, chose the children to transfer their wisdom and power.

Hotu-nui rose his hand to silence all voices and spoke up with a rising strength, “Here is a child that we have called our enemy. We have not only spoke ill of him, but we plotted his own death…. Can one mere child cause us such harm? And yet what has

105 he done with his mana, his life? He has hid himself outside our sacred circles just to hear of our wisdom.”

There was a plea in Hotu-nui’s voice as he continued: “Then he gathered the affections of my son and daughter, even against my wounded perception. Do you think he would then suddenly take advantage of the only friends he had on this island? No!” Hotu-nui fell on his knees and cried out, “No!!! He saved the lives of my daughter and son, at the very moment they were under the spear and club of our enemy.”

All looked on in reverent silence as their chief pulled a bone knife and pointed to the east and his voice boomed on, “What does this pure act of valor make of this child?”

As every clan sounded benevolent suggestions in my favor, Hotu-nui reached out for my hand.

The chief continued as his voice rumbled out each word, “But by what standard do we know the heart of another? If not by the color upon the skin, I say it is by the color under the skin!”

The people gasped as Hotu-nui raised the knife and struck down upon my hand.

He swiftly did the same to his own hand. Everyone gasped as we held our bleeding hands together.

No one could so much as breath until the chief cried, “Because that color is one and the same, this child is my son!”

Even from the three hills of Poike, a cheer could be heard and loud enough for the birds of Motu-nui to take flight.

The great courageous voice of the many stirred the elders of the eastern clans to meet and beckon their warriors to seek a peaceful end of the war. Only Ponga-vare-vare

106 disagreed, because deep within his heart he was bent on power without wisdom. But keeping his ambition unknown, he offered a compromise.

All ears of the eastern elders listened to Ponga, “`When I was a child, my rite of passage to become a man was to crawl through the cave of Miru. In the cave we were to leave our hand print at the face of Makemake. If you want peace with the west, why not send our children from each clan into the cave. The first child out is the son of the island chief.”

There was some suspicion among the elders, but the plan of Ponga did sound fair.

However, the elders felt the death of Hina-nui, and the damage their warriors caused the crops would require gifts of appeasement and compensation for Hotu-nui and his allies.

With gifts of dried fish and other provisions, Mata-nui arrived at Miru with a peace procession under heavy watch by the warriors of Hotu-nui.

I sat in anticipation before the crowd.

Tangaroa-ika, our leading elder spoke first, “You have destroyed most of our green shoots and it is not certain that the precious seeds on reserve would even bear fruit if planted this late.”

Maui added, “How could you be so foolish as to destroy the crop we trade to you, Koro-orongo, for the fish off your shores?”

Since the Koro-orongo clan had the two main beaches of the island, they were charged with the main catch of fish around the tides and shallows. The clans of Tuu also fished in the reed boats for deep sea tuna, but replenished their coastal fish stocks for garden trade.

107 The offering of dried fish and provisions was presented by Mata-nui. He also spoke of the plan for peace they requested Hotu-nui and his elders to consider.

The objection of our wisdom keeper, Tangaroa-ika, was sadly and quickly overcome by the warriors’ approval of Mata-nui’s request. They decided that each of the seven clans, four of Tuu and three of Hotu-iti, would choose the bravest boys and the most beautiful girls among their families. Of the seven boys and seven girls chosen, they would send them into the cave to determine who would rise from the earth a prince and princess. It is good that children were chosen, since many of the adults were not thin enough to fit into the cave. Such a cave could only be entered by an adult who had been fasting for several days.

All the clans had gathered at Miru with all the feathered crowns and tapa gowns for the inauguration celebration of their island chief. A great feast and dance was held.

The tohunga prayed the chants on the tablets while the chosen 14 youth were covered in white dye, so that they would be welcome by the spirits of the underworld.

As the preparations of the tohunga were almost complete, Ponga-vare-vare slipped a bone knife into the tapa girdle of Tura. Tura was the youngest son of Mata-nui and brother of Turi. Turi was the strongest of the seven boys, as he had already been training for over a year beside his elder brother among the warriors. His sister, Poia, joined him in the cave.

I, Hotu-iti, overheard Ponga giving instructions to Tura on how to rise from the cave the son of the island chief. It was at this time that I slipped away and hid in the cave before the 14 youth entered.

108 I watched from the darkness how they gathered at the entrance. There they lit their torches and made their plan to break up into seven pairs in order to search for the face of Makemake. As the youth entered I positioned myself just out of the light of Tura and Poia. As soon as the others were out of sight, I called to Tura.

“Can you spare a light?”

Tura replied, “Sure, how about a light bone knife!”

I anticipated his swing and clutched his arm with both hands, while biting down hard on the base of his thumb. The knife fell and I threw it off into the dark. Then I scurried off to find the others.

Tura and Poia were soon pursuing me wielding a torch and a knife. I chose the longest passage in the hope I would find another to help me. Here I was with a foiled plan to save others, now trying to save myself. My advantage of knowing the cave was useless if the person with the knife had a torch. That was it. How do I get rid of the torch? I just had to stay away until it burnt out. I knew of a room ahead that broke into a passage that could lead me here again. However, Tura and Poia5 soon figured out my game and cut me off from both sides. I ran away from the knife and pushed the torch aside. It fell from Poia’s hands and splintered on the floor. The light was out. It was as dark as the underworld of Po Reinga. Tura and Poia held hands and charged toward me in the dark. I backed away as Turi blindly stabbed the bone knife at the path around my feet.

This prince and princess of Koro-orongo cornered me into the depth of the cave.

The cave narrowed at this point and pressed in on my chest as I advanced away from the pursuers. Hina-iti and her grandmother, Iwi, taught me that even when I was hemmed in

109 on all sides of the cave to remember that this was my mother earth, my Oone-henua, my Papa. And so, I was not afraid of the tight space. However, there was mud and, in order to advance, I had to hold my breath. Soon it would be the end of me.

Just as I was at the point of suffocation or capture by the children of the Koroorongo clan, I felt ahead of me the bones of another boy. It was the brother of Hotu-nui, who had died in his passage rite through the cave to manhood. To me, this was not an encouraging sign in my struggle. Yet, I found a way alongside his living remains6 and found a space to breathe. They were almost reaching out to me and could hear my breathing. I chanted an incantation of protection that my pursuers would not find me.

The boy chasing me laughed with what air remained in his lungs and he said, “You are right in front of me and trapped. Will you disappear?”

Then, I pulled the skeleton of Hotu-nui’s brother toward the voice of Tura, who was reaching toward me with the bone knife and he clutched the dead man’s bones.

Tura screamed for his life thinking that my spell had turned me into a skeleton.

The two retreated quickly out of the dead end in which I was cornered. As I was retreating to find my space, I felt a bracelet on the wrist of the skeleton. Then I remembered the story of Hina-iti and how her father and uncles were given a bracelet of protection from their mother as they entered the cave during their passage rite to adulthood.

After finding my way to the main hall I could hear several of the children crying and calling to each other: “We are lost! He is a skeleton! We are trapped!” They had burned out all their torches and some of the children were lost deep in the cave.

So I called out, “I know the way for you!”

110 Suddenly all the screeching came to a complete stop. It was the sound... of silence.7 Tura replied, “How can we trust you, Hotu-iti, with your trickery?”

“You will know me by my wonderful plan in the works.” I continued, “First we must save the others!”

I gathered those who were lost, one by one by guiding them to the skylight where Hina-iti and I used to sit. It took some time, but I instructed them how to use the thread to find the others. For over three years I had learned the deep hollows of this cave and I was able to give the children comfort with my knowledge. All the while I remained in the dark and kept my distance from Tura.

Tura said, “What is to keep me now from killing you? If I rise to the surface as friends, my family will regard me as a senseless traitor.”

Some agreed with Tura, while others commended me for saving their lives.

“You are not yet saved!” I insisted. “Which of you knows how to find the narrow passage?”

Tura jeered with ingratitude, “Together we can do it and we do not need you.”

I replied with a conviction of the goodness in every human spirit, “If you want to live, follow me!”

They began to follow me, one by one. First, those who were the most lost and, therefore, the most grateful that I rescued them. Then eventually, even Tura came along.

Instead of guiding them to the door, I brought them to the dripping pool.

Tura cried, “Where are we? This is a trap!”

I said, “It is your spring.”

111 Tura replied, “The springs come out with salt on the shore. There are no fresh water springs on Rapa Nui.” 8 I splashed the water up at the face of my enemy who felt the cool water and tasted its sweetness, sweeter than the rain of Ohiro.9 At first there was silence in the dark, but you could cut with a knife the feeling in the air full of Tura’s softening thoughts. Then I heard the water of the pool moving around the hand of Tura.

Poia touched his shoulder, “I am your family and I say we follow this great sign across the waters to this land we make our own.”

Tura washed his face with the water and drank and then he wept.

With the authority of a great chief, Tura said, “We have entered this cave as children, we will find our way as men and women to the face of Makemake and rise out of this cave to a new land of harmony with each other.”

There were no small cries of wonder and delight. In total darkness these fourteen children were enlightened by the pool and began to drink, splash and celebrate.

Tura cried, “This is the raising of the sacred tapu vaiora o Tane-manawa.” 10 Our celebration was extreme, since only moments ago we were enemies and those once lost felt sure to die. Now, they marvelled in a new wonder of vaiora hidden beneath our island.

I shared with them the value of this experience in contrast to those who train for war: “When we train for war our identity is lost in the mob, where our soul becomes bound by a circle of deceit. Yet, in the circle of Mother Earth we are alone in a cave.

112 This is the passage rite to your adulthood and in it we are intended to meet Makemake, the Creator, face to face.”

Poia replied, “It is true, then. I saw Makemake, when I was lost in the cave.”

Together we felt for the pit of bones where the handprints were made of former newly born adults. Once at the pit, we found enough organic matter to steal the flame of the underworld just like Maui.11 Tura scraped an impression of his vision of Makemake under the painted hands of many ancestors and we all gazed upon the Creator as if face to face. Not a word was said, but something happened there deep in the cave. It was powerful, it made perfect sense and it drew us together. At that moment we knew the spirit of the island would never die. We knew that we the children had a voice that would end the war.

I shared with them how to unite the island by saying, “Each of you repeat your lineage and we will find the common ancestral root.”

As they shared their lineage the children from every clan came to the realization that our first father was Hotu Matua12 and our first mother was Rei Pua. By these ancestors we all belonged to the same family. In the face of our struggles, we had forgotten the reality that our circles were linked together. But after meeting face to face, we have been brought together by our Creator, Makemake13.

One by one we stepped out of the cave. I was last and appeared as pallid as a ghost having not seen the sun for over three years. Some of the elders were convinced by this sign alone, for they painted the islanders with the white dye of the reipua root to mimic the likeness of ancestral spirits. Tura spoke and all the adults listened, for the heads of all the clans were present. The fourteen youth appealed to the clans for peace. I

113 stepped forward and presented Hotu-nui with the bracelet of his brother whose clean bones were a testament of immortality to the stars.

Hotu-nui held the bracelet in his hand. His expression changed from bewilderment to gratitude.

Poia said, “We had a vision of Makemake and placed his image with the seven impressions from Hotu-nui and his brothers, who made this same passage-rite in the cave.

We have come out alive from a death trap as a sign that this island is intended for peace, freedom and vitality in all living circles.”

Hotu-nui replied, “You have been enlightened to the ways of Maui, the trickster and Hina-ngaro,14 the mother who loves us. With the one who was your enemy, you have made a friend. Just as you have died in the cave and underworld land of our own demise, you will live long and prosper on this island under the guarantee of my life.”

The Island Chief raised my arm, turned to the people and cried, “Here is Hotu-iti, a man pulling for Turtle Island!”

The cheer could be heard from Orongo, atop the volcano Rano Kao. There was a great celebration that day. It was one of the great moments in our island’s history: the day all clans made peace and vowed to restore harmony to the land.

114 Chapter 6 Notes 1. The Long-ears, were members of the tribe associated with the long-eared statues and the Short-ears were associated with the short-eared statues. There were only six short-eared statues and over 800 long-eared statues. In Easter Island lore the clans of the Long-ears went to war with the Short-ears. The Long-ears made pits with the island trees to burn the Short-ears. The Short-ears learned of the plan and burned up the Long-ears in their own trap. One Long-ear was mercifully left to reproduce his own clan (Métraux, 1957).

Therefore, the story speaks of the reason there are more Long-ear gravestone moai statues. The islanders, born with ‘short ears’, are enlightened into the Longear clan (or listeners of the Orongo/Orohie birdman call) throughout passage-rites such as ear piercing which lengthens the ears and tattooing found on the backs of the Long-ear moai.

2. Walking across the water from the east is a continuation of the ancient Inca story of Viracocha, the sea foam deity who disappeared from the ancient region of Peru by walking over the ocean west, toward Easter Island (Coleman, 2007).

3. Marama-ngaure: another clan between the western Miru and the eastern Koro-orongo.

4. Tupo: a grave or tomb (Tregear, 1891).

5. It is not uncommon for names of mythical heroes in one region to resemble those in another. Here Poia is a name used in Polynesia and among the Blackfeet (Tregear, 1891; Black Water, Weasel Fat & Wolf Child, 2010).

6. Bones as living remains: there is an ancient Polynesian belief that the skull and bones are signs of the immortality of the dead, because they do not decay as easily as the flesh. Tregear writes of the ancient burial feast of the gods, where “a portion was also offered to the deceased person (present physically in their bones). Of course the dead man could not eat the substance of the food but its soul (aria) or the spirit of the food was supposed to be devoured (Tregear, 1904, pp. 396-397).

7. Silent Country or Mute Land was a mythical underworld beneath the ocean floor in Polynesian lore. It is where the hook of Maui lifts the ocean floor and all the deceased are released as fish from the underworld.

Among the Norse, the final battle, called Ragnarok, is where Vidar, the Silent One, tears off the lower jaw of the underworld wolf (Coleman, 2007).

8. Barthel, 1978.

9. Ohiro: deity of the rain (Métraux, 1940).

10. Vaiora/waiora o Tane-manawa: the water of life from the heart of Tane (Tregear, 1891).

11. Maui is the trickster who stole fire from the underworld, much like the trickster Raven of the Tlinglet who also stole the sun. Raven as thief of the sun is a story told from Alaska down to ancient Mexico, where Quetzalcoatl is considered both Raven and Plumed Serpent. In China, Raven has three legs and is considered the sun deity also. His consort, Heng O, is a three legged toad on the moon. Heng O of China, is Hina, Moon Maiden of Polynesia (Coleman, 2007).

12. Hotu dictionary names provide evidence that Hotu Matua is an important ancient Polynesian navigator and perhaps a name intended to identify the first father of humanity (Tregear, 1891).

13. Indigenous communities can find strength from discovering common mythological links that make their stories into expanded epic tales that further promote Indigenous ecological values with even more universal appeal (Reichard, 1921).

14. Fornander, 1969, p. 217.

115

Chapter 7 – Mission of a Birdman Prince “And a child will lead them.” Hotu-iti is this child who has led us to Turtle Island. We have noticed that after three and a half years of purification in a cave, he is finally ready to offer himself to the island. This offering occurs in kinship rituals such as the tattooing ceremony. Just as Finding Turtle Island involved a letting go of our past world-view, the Kinship of Maui involves an embracing of the pains and lament of the clan. If we are willing to allow our blood to mix with the red clay of Turtle Island, we will be born anew into the land of our origin.

My tohunga has been feeding me, here at Orohie, the sacred house of the winner of the Birdman Egg Hunt of Tangata-manu. He feeds me with the sacred food of the Maori Earth Oven. He also feeds me with the words of the tablet given to me in exchange for the winning egg at Orongo village, the Hearing Place. Here at Orohie, the Calling Place, the tohunga translated another line on the tablet in which he prayed for me.

It was the second prayer of three that I must understand in order to be enlightened into the identity of my name and by the ways of our ancestors. These ways teach us how to truly become a productive member of this sacred land. For my tohunga has told me that my name, Hotu-iti, means the little fruitful one. Not that my life bears little fruit, but that I will only excel in life if I understand that I need very little to survive and even thrive. Too much will become a burden in my life, it will hold me back, it may even destroy me. Only a morsel is needed and it is in that little morsel, that little offering that one can be enlightened into all good knowledge needed for our clan.

In this second prayer, we made a passage into the very heart of our clan. In first prayer we stepped away from our insatiable self and in the second prayer we step into the Kinship and Family of the Source of Life. Since we have left everything behind in the

116 first passage-rite, we now spend our days discovering the ways of this new Family. In our former world-view we desired to consume all things much like a caterpillar desires leaves. The next place is the cocoon, were we sit still and desire only to learn. And this desire to learn is the source of our life. Sitting at Orohie beside the volcano quarry, Rano Raraku, I mused upon my past and all that I have learned of the teachings of my island.

Figure k: The Life Cycle of the Soul into Harmony – verse 2

There was a grand feast to celebrate the return of the 15 youth and the entire island appeared for a moment to be in a place of long awaited peace.

During the feast there was no small celebration. Dancers and singers from every clan came to share their spiritual art. A hole was dug, an empty gourd filled with grass and placed in the hole with a flat stone covering. The dancers jumped upon this Earth drum. It made a remarkable sound that you could feel through the ground.

117 Hina-iti leaned toward me and explained, “The Earth drum is our symbol of this island, Te Pito te Henua, the End of the Earth, or the Naval (life source) of the Turtle.

The grass is the offering from Orongo, since it is all that is growing up there. Therefore, when the god Nuku and goddess Kui appeared at Orongo after Maui-Hoa-Hakanana’ia broke open the second door at the Orongo harekura of the rising Sun, they gathered some grass as an offering as it was all they could find on Orongo. There Nuku and Kui made an altar and offered up the grass to Tavake Tane.�

For the first time in years all the island was together. The celebration went on for eight days. During the festival the tohunga of every spiritual art and spiritual trade exchanged their wisdom in order to provide the island with all the wisdom necessary to restore our island and its provisions that suffered severe losses during the war. What impressed me the most is that I saw weapons being carved into Kohau Rongorongo tablets in order to preserve the sacred stories associated with all the spiritual rites. When I saw this, I knew the island would recover.

Hotu-nui and Mata-nui decided to enable their leadership to be determined at the Tangata-manu bird-man egg hunt as in the days of their grandfathers. Such a decision provided the islanders with the confidence that not only the strongest Prince would be chosen King, but that there would never be a tyrant thieving authority over any of us again. This decision also freed me from the threat of contaminating the lineage of a certain chief, since the winner of the Tangata-manu was also an exception to the lineage of each clan.

118 Chapter 8: A Tour among Giants

On each day of the island’s eight day feast for peace, the tohunga visited the sacred sites of the island. Every morning I awoke to the strong arms of Maui lifting me out of the harekura to his shoulders. It was too early for the clan to be about, but there were several Tohunga waiting outside. The giants were there also. Maui lifted me up to Hanga who placed me on his shoulders. I must have been ten feet tall. Being up so high gave me a great view of everything the elders would show us on the sacred-site walkabouts.

The tohunga took the opportunity to retell the stories of each clan’s view of their own territorial markers. The result was a weaving of a common story over the entire island. The tohunga started with what each clan had in common. For example, every clan had ahu temple platforms with statues on them. Though each one is unique, the essential purpose is the same. They wanted to explore how this common history found in all the clans would bring a greater harmony in the stories, history and ceremonies to unify the island even further and prevent future warfare.

On the first day, the first Sacred Site we visited was the Place of the Beaken Stones. The elders were dressed in their finest feathers to honor the ancestors visited at these sites and the finger of the Creator we were touching there. There was a small umu oven ready with a first fish and kumara sweet potato offering. The elders performed an eating of the god ceremony as the first father had taught. At every sacred site, an offering was made with the appropriate chant and dance.

119 To have these two beaken stones described to me by the island elders was like catching a couple of giants, since as wayfinders, we were always fully welcomed to the island of our trading routes only at the umu-earth oven feast which occurried in front of the host island’s two beakon stones.

The tohunga guided us down to the shore at the base of Rano Kao, the volcano that raises the Orongo village to over 1000 feet. The elders spoke of the two statues that were originally brought to the island to transport the mana or power of the former land and its ancestors. Their stones and the neckband were covered in Mother of Pearl to shine in the setting sun. Therefore, they were placed as a beakon of welcome to wayfinders from the West and to the fishermen coming in from the Tuna hunt. They were also meant to give hope to the recently deceased who were setting with the Sun in the West to the Underworld. That is, their names were Ruhi-hepii or Westwind’s-blister and Pu or the first one, the saving one. To look on Apina-nui, the large offering stone blistering and decaying from the West wind that represents death, is a reminder that even the great will fall. To look on Apina-iti, the small offering stone as the first saving one, is a reminder that Tiki-tawhito, the first man who saves us, was a dwarf, he was insignificant in the eyes of the world. He gave us Maui, the Life; he captured the fire, he noosed the Sun, he fished up the great Tuna islands, and he stands here with the Mother of Pearl neck ornament as a beakon to call us home to turtle island. Once the first man and woman landed here, they travelled in opposite directions around the island to meet on the other side. We take this to mean that our diversity completes us and follow the sacred sites connecting one to the other for an unraveling of the larger story of the island.

120 I asked, “Why are those 16 little statues on an inaccessible ledge half-way up the 1000 foot cliff to Orongo?”

Tangaroa said, “They are called, Ahurikiriki, the Sacred Temple of Dwarfs. We think there was a path worn away by the sea.”

Iwi replied, “This path was never mentioned by our grandparents. My greatgrandfather described them as foundation stones of the four corners of the Earth.

They represent our inability to reach the ancient world of the dead. Our only alternative is to transcend death by the ceremony, the chants, the tablets and the message of Hoa Hakananana’ia, on Orongo – the Rongo Listening Place of the Message of Rongo Peace.”

I inquired, “Tawhaki, or your Tavake, used a rope to climb to heaven. Do you think these 16 foundational ancestors in their impossible location represent the dead who require such a rope?

Tangaroa replied, “The elders have always taught us that there are many paths to enlightenment and when we reach that hill and look back at our separate journeys in the 16 directions we will find that we are all standing in the same circle back to back. They have also taught that there is a rope or a tree to climb once we reach that hill. The Ahurikiriki, with its 16 dwarf statues are more in number than any other sacred ahu platform.

There are two other very important ahu with 15 statues. Therefore, we cannot forget the significance of these 16. Though little, they are pillars, like Tiki-tawhito, the first man.

That is, the 16 represent all 288 moai statues on the platforms, as well as the entire islands’ 888 statues.2

121 The second Sacred Site we went to was Hanga-o-ua-vave-renga or Bay-of-hightide-and-beautiful-surf. It is related to the first Sacred Site just as all the Sacred Sites are interconnected.

Tangaroa said, “This is the West side of the island and West represents death, night, stars and Sunset. The high tide of night and death is not something to fear. Did not Ruhi-hepii and Pu teach us that death is for great and small, and the smallest one, Hoa-Hakanana’ia, the statue of our hidden friend inside the stone house of Orongo village, he has opened a second door beyond the first door of death.”

I asked, “Since our ancestors go up to Ikaroa3 when they die, could this Long Fish be one and the same as Paikea, the one-door water monster?

Iwi replied, “Yes. And Ruatapu is the Two Door Harekura Sacred House of the Underworld, this is the temple built by Hoa Hakanana’ia after the offering of himself opened the second door, killing the water monster of death. This entire island is the two door house of Ruatapu. Since it is on the West side, this volcano, Rano Kao, beside Orongo Village, represents the door of death and Rano Raraku, the volcano to the East, represents the second door of Life, opened by Maui-Hoa-Hakanana’ia. True HoaHakanana’ia is burried half-way in Orongo, Rano Kao, but he is ready to come out the other side at Rano Raraku in the 72 foot statue, which is lying down as though dead, but ready to rise.”

Tangaroa explained the Sacred Site of Hanga-o-ua-vave-renga or Bay-of-hightide-and-beautiful-surf by saying: “And when the sound of the high surf’s breakers reminds us of our calling to death, it is essential to remember that only in the high tide do all the sands stir with little organisms enabling the fish to come and feed around our

122 island. These organisms have fed off of the bones of our ancestors and so there is a beautiful surf of regeneration going on there. In fact, the regenerative mana in this high tide is so significant we called it the Birth Fluid of Mother Earth. And as the fish stir the waters close to shore we see the haka-hau-ahua or strength reflection of the sweeping stars dancing on the water. These stars are our ancestors and their dance weaves together all these Sacred Sites on our island, beckoning us not to war, but to peace; not to hoard and exploit the land, but to harmony. Therefore, the hum of the breakers is the voice of our ancestors remaindering us of our inevitable death. It is a hum vibrating from the tight lips of these stone moai statues. One day this hum will rise up and be heard all over the earth inaugurating its purification.”

All the tohunga exchanged the relationships between these first sacred sites and the ones from their own territory. It was becoming clearer that Hotu-matua, the first man, assigned all these sights as one organic whole, not to be used for segregation or quarrel.

We stepped above the bay and Tangaroa-ika introduced the next sacred site: “Ana-ui-hetu or Cave-of-star-gazing. Above the cave is a large platform of which it is said, ‘okahu a uka ui hetu or there stands a girl who looks at the stars.’4 The grandparents bring their granddaughters to learn about the stars here, so that they will never forget to teach our children how the star houses of our ancestors relate to each other.”

I inquired, “As a child wayfinder, I was taught that the stars turn over because the ancestors are on a journey through the underworld. What do your ancestors teach?”

Iwi said, “It is Ikaroa or long fish that has swallowed the ancestors in death. This Ikaroa is Paikea, whom Maui has transformed into Ruatapu as discussed at the former sacred site. If we remember the stars of our wayfinding days, we will never forget the

123 stories of our ancestors that remind us of how they passed from death to the rising Sun in their great canoe.� 5 Figure l: the Sacred Ahu Platform6

There are many ahu temple platforms and many moai statues. Each has a name and each is related to the one before and the one after. The ahu temple platforms number well over 100 in different stages of development. They were not buildings, but rather a broad inclined plain rising up to an elevated platform made for erecting the moai statues.

The statues that were standing on ranged from seven feet tall to as high as 33 feet. Most of them are about 15 feet tall. Statues on the platforms numbered 288 in all across the island, ranging from 1 and 16 on each platform. The temple maori or plaza of ceremony rised on a plain that may be well over 100 feet long and 150 wide. At the highest rise of the plain, against the statue platforms were often found the graves of our ancestors.

Some graves were so old that the skulls crumbled in the hands of enemy warriors attempting to steel them to make fish hooks. The act was a grave crime and a steeling of power from the clan.

124 We stood between the Tahai ahu platforms, each with 6 moai. They are the only ahu with a mirrored angle together with an identical name.

Tangaroa-ika made the appropriate offering and there was a very sacred dance of the youthful men at one maori plaza with the women at the other. Together they were mirroring the identical dance and chant. The chant told a story of the stars as they travel from East to West with the Sun and from North to South with the Seasons.

Then Tangaroa repeated a portion of the Tahai chorus to explain it further, “Will you be able to mirror the first man and woman? Will you be able to stand side by side, Tahai-tahai? We will never forget the dancing of the stars. How through the season they move side to side, East to West, North to South. Today our youth were as graceful and make us proud that we have enabled them to embrace the ancestors in this dance that mimics the stars.”

I asked, “What about the planets?”

Iwi said, “There is no one who can dance as graceful and Rangi-ahiahi.7 He is the first man and the twin. For we see him at Sunrise and at Sunset. There are no others who dare dance with death by facing the setting Sun only to see it rise and die over and over. And he dances with us also. When he faces us, he backs away. When we think he has turned away, he is right by our side, just like Tahai-tahai. Rangi-ahiahi then sets himself on fire for seven days, just like the long ears who fell into their own trap. We know his haka-hau-ahua, then, is the image of Hoa-Hakanana’ia. He is one in the same as Maui who noosed the Sun and stole the flame and his image returned unharmed after seven days.”

125 The next sacred Ahu we reached just to the north was Anotai: an ahu platform with a moai statue that has a hole carved in the back for the small wooden statues that represent the spirit of an ancestor to dwelling the stone statue transforming it into a guardian medium of the island.

Tangaroa-ika placed a wooden statue inside the hole. It was a carving of Hotumatua after he had fasted for seven days. He was thin to the bone and smiling over the stomach pains. He had a beard, like some of our ancestors with the wide jaws like the skulls found in the most ancient ahu burials.

Further to the north, we visited the sacred site of Ahu Tepeu and it is one of at six of the ahu temple platforms with a stone pavement down to the sea to assist the islanders in fishing and fetching water.

Tangaroa-ika said, “Notice how our watering places have a pavement down to the sea, built into the ahu itself. This is to emphasize to our children how important the haka or daily chores or activity of the individual as a sacred ritual. That is, the fisherman and water gatherer were tohunga in their own rite, with their own ceremony, incantation and dance necessarily passed onto their children by way of passage rite. These pavements to the water are distributed in every corner of the island to emphasize their importance and convenience for every clan.”

I inquired, “Does making every common person a tohunga in their own trade not lower the status of the Tohunga of the Kohau-rongorongo tablets?”

Iwi replied, “My grandson, on the contrary it raises the status of the tablet writers.

What good is a writer if there is no one across from them to listen. One the tohunga speak down to the people, they become sorcerers.”

126 Figure m: Ahu Ariki8

Figure n: Ahu Ariki with Rano Raraku background9

Then there was the inland Ahu Akiri, with seven moai statues in front of the ancient village of Miru. Its back was to the entire East side of the island, particularly toward Rano Raraku, the volcano quarry. The turning of their backs to the quarry ensured the sacredness of the statue carving site.

Figure o: Easter Island Map of Sacred Sites10

127

Around the hump of Turtle Island’s north moving east, we came to Anakena.

Iwi said, “This ahu temple is very sacred to women, since one of the only moai statue carvings of a female ancestor is standing here.”

The tohunga of the Hotu-iti tribe related in one of their ancient traditions how the Ahu Oneonepuhea once contained a female moai statue that was dumped into the sea long before our great-grandparents. This is the only ahu platform shaped as a crescent moon. There is a large platform leaning into the sea where it once stood.

I inquired, “Could this female at Anakena not be the same woman fallen into the sea and rescued on the back of Turtle Island?”

Iwi said, “Yes, this is Hina, Princess of the Moon, and she has found refuge here at Ana-kena, the Cave of the Bird of Good Fortune. This is Hina’s pet bird used as bait to fish up the island paradise for her children to live. That is why she fell in the ocean, at the crescent-new moon. She fell to save her children and her lament was heard. The birds of good fortune carried her to their nest in this cave on Turtle Island.”

128 A short distance to the east we reached Ahu Hanga Ho-onu, which was also paved to the water. It marked the beginning of the three mountain region associated with the legendary story of the battle between the long ears and the short ears.

Tangaroa-ika said, “Directly across the island to the south are the only short eared moai statues standing 6 in a row on Motu-pope. And there is a row of trenches resting in that north-south direction around the neck of Turtle Island, if you consider Poike as the head. It is in those trenches that the short ears trapped the long ears in their own snare and burned them with the brushwood, like Rangi-ahiahi was burned for seven days.”

I asked: “Does the story coincide with the way the moai are built, since the vast majority of statues are long ears?”

Iwi said, “Since the three mountains represent heaven, Hina has fallen from heaven, where the long ears were unable to reach, being burned in their own trap. Hina falls from this heaven and is raised up on the turtle at Anakena. It is there that her lament causes half of heaven to fall, so she can make a paradise for her long eared children.

Under the mouth of Turtle Island is the great Tongariki, one of the largest and most sacred ahu with 15 statues. Here is the primary gravesite of our ancestors.

Overlooking this ahu is the Rano Raraku stone quarry, where most of the statues were hewn. Many of the statues remain in transit or on their way to the platforms. Some are inside the quarry, some outside, some beside the paths, seven in front of the ancient village facing the setting Sun.11 These names correspond to the brothers of Maui in the lore of all the islands along our trade routes to the West.

The statues on the Platforms stand with their backs to the sea, which means there is a great gift hidden in the water for everyone on this island. Perhaps this great gift is the

129 purifying quality of the salt water, perhaps it is where we have found Hina, pershaps it is the Mother of Pearl shells that have enlightened the eyes of our ancestors.12 Also near the six short eared statues of Motupope in the South belly region of Turtle Island, is the grave of the first man, Hotu Matua. The ahu is called Akahanga and contains 13 statue moai. A portion of the ahu by the sea contains a large stone seat with carvings in honor of the first king and his seat.

I inquired, “If this is Hotu Matua’s grave, in view of the Sunrise, why is his skull found on the other side on the Turtle’s back, in view of the sunset?”

Iwi replied, “Because it was the first man who belonged to the Upper Jaw and the Lower jaw of the three bundles of sacred knowledge. One bundle is consumed at Sunrise, one at the Zenith of Noon and one at Sunset. The jaw of dawn follows the Sun. In the morning it scoops up the light of day and in the evening is the Overturning of Mataaho. This is the Great Flood, the waters are made sacred by the power of the Sun being poured into the sea when the jaw overturns the light of day. It is mirrored by the way the great whale rises and dives into the sea.”

On the eight day we reached Ahu Akahanga near Oroi, the grave of Hotu Matua.

Oroi is the cry of the benevelent bird of good fortune. It is the cry used by the last man of the long ears to survive being throne into the brushwood trench fires by the short ears.

Tangaroa-ika made the offering and said, “It is here that it is said, ‘Hana te tenga a ure ngorongoro.’13 It means, the Shining Adam’s Apple as a Grunting Phallas. Don’t ask me what this means.”

I inquired, “As a wayfinder, I remember the saying, ‘I te ra e hana nei, ka herena e au ki te tenga o teteu korokoro.’14 It means, ‘While the Sun glows I shall tie it to the lump

130 in front of my throat.’ Or take advantage of a good catch or find before it is gone. Does this have anything to do with it?”

Iwi added, “Yes. If the goddess of the Underworld, the incarnation of death, swallows the Sun, death will die. But her adam apple will shine, for there is a noise of regeneration there, a noise of Life or Maui. This is Hotu Matua, who gives life to the deceased ancestors who awaken as the grunting phallas or regenerating liniage, ure ngorongoro. Your proverb, Hotu-iti, comes from the Great Southwestern Islands, beside a great land with a red rock in the centre. The proverb identifies the same story of the voice of the first man ringing out like the Tavake birds the message of peace at the listening place of Orongo. The message is likened to the rising Sun, the source of regeneration. At Orongo village, Hoa-Hakanana’ia has a seat in the house of the rising Sun. An that time of enlightenment and purification has come, for it was from Orongo that we heard the strange sound in the sky of the great red stone that fell into the sea.”15 There was one place left to visit on this eight day walk-about, it was Mataveri near Tahiri and Ahu Vinapu just before the Southeast rise to Rano Kao opposite Orongo village.

Tangaroa-ika said, “It is said of Mataveri, ‘Mataveri - the house with a stone foundation. Mataveri – the old woman who carries a load on her back with a rope.’ The old woman represents death, Mataweri, grandmother of Tavake or Tawhaki. The rope is the cord of Tawhaki uses to climb to heaven. Therefore, the offering is the great fish of the two doors of the Underworld. One door is Rano Kao, where we die at Sunset. One door is Rano Raraku where we rise with the Sun and the stone moai.”

131 I asked, “Is this load not the great uncooked offering, which is the long ear who was not thrown in the fire, Hotu Matua, our stone foundation of Hoa Hakanana’ia?

Iwi replied, “This ahu platform was intended for the seventy foot tall moai, lying unfinished near Rano Raraku. This 70 foot one is the Great Fish offering the woman is carrying. It is said that the woman was a cannibal and was not offered with a prize cannibal meet therefore this statue was not moved. This woman is death. She is the man eater. The 70 foot one is Hoa-Hakanana’ia, the one in the throat, still shining with life for the ancestors. He is unable to cook, he is unable to be eaten.”

I inquired, “Is that why they named the cave on the other side of Rano Kao, the cave of the man eater, Ana-kai-tangata? On the other islands there is a man with that name who marries a cannibal goddess because she thinks he is a cannibal too. He is not.”

Iwi replied, “Yes, Kai-tangata is the one cooked in the umu oven of the Underworld of death, by the fire of the Rising Sun. Therefore, were participate in his morsel at the first fish offering and the Kumara sweet potato offering. He is Hoahakanana’ia. One day he will rise from Orongo and be given to the world.”16 Not long after the eight-day feast, as it appeared that peace would reign between the tribes, Hina-iti came to teach me a canoe timing chant for rowers: Fly chips, fasten together On a pathway for the canoe...

Hina-iti concluded, “You will find this incantation sung at every funeral, to send off the spirit of the deceased with the Underworld canoe of Rata. You are being taught the chant to sing on your fishing trip at sea with Maui. There you will meet Hina-ngaro face to face.”

132 Chapter 8 Notes 1. See the Cycle of the Creator in the Harekura chapter below.

2. These 16 moai represent the ahu platform with the most numerous moai statues on Easter Island. They are also among the smallest, since they might have been lowered to this inaccessible ledge on the cliff of Rano Kao. They number 16, a perfect multiple of the 4. Therefore, they may represent the 4 dwarfish pillars who raise up the sky or hold up the earth in Polynesian mythology and abroad. Also, there are 288 moai that once stood on ahu platforms around the island. 288 divided by 16 is the whole number 18. How the significance of these numbers relates to Polynesian story-telling and cosmology is beyond the scope of this work. Perhaps they represent the three days of the month where the moon is full, from day 16 to 18. It might be considered that these 16 moai represent the Underworld where the 288 moai have passed. In order to rise above this Underworld, one must turn to Orongo village and the moai located above these 16 inaccessible moai. This moai of Orongo, the Hidden Friend, Hoa Hakanana’ia, who has Rongorongo carvings on his back, ties in the statues with the writing and with the island ceremony to teach the islanders how to rise above the Underworld.

3. The Milky Way. 4. Barthel, T. (1923). The Eighth Land – The Polynesian Discovery and Settlement of Easter Island.

Honolulu: The University Press of Hawaii. Manuscript E was a document made by the Rapanui elders of the early 1900s who resided in a leper house. Barthel helped to redicovery how a portion of the manuscript weaves in a circle of sacred sites around the circumference of the island with an oral sky tradition.

5. The ahu from Hangaroa on the West Coast to Ahu Tepeu represent the relationship to the stars and their association with landforms, until reaching Tepeu which is associated with the Rising Sun. 6. Diagram of a sacred temple Ahu platform where moai statues stood.

7. Venus. For a portion of the year, the planet ‘dances’ on the horizon near the Sun-set, and then follows the Sun over the horizon. Then 7 days of the year it is not seen due to its nearness to the Sun. For another portion of the year it begins to herald the Sunrise. Venus presented ancient wayfinders with a startling paradox, since when Venus is a mere crescent it is seven times brighter than when it appears full. The reason being that when it is full it is on the other side of the Sun and so much farther away from the Earth.

8. Ahu-akiri – one of the few moai statue temple platforms that does not have its back to the sea. Instead it is located inland from the West coast facing west across the remains of an ancient village. It may well represent the initial seven explorers of the island who were sons with Hotu Matua, the first man. The backs of these seven moai are turned to the volcano quarry Rano Raraku and the paths out of the volcano to the platforms, rendering this district the sacred work of the original seven migrators.

9. Ahu-akiri, depicted below from its central moai statue, has its back turned to the Eastern portion of the island, particularly where the Rano Raraku volcano quarry is located. Again, the location behind the ahu moai is considered a sacred tapu area. This author proposes that the original seven migrators, had their grave monuments positioned in front of the ancient village with their back to the volcano quarry for an important reason. It served as an example to the inhabitants of this village that the volcano quarry was to remain the most sacred act of the original seven. When the Mother of Pearl sea shells are placed in the eye sockets, the moai becomes enlightened. They appear to know something and at the same time are humming out a warning with tight lips. Given they represent the ancestral dead, that warning must be of the death that all their descendants are also going to face. In order to prepare for death, follow the props set up on the island together with the sacred ceremony and tablets chants, as the ancestors have instructed through oral tradition.

10. Map of Easter Island marked with Sacred Sites of the Walk-about of the Tohungas.

11. Ahu Akivi. Perhaps the seven represents the seven days that Venus is hidden behind the Sun.

133

12. Since the statues in the quarry were made to stay in their positions of transition to the platforms, that is, with anchor or vessel shaped bases, it is important to consider the entire island stonework as a finished scene representing the entire epic of the broader Polyensian mythology. The significance confirms the finding of Maori, Tahitan, Samoan and Hawaiian deities and chants on the Easter Island tablets.

13. Manuscript E, from the early lepers’ house.

14. From Maori proverbs.

15. The symbolism transfers from male to female images and back again without respect to gender, in a similar fashion that the trickster shapeshifts, from human to fish to bird and back to human when steeling the Sun. Such paradox is meant to refer to values that come from an eternal source where nothing can tie down the Source of the natural laws and where anything can happen. Such a place is Paradise, in the presence of Makemake, the Creator. And the heavy use of male imagery points to the first father, Hotu Matua, who must have also been likened to a deity. The adam’s apple corresponds to the voice. Where do we listen for that voice? Orongo. What will we hear? A grunting phallas. A regeneration of the ancestors, where ure means generations. This act of regenerating the ancestors is played out in the sacred ceremony of the Sweeping of the Stars, where a tohunga takes a burning branch at the first fish offering and sweeps in across the sky at dawn to gather the ancestors along the rays of the Sun into its enlightened state of afterlife.

16. In the other islands, Mataware is a dog. Papatuakuia Mataware is a dog thrown overboard as a sacrifice for the Aotea canoe of Turi. Turi’s daughter wanted the dogs flesh to eat in her pregnancy. Her brother stole the dogs. In one account there are two dogs and in another there are eight in a cloak. The sacrifice is made in order to enable the canoe of the Underworld to make a safe journey to new life, represented in Turi’s pregnant daughter. The theft of the dogs and the eating of the dogs corresponds to the stealing of the fire in the Maui stories. The dog represents death, just as the seal and the breakers do, since they all ‘bark’ or call for the living to enter the ocean, which is a sign for the Underworld or the dead. The moai have their backs to the sea to remind us that this Ocean is no longer merely a sign of death. There backs are to the sea, since the sea represents the sacred belly or heart water of Tane, where the smooth sea stones are his polished gizzard stones. They are placed on the dead in order to fill the decayed body cavity with sacred stones or the purification of Tane. Turi’s Aotea is represented by the ceremonial oars taken up to Orongo village by the Princes in the Tangata-manu birdman egg hunt. The Aotea is represented by the oars since they are called, Ao, and they correspond in Manuscript E with the ‘Smiling Face’ together with the Oars of the Prescious Shine, Rapa-kuia. Ao-kuia corresponds with Aotea. On Orongo, the Listening Place, the bark of the dogs offering in the breakers cannot be heard. Orongo is far too high to hear the breaking waves. Only the Tavake birds are heard, and they are the heralds of peace in the first egg, the sign of the islands regenerative life and peace.

134 Chapter 9: A Catch of Giant Tuna At dawn, Maui and I walked the jagged trail down to the fishing shore of the Miru clan. Maui carried the boat and I the supplies. There were a dozen other pairs of fishermen assembling for the first fish offering for our deep sea fishing trip. The sea was unusually calm. Down by the rocks dancing with the smooth rising surf, a tohunga had prepared a small fire and was roasting the first fish offering. He struck the canoe with his branch, while chanting the Canoe of Rata. Then he saturated the branch with porpoise oil, lit the oil and waved it at the Milky Way. The branch blazed to and frow with the light of dawn and scattered sparks like shooting stars. Each spark disappeared as the stars above were also swept into the light of the rising sun.

The seaweed also waved as if to join in the prayer. Down beyond its dark green dance, the water was clear through to the sand below the rocky clam covered shore. A feeling of abundance washed over me as a family of star fish humoured a number of little crabs about ten feet to the bottom. A number of jelly fish round as a ball and the size of my thumb rolled in the current. A school of small fish paused nearby to watch us prepare the boat. Many days and nights I spent at sea fishing as a little boy. I felt accustomed enough to join the fish for a swim as if they and their home were that of my kin.

Maui placed the canoe onto the crystal clear water and held it as I stepped into it walking upon the water with the oar as my balance. At the far end I put myself under the sea half-way since the other end was much out of the water hooked on a rock. The cool water baptized my senses into the spirited reality of the morning. The sandy bottom with spots of weed and coral and specks of creatures drifted below as we embarked out to sea in this small two-man canoe made of reeds.

135 The sky had wisps of clouds now lit by the Sun still barely hidden by the island.

The clouds branched into paths of red and gold and the tohunga agreed that this was a sign of good fishing for our trip ahead. We had oars, bait and a rig of hook and line rapped many times around a reed and bark casing. Wrapped tightly between the reeds of the canoe were some edible roots and sea weed to nourish and hold us.

Along the shore were women collecting mollusks and urchens, while fishermen were netting the shallows. There were swimmers with sharp reeds collecting little fish and others diving off the rocks with spears. A youth came up out of the water with a sizable fish on his spear end and a triumphant, “Got one!� Atop the sea-side cliff a row of over 20 clan members appeared with a hundred foot long gathering net. This sort of fishing occurred all year, yet, now was also the appointed season for deep sea fishing.

And this is what Maui and I had set out to do. The waves were sheltered on this West side of the island and the currents were favorable for such a canoe at this time of year.

Our trip out to sea would last for three days.

Maui gave me all the instructions that my father had begun to teach me, but Maui looked like Rapa. It felt like I had returned home again for the finest moment of my life with my father, Rangi-nui, and uncle Rapa. The sound of the sea itself against the prow and the feel of the current upon my leg dangling in the water stirred within me all the feelings and comfort of home. In the open sea, the wind was free of obstacles to catch my hair for a constant dance. I waved my head into a gust with a smile as the sun broke upon us over the distant island. Perhaps this would be the trip of my first shark catch, though Maui mostly was after Tuna to supplement the depleted gardens.

136 I had no intention of supplying myself with a trophy. Rather, the shark itself would provide the tools I needed to carve my first rongorongo board.1 It all depended on the favor of Makemake and his water monster creation called, Punga. This giant shark might graciously offer the sacred teeth that carve the sacred chants upon the sacred drift wood that could only wash to shore if we were honourable enough to receive such gifts.

Maui spoke to me about such a gift.

He said, “You can only carve the sacred wood with the sacred tooth of the shark, the spirit of Punga. With the tree drifted here from the Underworld, just as the shark comes from the Underworld. They are from the same place, therefore, they understand one another more than we understand either of them. Therefore, when we listen to their conversation with one another, we will learn a great deal. The shark speaks to the wood as you carve the chants. Your fingers will blister up and bleed from carving with the tooth. Your blood will feed the shark and provide a resin for the wood. This offering will make the shark and the wood your kin. Whenever the story and chant you have written are sung, you will remember who your relations are, the shark and the tree. This is important, since entering into the funerary prayers requires an understanding of the great fish, Ikaroa (the Milky Way) and the great tree or canoe where our ancestors the stars dwell. They travel through the Underworld in this great canoe, with the great fish and our incantations are their Rapa! We belong to Papa, Mother Earth, our tohunga and wananga belong to Tiki, the First Man and Pillar and our ancestors belong to Rangi, Father Sky. The waves caressed the reed boat to accent the sound of the voice of Maui, who to me appeared like uncle Rapa and worked the sea like my father, Rangi-nui.

137 “You have a voice!” Maui repeated as he fastened hook to line, “You have a voice!” As he fastened bait to hook, Maui continued, “This is the mission of the Birdman, to call toward Orongo, the Calling Place, of the Tavake birds, once you have found the egg.” Maui unravelled the line from the reed wrap as he spoke, “There are no birds with a greater sounding call than Tavake.” As the rig went deep into the sea, Maui added, “Follow the example of the Tavake, who will forever teach you to use your voice to herald the greatest gift of all...” Maui paused, to trip the line with his forefinger and then he emphasized, “Regenerative Life!” Maui tugged the line and smiled at a definite bite, “ That is why we call the Trickster who fished up the island, Maui, meaning the Life.”

Maui tugged back the line over his head in full force and added with the full fight of a great fish on the line, “And that is why we give him the symbol of the woman, since life comes from woman.” Maui leaned into the centre of the reed boat and wedged his arm between the reeds and his chest. Then he looked at me with this instruction: “In order to belong to our island, Tiki, you must make good use of yourself.” Maui grabbed my hand and motioned me to secure the line around the reed wrapping and he said, “To make good use of self, one must dissolve into the ecosystem, in order to truly and always belong there among the four-legged, the winged ones, the finned ones, the plants, the Earth, the Sky and the elements.” Maui held fast, the reed boat bounced upon the sea in a dance with the fish below and I continued to hold the reel as we let the fish take us out to sea.

Maui concluded, “Each of these has a life force, a spirit, since the Creator of Life sustains them all and that is the measure of those who belong – sustainability.” Suddenly, a great Tuna jumped out of the sea pulling us ahead.

138 After about an hour of being taking out away from the others, Maui took over by tugging the rig back and reeling super fast. He simultaneously clutched the underside of the reed boat with this calves and heels. The Tuna did not appear to have gotten tired, but a great fisherman knew when the fish was growing tired. To avoid the line, I jumped over him whenever the fish circled toward me. Closer and closer came this great Tuna from the Underworld, which Maui had hauled up. A tug and a wrap. A tug and a reel and a jump.

Then into my hands Maui trust the reel. I began to wrap the line in the wrap, while Maui clutched the Rapa oar.

“Wrap! Wrap! Wrap!” The fish was ours.

It must have weighed 400 pounds. Maui secured the Tuna fish to the side of the reed boat with a portion of the line. Using the hook, Maui cut a portion of the Tuna’s flesh and offered it to Punga and Tangaroa into the sea. He cut a strip for each of us to eat. This was the first day.

On the next day a large tiger shark had come. He was too big for us to handle.

But Maui just kept butting his nose very hard with the point of the Rapa oar, each time the Punga tried to bite the Tuna. With each new approach, Punga came with a little more caution.

Maui instructed, “Put the oar in his mouth, this time he tried to bite.”

I did as Maui said and the shark bit down and kept coming driving the Tuna into our boat and moving us all sideways with his strength or haka. And so, I held onto the oar for dear life.

I cried out, “What do I do now?”

139 Maui replied, “I don’t know. I’ve never done this before!”

We both laughed and then I cried, “Can you butt his nose at least?”

Maui butted Punga and I twisted my oar free and there wedged into my Rapa oar was a great gift of the tiger shark. His tooth!

Maui boasted, “See! That was my plan all along.”

“Yeah, right!” I chuckled.

I pulled the tooth from the oar and tucked it inside one of the reeds of our boat.

Maui spoke to the shark an incantation and said, “You are big enough to find your own meal. Let us have what Tangaroa has given us, unless you want to start a war in the Underworld.”

Whether it was the talking or the whipping or both, Punga the Shark listened. We began the journey back to the island.

Maui spoke to me of all the ceremonies of the island, since I was in hiding from them for three years. Yet, as he shared, I recited all the incantations required for the feasts. At night I heard the tohunga prepare his students for these festivals with the training of the chants.

Together we recited the Canoe of Rata and sang it together as we rowed.

It was the second day.

That day we caught another large Tuna. Now there was one tied on each side.

Many boats could be seen far and near as we began to paddle back to the island.

There were a few others returning with us, but most had not caught their two large Tuna yet.

140 I let my legs dangle in the water at the tip of the canoe as we paddled. I could feel the current and was trying to read the story it was telling me. In the fog, my father would point to the island nearby when he felt the current. Kui, my Elder Wayfinder, could read the currents for a much greater distance and would point to land over the horizon before we could see it, even if there were no clouds rising above the land. The swell on the sea was something powerful, full of mana and spoke to me of the motion of the Creator.

Perhaps those who journey only on land may never understand. But when I am on the sea and there is a never-ending swell rising ten feet every three or four hundred feet, I feel moved. I am moved not just physically, but my entire being, mind, body and spirit is raised and lowered, raised and lowered. I imagine the Creator, Makemake lifting me for an embrace with Father Sky and setting me down in the cradle of Mother Earth and lifting and setting, over and over. It becomes a prayer; the prayer enlivens my heart and I become fixed as if in a trance in the reality of the root of all existence; the trance enlightens my spirit and mind and I become peaceful and receive a taste of ecstasy. This ecstasy is breathed by the softness of the breeze against my face; it is sung as the sirens by the waves of sea water stroking their notes against the boat; it permeates my skin to the bone by the warmth of the sun.

Without saying a word, Maui has spoken to me of an invaluable kinship, just by bringing me here. And so, when I turn and smile at him, he knows why I am smiling at him, just to say thank you without words.

I know Rangi above can see my smile at the clouds in their wisps, which themselves speak to us of a calm sea for our entire trip. I have been at sea in great gales and have not seen fear at them by any wayfinder. To us it has been more of a dance and

141 at the height of the rough sea, a challenge. But every wave can be read, even when there are two or three angles of waves. Never does one who experiences life upon the sea become overwhelmed, apart from the tugging of infinite power that draws one to marvel at the Great Mystery.

Our paddling brought us closer to the island by dusk and the waning rays of the sun brushed the stars out upon the sky of Rangi like a soft covering.

By the time the pink sky had become dark purple on the horizon, Maui spoke up with: “By dawn we will be off our home of the sea.”

Then I knew that Maui had the true heart of a wayfinder, and must have been an identical twin of Rapa, through and threw.

Maui shared with me some of his clans stories about the stars, pointing them out.

Some of the stories were nearly identical to that of my birth clan, other stories were only held to my first clan by a thread of likeness. However, taking both island cosmologies together in their entirety was like the placing of two circles together It was the third day.

The sun was not yet up and we had approached Rapanui on our reed boat surrounded by our Tuna. Behind us was the full-moon and in front of us stood Hina-iti at the top of the seaside cliff. Her silhouette was shrouded with the blue hew of the first signs of dawn.

Maui and Hina taught me in their own way two kinds of haka-strength. Maui’s strength was in the qualities required in leading the clan in the footsteps of father, Hotunui. Hina-iti’s strength was in keeping the clan together as we were being led.

142 With Hina-iti, there was a royal grace completely occupied in the most trivial needs of her clan. It made everyone feel important somehow. At times, Hotu-nui would question her for bothering with such tasks as pounding tapa clothes with the women.

“Aren’t I a woman, also?” Hina-iti would reply. Hina-nui would come to her defence with a comment like, “You mind your business. One day you will find how there is no task greater than another.” This example I will not forget.

Yet, here was Hina-iti standing as strong, as enduring as ever even after loosing her own mother, Hina-nui. It caused me to understand the quality of accent that Hina-iti possessed as they adorned her in the ceremony that made her the queen of the island under the support of Iwi, her grandmother.

143 Chapter 9 Notes 1 Due to the size the human family across the globe, Indigenous philosophy on the kinship of creatures and the sensitive nature of this philosophy for the purpose of a kill is a necessary to enable sustainability and prevent the extermination of species.

144 Chapter 10 - The Tattoo Soothing Song of Belonging

What is the difference between a princess and a queen? Perhaps one has lost a mother. Hina expressed all the values of both, being responsible and benevolent. Yet, I never had the feeling of being less important than her, even though I looked up to her, perhaps even as highly as Hina, the Maiden of the Moon. She also pounds out our tapa cloth on the waxing and waning moon. Hina taught me that her royalty was a gift and the greater the gift, the harder one must try to give it away. Hina never let me think I was anything other than a friend, an adopted little brother. She honoured her mother’s adoption of me, without reserve. Hina also never let her broken heart for Turi cause her to lose presence with others. Therefore, a princess is a friend and a sister; and a queen is a mother and a medium of my right to place the soul of my foot on this island. Together, the unrestricted love and attention and acceptance that this Mother and sister gave me, empowered me to become as brave as Maui.1 Hina was wearing her neckband of authority as queen of the island. The leading Princess also wore this kind of neckband. It was shaped like a canoe or the moon and had a head at each end on the tips of the crescent. Hina showed me the words written on this tablet. She touched them with reverence and motioned me to naunau or feel for the words. I also touched them and felt their haka (strength) and mana (power).

She said, “These are a tattoo soothing chant. It is one of my primary tasks, to sing to all the island a comfort song and lament when they are suffering.” Hina added, “Are you ready to suffer the piercing pain of tattoo, Hotu-iti?”

145 It was unusual to pierce a child so young, yet Maui and Hina agreed that my experience in the cave had prepared me to understand the value of the suffering of the tattoo. And I had not told anyone that during my life I had always felt phantom pains in my belly, the core of my being, my heart. To this day I do not know their purpose and for a long time I thought everyone felt this way.

Maui interrupted and said, “Hina, this is Hotu-iti Tiki-tawhito’s first fish on our island. He must set it out to dry for, Hotu-tiki, the first man, and Hina-ngaro, the first woman, and the tohunga priests.

It took all my strength and Maui, to hall the Tuna up to the sacred place (ahu) to clean and dry. We cut it open to the incantations of the Tohunga of the Miru tribe named, Tangaroa-ika. We prayed that the life blood of the first fish would be absorbed by our island. This respect gives more meaning to the life of the fish we have received. It also reminds us to remember those deceased ancestors wandering on the land who have a share in the life of the fish, which will give them the strength to reach the ahu-pae or temple platforms through their Underworld journey from the quarry inside (roto), outside the quarry (waho), beside the path (taha), in front of (mua) the original village and finally raised up (pae) on the platforms. This makes us all brothers and sisters of Maui, the life.

After cutting open the fish a portion of flesh was left for the Tane, the Great Bird.

His Tavake2 messengers would consume it for him. This portion filled the Tavake egg with sacred haka strength, mana power and ngaro devotion. It teaches us the value of Omo3, that all things are connected. A portion of flesh was buried for Nuku and Kui, the deities who live under the Earth. This portion filled the Underworld with Utu4, payment for the sacred incantations we have been given from the fire of enlightenment that Maui

146 stole. This teaches us the value Maui’s sacrifice and trickery seen in all the activities of creation. And a portion was dried for the tohunga, Tangaroa-ika, to use in the gathering of the clan at the first fish ceremony. This portion teaches us the value of Umu5, of the maori oven gathering feast of Umu-parehaoga. This was left to dry over the maori oven and was called, Io6 and written on the tablets as a drying fish, ion.

Figure p: Io – the drying fish Source of Life7

And the tohunga Tangaroa-ika said the following incantation to give haka, mana and ngaro to the Miru tribe8:

“Io ao io-io ao eo io-io umu uru uruga umu omo omotahi omotohi hina naunau Io.

Creator of Life – serve - the morsel - the sweet smelling - morsel – (from) the Earth oven - to enter into - the vision of - the feast – (by) nursing – (on) the full moon (as if the Tangata Manu egg) – (of) Hina, the moon maiden (who) feels for (or draws life like the mosquito) (from) the Creator of Life.

After the feast I understood that all things belong to Tane. I belong to him. All the finned ones, the ika fish; all the winged ones, the manu birds; all the crawling ones, the moko lizards; all the four-legged, the rats; all the two-legged, the humans – some

147 behave as rats and lizards, others as fish and birds. All belong to the heart of the Creator of All, Tane Manawa.

When I consumed the food of Io, the Creator of Life; when I participated in the First Fish Offering and the last dried Kumara Sweet Potato Offering, that was kept dry for since the harvest, I understood in my heart the haka, the mana and the ngaro of being a part of it all.

In the morning, I was not afraid. I was not afraid of the cave and all its corners, so many times naunau, felt for, by Nuku and Kui and myself; I was not afraid of Poike, where the enemy tribe once plotted for my demise; I was not afraid of the Tiger Shark, who wrestled with my Rapa power oar.

I prayed with Maui that night before the full moon, motohi, of Hina, the moon maiden. After receiving a morsel of my first fish offering, I was ready for my first tattooing. Within my soul I perceived all things new. The sea waters were the very heart of Tane. I belong to him as did all things. So, like Maui, the first fish, I must be willing to make sacrifices, to suffer losses, to gain moments to belittle my senses in order for perception towards enlightenment to dawn within me.

In regard to these fasting rites of passage, we are the kin of the giant Moai statues.

That is, just as they were carved out of the earth stone quarry of Rano Raraku, we are also carved in the tattooing rite. The statues tight lips voice the constant hum of the ocean breakers. This teaches us to constantly sound the hum of our sacred tablet chants. The Birdmen, the tablets and the statues are carved by the same hand into the Kinship of Maui, Lord of Life and Nooser of the Sun. In fact, it is the tattoo soothing chant on the

148 tablet of the Island Princess that points out where to find the brothers of Lord Maui among the island statues.

Figure q: Map of Easter Island with Moai count

Maui’s Brothers and the Easter Island Moai Statues Chart

Maui’s Brothers Maui-mua (in-front) Maui-roto (inside)

Moai Location Moai Quantity in-front-of ancient village 7 (Ahu Ariki) inside volcano quarry 157 46 unfinished + 111 finished moai statues Maui-waho (outside) outside volcano quarry 240 ` 104 unfinished + 136 finished Maui-taha (beside) beside pathway to platforms 202 (also scattered) Maui-pae (raised up/ladder) raised up on platforms 288 Maui-potiki (top-knot) Orongo village 1 (Hoa Hakanana’ia) It was my foster brother, Maui, that taught me all these stories of the deity, our Lord of Life, Maui and his family. Another member of this Divine family is Hina, Maiden of the Moon and Queen of the Stars.

149

Figure r: Hina with Reimiro neck ornament of island Princess9

Maui, my foster brother, shared with me all about the Hina, this Maiden of the Moon: “She is seen on the moon pounding her tapa clothes worn by the birdmen so they may become perfect and ready for the full moon or the egg feast of the winning birdman ceremony. When Hina saw the broken world as she peered through the full-moon hole in heaven, she fell down into the desolation of her children and landed in the primordial ocean. Fearing the loss of her life, the animals rushed to her assistance. First there were two Tavake birds who braced her fall into the ocean. The birds called for help as Hina was stranded on the ocean like a floating log of timber. The tortoise rushed along and

150 held he up on his back. She noticed that her children in desolation and gathered them together on the back of the tortoise. There she performed a lament that caused half of heaven to be given to her. With it she produced paradise on Turtle Island.�

After Maui had finished speaking, there was Hina-iti, my mentor and foster sister, with the full moon behind her and the Reimiro neckband of royal authority. I knew she intended that I receive my first tattoo.

As Maui tattooed by spreading the die upon my skin and tapping the ta-ta-tau, tattooing instrument upon my face, Hina began to sing the most strikingly beautiful tattoo soothing chant she read off of the hieroglyphs on her Reimiro neck ornament of authority.

Figure s: Reimiro neck ornament of island royalty10

Hina-iti said, “This is the tattoo soothing chant of our island, called, the Ball Game of Maui. The ball is the Sun and it burns like the pain of this tattoo. Hina pointed to the glyphs of the chorus: And then Hina chanted like the Sirens, singing the first verse constantly adding portions of the chorus.

151 Figure t11

Maui continued tattooing with the ta ta tau tattooing instrument and Hina continued pouring salt water over my wounds and the wind blew upon my face.

Hina sang the second verse and chorus.

152 Maui continued tattooing with the ta ta tau tattooing instrument and Hina continued pouring salt water over my wounds and the wind blew upon my face.

Hina sang the third verse and chorus.

They completed the fourth verse of the chant in the same manner.

Hina-iti’s song was so powerful I did not flinch. Maui marvelled that I did not flinch, but I marvelled at Hina’s chanting like the Sirens. Maui and Hina marvelled that I did not flinch, but they did not know of my life of phantom pains. Though I did not flinch, the haka, mana and ngaro of Hina’s song made the hair stand on the back of my neck.

They presented me to the clan leaders, Hotu-nui and Tangaroa-ika.

Tangaroa-ika, our Tohunga said, “Hotu-iti is now named, Tiki-Tawhito – a Pillar of a Little Man.” He pushed me toward them with a “Tiki-Tawhito!”

And the clan cried, “TIKI-TAWHITO!” And finally, I could not hold back the tears and I wept. This was the first moment I felt that I truly belonged to the island of Te Pito te Henua. For when you offer pain in all its depths together with the height of affermative song and name, it is precisely then that you know yourself completely from high and low and entirely belong.

Maui said, “Now, my son, and Pillar of a Litte Man, when you feel pain remember who are your kin. And on every occation spread the benevolent song, since you know this is the way of your clan. This is the way our Papa-henua, Mother Earth, who always sooths our wounds with the song of the Great Calling Bird, Tavake.

After two days my face had scabbed over, but there were puss-filled soars that did not receive the salt water cleaning. So the Tohunga pressed my face upon a tapu

153 rongorongo board and the pain was unusually intense, so I passed out. My face and the board were washed with salt water.

This time the wounds healed properly. I was not anxious for another cleansing, but for to hear the chanting of Hina, the Ball Game of Maui, once again.

Though I was only eight years old, I knew that I was becoming a man. And as a man I knew some things had to be fixed and so I secretly met with Turi.

The next day Turi came with a great procession to the clan of Miru.

Turi called out, “Hotu-nui! I have come for your daughter!”

Hina-iti scrambled out of the harekura-house. Maui was there and all of the clan.

Hotu-nui exclaimed, “We have all agreed that the lineage of Miru will remain supreme, unless you wish to challenge my son, Maui, today?”

Mata-nui spoke up, “This is not about lineage, unless you want to return to a banishment of Hotu-iti?”

Turi interjected, “If it is true, that ngaro-aroha-hidden-devotion is greater than haka-strength and even mana-power, then Hina and Turi should be one!”

I saw tears welling in the eyes of Hina just as soft clouds covered the moon, for her hope in love was returning.

Hotu-nui cried out in fear of the future which was never certain to begin with, “NO!” I stepped forward and asked to speak.

This is what I said, “Did not you agree that the suitor that would recieve the hand of your daughter was the one that could tie the sacred knot of my clan?”

154 Hotu-nui said in relief, “Yes! That’s right! If you can tie the sacred knot of the clan of Hotu-iti, my daughter is yours.” Hotu-nui did not hesitate for he and his clan did knot know the secret mythic chant necessary to perform the passage-rite of my wayfinding clan.

Maui stepped forward and put his arm to Turi with a long cord made of mulberry bark, “A knot of a wayfinder for a knot of love?” Maui asked.

Turi grabbed with greater authority the line of his destiny, The people gasped.

Turi began to chant as he placed hoop around line around hoop, The people gasped.

Turi wrapped his fingers with each hoop and his toes to begin a Cat’s Cradle like none the islanders have seen, The people gasped.

Turi placed a foothold between the earth and the tangle of loops and began to dance with his chanting, The people gasped.

Turi pulled down and up with great mana power on the line, The people gasped.

Turi pulled the cord over the end of a great knot speaking of creative order out of shere chaos, And Hina truly wept And that day a cheer from below truly echoed in the walls of Orongo.

155

It was a new world to me, this land of love and peace. Never in my life had I lived in a time of peace. But here it was. Those whom I had come to love were complete. Maui was admired by the Eastern clans, instead of feared. Hina-iti was hand in hand with the Turi she loved from Koro-orongo. Everyone on the island was working for the same cause, in order to repair the damaged gardens. Mata-nui found a way to recover damaged buds by keeping them in soaked tapa clothes until they started to root and then transplanting them in the gardens. A verdant and lush green could be seen over the miles of gardens. Harekuras were established for every trade and spirituality across the island in order to share and improve the skills, the stories and utu incantations across the clans. There was no clan that was asked to loose any part of their identity, yet the tribes were able to improve the lost portions of their rites.

156 Chapter 10 Notes 1. The pictures of Maui, resembling a Polynesian man and Hina, resembling a European woman, are intended to express the universal appeal to restore our ecosystems as a human family of brothers and sisters, much like Easter Island faced their own crisis of existence, yet rising to the occasion and restoring their ecosystem. The Polynesian is male to signify the fight required to enable the Indigenous voice to be heard on a global scale in order to lay the Indigenous philosophy as a foundation to restore our ecosystems.

That is, Indigenous peoples are the thunder of Father Sky that is calling the world to Shift to sustainability in the Great Turning of our hearts to Mother Earth. The European is female to express the need for Western society to listen to the voice of the feminine and return to a sensitivity toward the voice of Mother Earth, whose lament heard in so many changes in our natural environment, should be like the Sirens in affecting our hearts to Shift.

2. The birds who lay their eggs on Motu-nui island for the Tangata-manu birdman egg hunt.

3. Omo: Rapanui – to suck (omoomo – to nurse). Omotahi – to suck whole, to win everything as in the grand chief of the island who sucks whole the winning Tavake egg and receives the maui or life of the island. Omotohi – the full moon. Hina nurses us at the rising of the tides, since all the edible creatures come out to feed at that time when all the tidal organisms are drawn out by the white sea foam.

4. Utu: Polyesian – payment for the most sacred incantations from the Underworld. Rapanui – to raise up, as in drawing water; also, utu ahu – the heart of a sacred tree, which raises up water from the roots as far down as the Underworld.

5. Umu: a Polynesian oven made in a shallow pit lined with sea-weeds or leaves, filled with raw food and water and covered with heated stones. Umu-parehaoga – the inaugural banquet during communal feasts and ceremony.

6. Io: Polynesian – Supreme deity of life; a fish left to dry. Rapanui: ioio – a bit of; ioio kiko – a piece of meat. Rongorongo: the dried fish glyph, Io – the supreme deity of life – a piece of the first fish.

7. Figure n: This sign is written on the tablets as a fish that has been gutted and hung to dry. The turn used in Polyensia is Io and is also the name of the Supreme Being whose name is so sacred it must not be repeated, but by a Tohunga.

8. This rongorongo is written in the telegraphic form; the style of the rongorongo tablets. As in ancient Homer, utilizing catchy sounding enables the apprentice to enter the story. Though it is written down, it enables the personality of the story-teller to enter into the presence of the reader. This use of language, therefore, represents a literary form of mediation between the original wisdom house and the students in future generation.

9. Figure o: This picture of Hina-iti is the daughter of chief, Hotu-nui and sister of Maui. She is wearing the small Reimiro tablet as a sign of her authority as island Princess. Carved on this tablet is the tattoo soothing chant, called Maui’s Ball Game. This chant is sung by the island Princess during the tattoo ceremonies that commence at Orongo village on July 27th during the Birdman Egg Hunt ritual. The tattooing song is intented as affirmation and soothing to those passing this rite to adulthood. The moon and constellation Cruz are added to express the conversation with Hotu-iti regarding the stories of the ancestors of the stars that are shared with people all over Polynesia.

10. This is the small Reimiro tablet worn by the Island Princess containing the carving of the tattoo soothing chant, Maui’s Ball Game.

11. Here is the Rongorongo carving of the tattoo soothing chant, called Maui’s Ball Game from the small Reimiro tablet. The first portion is plausibly the repeated chorus and the remaining four portions are the verses.

157

Chapter 11 – A Garden Like Eden

Hotu-iti is no longer an orphan nor merely an apprentice. This child is now leading us into the full activity of the original family of Turtle Island. This activity is reflected in the funerary ritual called the Sweeping of the Stars. In this ceremony, the tohunga priest sweeps a flaming branch at the stars toward the rising Sun. This sweeping ritual reflects the gift of Enlightenment received by the ancestors, which in turn serves to give us vision to participate in the traditions of our own original world. Putting this vision into action is our satisfying occupation of belonging to Turtle Island.

Recalling the stories of my youth helped me to realize how I would live the rest of my life for my people and the land. Here at Orohie, the Calling Place, the tohunga translated the third and final line on the tablet in which he prayed for me.

Figure u: Life Cycle of the Soul into Harmony chant – verse 3

158

This prayer solidified my resolve to follow the patterns in creation of Makemake, our Source of Life. And so I sat at Orohie, the Calling Place, to remember the Indigenous ways of our ancestors.

Maui, Hina-iti, Hotu-nui, Tangaroa-ika and Iwi together took me to the work in the gardens. We woke early enough with three bundles of last years provisions and began to prepare an umu oven to feed the clan while we worked the gardens. Maui and Hina-iti took me to gather some wood. They taught me how to gather dead branches from the crevacess where plenty of brush was growing.

Maui said, “There is a story of the long ears who gathered all the brush from the island in order to trap the short ears in the trenches of Poike. The short ears knew of their plot and caught the long ears in their own trap lighting all the brush on fire. Only three men remained and they cornered them in a cave. Killing two, the third man cried out,

159 ‘Oro-oro!’ It proved that he was gentle as a dove and should not be harmed. He was allowed to marry among the short ears and had a great family. The entire island has signs of his offspring to this day by the light-skinned and bearded ones.”

Hina-iti taught me of the island wood saying, “This toromiro brush is used to carve all our sacred images and rongorongo tables. The cutting down of the toromiro is a great and sacred rite, for the tohunga chose them from saplings. Offerings are made for several years and when they are cut, great mana is given them to produce a sacred object.

That is why the toromiro is tapu, lest they all be taken by our insatiable manipulation of the land. Look also at the mulberry for which we make our tapa clothes. Hina on the moon has one such tree for pounding out our tapa clothes as well. We just follow her example in order to dress our people with the purest clothes of Hina. That way our clothes come from the moon, they come from heaven of Rangi above.”

I asked, “Why do our clothes have to be pure from the moon?”

Hina replied, “So we can sit at the feasts of our tohunga in the proper dress and as an outword sign that we are ready to participate in the greatest tree of all.”

“What tree is that?” I inquired.

Maui spoke up enthusiastically, “It is here!” He pulled a few red berries off of a low lying bush, “It is the Poroporo tree with the red berries of enlightment. The tohunga will use these berrires in our umu oven ceremony today. The berries come from the one Poroporo tree from the Underworld and each berry represents a soul of our ancestors who have decended from the first man who was a god.”

Hina knelt beside the tree and touched the leaves of the Poroporo in reverence with a bow. Maui did the same and so I followed them.

160 Maui said, “There is the banana plantation. Along the deep crevaces made by Ru’s earthquakes or along hollows in the rock we have dug, we are able to grow our bananas. The wind and cold is too great for these trees to grow in the open. We have to work with the land that we have been apportioned to honor. If we are not carefull, we will loose our provisions. Take the nui, coconut, that were found on your canoe. We had these long ago, but they were not able to grow on this island like the banana and the cane.

That is why we where the small makoi nuts as ornaments of authority on our shoulders.

We call them nui, since they so closely resembled nui from our land of origin. Though we could no longer be nourished by the coconut, their sacred memory nourished us. You, Hotu-iti, have reminded us of our sacred memory and that if it spans across the ocean to your homeland, this sacred memory must surely unify our clans and tribes.�

Maui waved his hand across the island to the East and the early sun was shining through the morning mist rising from the banana and sugar cane shoots now sprouting up all across the island. Between the rows hundreds of gardeners were tending their clans plantations divided into portions for each family. The chickens were able to roam freely during the day and we picking up the seads from last seasons weeds. The two-legged were gathering these dead plants into piles for the chickens. What would not be eaten was added to the fires of the umu ovens whose smoke rising across the land was competing with the morning mist. I sat on the rock fense of the Miru clan garden and took some time to take in the sight of this vast plantation. All was one giant plantation with each family forming a lush green corner to add life to the whole. This time of year at dawn brought the lightest green hew across the island platteau accented by a pathway with twenty moai statue guarding the way.

161 The umu oven required a clearing of stones from the pit lined with thin slabs to keep the dirt away from the food. Maui let me rub a hard stick on a soft wood, which eventually lit the dry bundle of bark. With the flame we made the fire in the pit filled with dry branches, wood and organic scraps. In the fire there were stones. Once heated they were removed into a pile. The pit was then lined seaweed and banana leaves. Sweet potatos and fish were placed and then covered with more banana leaves, the hot stones, flat stones and finally earth. By noon, the most delicious meal retaining all the juices was ready.

But first, we had some hard work to do. We cleared the plantation of stones and with a sharp stone or stick we dug furrows for the roots to be placed. Every potato or taro or yam required its own hill and this took most of the work of the day. The easier part was carrying grasses, seaweed and organic decay from last year or from the dark damp crevaces for fertilizer and more importantly to keep the water from evaporating with the hot sun and strong winds. The taros and ti tubers were planted close to the stone fenses to protect them from the sun and near old dwellings so rich with thick soil from generations of past cultivations, which required less care over the year. The other plants, such as the sacred Kumara, sweet potato, required more constant care, weed clearing and dampening of soil. More digging was required around the banana trees, the paper mulberry and the sugar cane, as they would not grow on this island of cool strong winds unless sheltered in deep trenches all across the plantation. It gave the central southern portion of the island all the way to the volcano quarry a feel of great sustainance that would keep the island fed all year. The plantation was indeed the pride of the royals and all leading families who were charged to keep the confidense of over 2000 islanders.

162 Fish, crayfish, rats and chickens were a bonus delicacy next to the major provisions of the gardens.

When the sun was high in the sky we stopped work and opened up the umu ovens.

Circles of families and clans gathered together to share the feast. The tohunga always offered first portions to the Rangi and Papa, Sky and Earth and we each shared in a morsal of their sacred kumara and first fish.

With the Sacred Sweet Potato or Kumara morsal in our hands, Tangaroa-ika raised a prize potato portion and said, “He kino kai e kore, e rere ki te pai tangata e rere, ki te kino kai. The imperfections in this food will not reduce the one consuming it, but his goodness will perfect the food.”

We all consumed the morsal and Iwi said, “This Kumara was given to us by the first man, Hotu Matua. If we participate in the regeneration of the Kumara every planting and harvest, we will never forget the Maui Life given him by Makemake our common Creator.”

With the Sacred First Fish morsal in our hands, Tangaroa-ika raised a prized morsal and said, “E kore e taka te parapara a ona tupuna, tukua iho kia a ia. He cannot loose the spirit of his ancestors; it must descend to him.”

We all consumed the morsal of fish and Iwi said, “I muia Tinirau i mate ai. The Lord of the fishes, Tinirau was outnumbered by the many and so gave us his Maui Life, He is Kanae, the fish that got away, Hoa-Kanana’ia, out hidden friend.”

Then the regular feasting began. The time was my favorite moment on the island.

Everyone laughing and joking and challenging the other to games, contests, with youth running off to snare chickens and black rats and it all continued into the evening and

163 dusk. Then the most important time of riddling, stories, chants and dances that led to final goodnights until another day of work. This was a time for the youth to fall in love.

Chapter 12: Riddles of Love and Rivalry

Hina-iti approached her secret love from Koro-orongo. His name was Turi, son of Matanui.

Hina riddled, “He pai tangata e kore e reia; he kino wahine ka reia. A handsome man might be ignored, but a plain woman would be prized after.” 1 The women around Hina laughed, for Turi was handsome. The men around Turi laughed for Hina was not so plain.

Turi replied, “Ka tuhoa te ra, ka warara, ka hinga. The sun rises to the zenith and then it declines just like human life.”

Hina nodded with a smile of approval and the crowd hummed just the same, for they knew both would one day become plain from old age and yet, the Sun is a sign of our enlightenment even when we travel with the Sun over the Western gate of death.

164 Hina did not want to waste time being apart for so long from the war and said, “He pai kai; e kore e roa te tiro hanga; ka pa tau, he pai tangata e roa te tiro hanga. The pleasure of looking at good food is short, and that of looking at a good man is long.”

Everyone laughed in the riddles direction to draw love together and there was a hush as Turi moved toward her in mana-aroha put his hand on her arm and said, “Now what can I say to that?”

There was a roar of joy and peace and hope, and smiles from even Matanui and Hotunui. The entire clans were felt the relief of this great sign of love between Hina-iti and Turi – for it was the sign that the war was truly over and would not likely occur again.

As everyone was leaving to retire, Mata-nui of the Koro-orongo clan challenged the Miru clan to a final riddling contest. Hotu-nui consented and the two clans gathered in a large circle around our umu and plantation.

Matanui began with, “Moramara nui a mahi, kei rito i a noho. Let industry be rewarded, so being idle does not take root. Tena te ringa tango parahia. That is the hand that roots out the parahia.”

Maui whispered me an explanation, “Even when excluding the slander against Matanui caused by the war, Matanui was known for working his clan members hard.

Perhaps it was due to the lack of good soil on the Poike peninsula where the clan lived.

In essence they would borrow land from Tupahotu in exchange for nets and fish.

Therefore, Matanui was forced to work harder on the land to prove he was worthy of tending it. Yet, a land can be overworked and a people can become disconnected from the land by competition and exploitation.”

165 Hotunui countered with, “Ko Maru kai atu o henua, ko Maru kai mai, ka ngohe ngohe. Give to the land as much as you take and all will be in order.”

The grand parents of all the clans had always stressed returning to the soil anything that was taken away. Poike peninsula was barren from the strong winds on the height of the sea side cliffs surrounding the land, but the Western clans liked to argue it was by missuse of the land.

Matanui replied, “Pihi kau ake te wakaaor pai, hauhake tonu iho. The good thought springs up as grass, but it is immediately cut down.”

Matanui was all about action, not philosophy. His shortness of reason led to hasty decisions and unwillingness to sit in the circle of the broader clans in order to find the best solution for problems the islanders might face.

Hotunui added, “Ka mau ta Maui ki tona ringaringa e kore e kaea te ruru. What Maui has hold of he will not give up. What is given cannot be taken away.”

Hotunui is reminding Matanui that the deity Maui noosed the Sun and will not let it go. Therefore, we can always rely on the wisdom of the tohunga circle and the stories that teach us and reteach us our values and philosophy. If we follow this wisdom path, we also can harness the mana or power of the Sun, the enlightenment of the gods, without having to suffer losses. If we follow the values of the ancestors who knew our land the best, new problems will not overwhelm us.

Matanui responded, “Ngahuru ki runga, ngahuru ki raro; ma te paroparo e aki.

There are ten teeth above and ten below, let the weight of the skull bring them together.”

Matanui words were a proverb expressing the food is half cooked or hard to chew.

Therefore, he was insulting the Miru tribe for providing the Umu oven to those gathered.

166 Hotunui swallowed his pride with, “Haere e wai i te waewae o Uenuku, kia ora ai te tangata. By going to the feet of Uenuku, a man’s life may be saved.”

Again, Hotunui appeals to the gods when his people are insulted or attacked by men. He is admitting here that all the provisions of the Umu are gifts hidden under the mystery of the rainbow mist, the home of Uenuku. To insult the cook is to insult the deity also.

Matanui replied, “E hara te toa taua, he toa pahekeheke? Ko to toa ngaki kai e kore e paheke. Bravery in war is uncertain, but being brave and faithful in working the soil will be rewarded.”

Matanui has returned to his strength in husbandry and in a play on words is brushing off Hotunui’s spiritual talk with the practical haka or strength of Matanui’s decision to agree to terms of peace and restoring the islands ecosystem.

Hotunui added, “Me te tarakihi e papa ana i te waru. Like locusts chirping in the eighth month in spring.”

Maui whispered to me, “Wow. Hotunui is saying that Matanui has food, so he is now wasting words by talking. Hotunui is saying, when you belittle the talk of the spirits and the gods, even the finest words are worth nothing.”

Matanui returned with, “Tino kai, tino ora te kopu. By a constant supply of food, the stomach will always be full.”

Matanui was no match towards Hotunui’s love of wisdom, so he returned to his successes in hard work. Though the land he used was not his, it produced greatly and his clan was still able to provide fish and nets to the eastern most clans.

167 Hotunui countered with: “Tena te kawenga, a te ringa kokoparahia. The man who prevents the weeds from taking over the sacred place of the marae, will also overcome his enemies.”

Matanui would be hurt within by this comment, as the hard work he has done cannot be compared to Hotunui’s devotion to the sacred. That is, the Miru clan of the Tuu tribe was known for tending the sacred ahu plattforms of the statue moai lined in a row.

Matanui replied, “Ko te uri o pani.” The house of an orpan, refering to the Miru clan adopting me, and also meaning a clan of no influence or mana or power.

Hotunui concluded, “I hea koe i te tangihanga, o te riroriro? Where were you when the riroriro spring birds have first sung?”

Matanui turned in defeat, since he was claiming to be the great gardener and hard working clan, yet denied planting the seed of Hotuiti among the clans of the island.

Hotu-nui is comparing caring for the island people as a whole with gardening. Matanui has failed by overemphasizing the achievements of his own clan and forgetting the littlest ones and the powerless ones. Hotunui claims that these little ones are seeds building up mana or power in their Underworld plight, that will one day grow into the most productive member of the entire community.

The elders agreed that Hotunui won the contest since he was able to apply the reasoning of Matanui as a productive gardener toward the same values required to be a great leader over all the affairs of the island.

168 I noticed that in all the riddling contests the elders favored those who understood how all things were related. They also emphasized that if the littlest ones were cared for, this was a sign of a great island community.

Chapter 12 Notes 1. Taylor, R (1855). Te Ika a Maui. Wertheim and Macintosh. From the section of Proverbs. Pp. 126-135.

This riddling contest and the one between Hotunui and Matanui also refers to this source.

2. Black Water, A. & Wolf Child, B. (2010). You are My Children and Grandchildren. Culture Class at Red Crow Community College, Lethbridge, Alberta. May 5th, 2010.

169

Chapter 13: The Dreams of Elders

On our return to the Miru harekura, it was Tohunga Tangaroa-ika who carried me on his shoulders all the way. He had not yet the chance to teach me what it means to be his grandson.

And so Tangaroa spoke these words I will never forget, “You are a gift to me, my grandson. All parts of creation are a gift. Out of you there is a mana or power, a haka or strength and a ngaro aroha or a hidden devotion, a mysterious love of all. This same mana-aroha is present in all things. There are times when the moon covers the Sun and the earth hides the moon from the Sun. At these times we are reminded of how all things are connected and draw life from one another. Like when our grandfather dies, yet remains closer to us than the living.�

170 Tangaroa picked up a stone and dropped it over a crevass with a particular lush growth of banana trees.

He said, “Do you see how that stone desired the earth? All things relate to the others by their desire to remain. All things related to one another in that way of the mana-aroha we all possess. We are the two-legged one, the rats and lizards are the four legged ones, the birds are the winged ones and the fish are the finned ones. The water is the soft one, the earth is the solid one. The sun is the warm one and the moon is the blinking one. The stars are the ancient ones. The rainbow is the misty one. We are all one of the great source of all things. If one of these little ones is wounded, so am I. The Creator’s mana-ngaro is one and the same everywhere at all times and in all things. So why would I separate myself from the stones, from the fish? Why would I harm the moth and the worm? They all belong. We all belong. There are those who turn from the values of the first parents. In doing so, they put themselves above all these others as if they do not matter. When you sat there watching the garden run all the way to the volcano quarry of the moai statues, did you think, ‘Something is out of place here?’”

I said, “No. It all looked so perfect. It all filled me with haka strength.”

Tangaroa said, “Exactly! There is a harmony on the earth that we can participate in. We can ask the Earth, ‘Give me your strength!’ 2 And we will make ourselves aware of the importance of these moments of harmony and how important they are to weave into our circles and our existance. The war set us all off balance with our island. What good was it? The answer is to value the mana-ngaro of all things. What good is it to just favor your own kin, when the mana-ngaro is present in all things? Your kin will learn to live in harmony if you teach them to be kindred to all things. You will not truly learn

171 harmony unless you regard Koro-orongo as your kin as much as Miru. That riddling contest was not meant to separate our clans, on the contrary it united them. For Matanui, he will wake up in the morning an realize Hotunui did not insult him, but spoke at his level in order to raise him up by his side as a brother.”

Tangaroa stopped and jumped up and down making me laugh grasping with the naunau of a mosquito to hang on to his shoulders.

Then Tangaroa added, “The ground I am jumping on gives me life. I can feel its vibrations within my being as I walk. Not like a feather on the skin, but an awareness, a perception that I have trained by way of passage rites to grasp Mother Earth and to know her mana-aroha. The earth has been given two gifts of great mana-aroha. The first gift is regenerative life. The rats we snare are replaced with ten young in the nests below the tumbled piles of ahu stones. This is a great gift. What would we do without that last sweet potato of the season? If we greedily ate it, it would not produce nine more for the next season. What if there was only one chicken or one Tavake egg? We would have nothing for the next year, the next generation. Regeneration is one of two great gifts given to Mother Earth. The second gift is Harmony. All things sustain something else.

Where are most of the fish on the island?”

I replied, “I don’t know?”

Tangaroa said, “Where most of the birds go. Motu-nui, the big island to the south of Orongo. The fish are plentify and so the birds go there to feast. The birds drop their white gifts into the sea which feeds the tiny ones that keep the fish from going hungry.

Therefore, the fish and the birds have an agreement. They live in harmony. They sustain one another.”

172 Tangaroa stopped and turned his face into my chest to emphasize his main point, “If we ever loose that harmony, we are telling Mother Earth that we do not realy belong here. When that happens she will fly up to the moon in sorrow and weep over us. Her lament will be heard and the Creator will send someone... a child... to remind us... to lead us back to the path of harmony. I believe we have made a contribution to the harmony of this island. The bananas provide shelter for many plants and animals. We brought those here. We brought the chickens and the rats. We co-created a harmony in order to participate in the circle of this island. This harmony is what makes us real. We are more than two-legged as a result. Before we are human beings...”

Tangaroa paused again to emphasize his teaching, “... Before we have the right to call ourselves human, we are first ... living beings.... Therefore, before we sleep at night we recall the events of the day and remind ourselves what we have forgotten. Then we tell the family what we are doing the next day. We meditate on our haka or strength. We meditate on the actions that have resulted from the life that we value. To be a living being, to be alive, is to act in harmony with all that is living. Does the bird not call us to Orongo? It is alive. Does the fish not swim through our broken nets?”

We laughed.

He continued, “Why?” I said, “It is alive.”

Tangaroa added, “The volcanic rock, does it not drink up all the rain? It is alive.

If we pound that rock into a hollow, it seals up the mouth of the rock and leaves a pool of rainwater behind. We do this because we are alive and need to drink also. We need water for our gardens, because they are alive. We will not forget that the land needs

173 more water than we do, that the plants need more water that we do. Honoring the otherness of the land in this way gives us access to its power, its mana. So when we sleep we will be rewarded with dreams from the Creator. You know they are from the Creator when they are more vivid than being awake. In the dream a living being will come and remind us of our need for harmony. They will remind us that we have forgotten something or someone. We will feel empty and needy. We may awake and be left to reflect on why we are so needy. We may dream later of another creature coming with a gift for us to fill our need to belong to the circle of all living things. That creature appears to us after every passage rite to affirm our values and identity and our place of belonging in the circle.”

Tangaroa stopped to pause and emphasis his teaching, “When we act upon these values... that is the reason for our existance... our purpose is fully answered by our actions that follow this vital path of our ancestors to remain in harmony with the land they brought us to learn about, live upon and love through and through.”

As we approached the sacred house where royal family slept amidst the clan Miru territory, I said, “Teach me more of this Tohunga Tangaroa-ika. Don’t stop teaching me.”

Tangaroa said, “My grandfather taught me for three days in a row. Perhaps we well plant to teach you for many days. I have to fast and pray for this moment, I am not prepared. But I know enough of the stories to keep your attention. The stories are associated with the sacred places and creatures in order to bind you to truly belong to the earth. These creatures have been gifted with a personality that carries a certain value, such as the ability to soar as birds; the value of warmth taught to us by the Sun; the

174 ability to nourture children as the rats; the ability to protect as the stones of our gardens.

All these creatures teach us these values without failing. If you follow their advice, their strength, their actions... you, Hotuiti... will never fail.”

Maui lifted me off of our grandfather’s shoulders and Tangaroa ducked under the harekura door to go to sleep. He turned and looked at me, eye to eye with the final words, “Tonight you will dream of an animal totem. What value and action will you learn?”

The hair stood on the back of my neck and I lay on my very own rock reliving all the wonders I had seen and heard that day.

That night I slept deeply and had a strange dream of barking seals. It is these times when all is well that an omen might appear to cause us to ponder about our fragility of existence. In my dream, it was night of the first full moon after the great feast and the entire island was woken by the sounds of the breakers barking, yet there were no waves.

There was a great mana or power in my dreaming and I could percieve it in every stone and strub lit up by the full-moon. The sound of the breakers with a calm sea caused the watchers to stir the clans to waken us all. A mass of islanders walked by the light of the full moon to the Southern shore and where the waves would have been crashing came the sound of the breakers barking. Yet, when we reached the cliffs before the sea there were thousands of seals gathered along the shore. They were barking toward the island and the sea was as still as the sky.

I shared with Maui and Hina-iti who took me to share with Tangaroa-ika and Iwi. They spoke together in a low tone.

175 Tangaroa-ika finally turned to us and said, “There is a memory of the seal as a sign of Tangaroa, Lord of the Sea. The seal barking is a sign of the call of death, just as when breakers crash. The seals number was great and all across the Southern shore, meaning that the death that comes to our island will be great and affect us all. Yet, the sea was as still as the sky. This means that all who die will be received by Tangaroa into the sea to swim toward the horizon and jump into the sky, from fish into birds to become one with the ancestors and star people.”

Iwi added, “When such dreams come that the Great Mystery wants us to share with the clan, they are not like most dreams that we so easily forget and have no meaning. This dream you had, Hotu-iti, made you feel all things in the dream very intensely. The Creator does this so that you will not forget and you are meant to share.

And after you share there will be a sign in creation that will confirm the mana of your dream.”

As soon as Iwi finished speaking there was a great tremblings on the Earth and if the deity of Earthquakes, Ru, had woken up and was ready to come out of the volcanos.

A few minutes later a long whitecap could be seen from the South. And all the island gathered on the heights to view the southern shore. The wave came and caused a great breaking upon the entire Southern shore and sounded just like the many seals on the southern shore in my dream.

The sign was too great to keep the wisdom keepers from calling it a great portent and all the island fasted and prayed. Many islanders were tattooed and every person found a way to make an offering to the ancestors, to the gods. Since I was from the cave, my offering was grass.

176 The seal was a totem of the deity Tangaroa, deity of the Ocean. Therefore, a watch was kept at all the stone fish houses where the tortoise sightings were made. All the ancient caves were opened, and the sacred objects secured and covered in case of a greater tidal wave. Yet, there were no elders that had their dreams to teach us what this portent might mean.

The next day an elder from the Koro-orongo clan, of the Eastern land of Poike came to all the clans. His name was Rega Varevare and this is what he said:

E-tomo te haûti i Tarakiu, e-tomo te poepoe hiku regorego, e-tomo te îka ariga koreva, e-tomo te poropo haha, e-kiu te Atua i te ragi.

“A wooden house will arrive at Tarakiu (near Vaihu), a barge will arrive, animals will arrive with their faces of eels, golden thistles will come, and the Lord will be heard in heaven.”

When Rega Varevare, son of Te Niu, finished his teaching to all the clans he returned to Poike. In the morning, he was dead.

Other elders from around the tribe had visions and the elders agreed to meet with the chiefs and island royals to discuss what this all could mean.

That night Hina-iti and Maui whispered that I could hide behind the screen of the harekura of Hotu-iti where the meeting was being held. There I heard all the elders share their dreams and visions. It amounted to a great trial that would be rewarded with a gift from a floating island.

177 Yet, I wanted to tell them not to trust the floating island, for what it did to my wayfinding clan. Maui and Hina-iti said they would share my concern with the chief.

With Rega Varevare dead, a great ceremony was performed. It was believed that since he knew all the island ceremonies and their appropriate incantations as a living Tohunga, that he would remain a wananga spirit medium to protect the island. Yet, in his place, Punga-varevare took the spiritual head of the Koro-orongo clan and it was understood that Punga was still uncertain about his intent to be a true tohunga for the people or a mere sorcerer for his own power. He was against the ways of Rega and the company of tohunga were afraid he would not understand the signs of the wooden house and the proper place of its arrival. And Punga’s mana was strong, for his eyes were focused and glaring upon me hidden behind the harekura veil.

Chapter 14 – The Harekura1

As the next moon passed, the work on the island continued to unite us and restore our ecosystem. Our work is called, Haka, which means strength from the basic meaning of line or cord. The true human being who knows our origin makes us all Indigenous to Mother Earth. This awareness is evident by an active participation in their Haka lifestyle, which revolves around the wheel of ecosystem, ritual, story-telling, wisdom keeping, community, and personal identity. Indigenous philosophy understands that such a place exists that has excluded the ecosystem from the circle. This place is called, the Underworld, it is the desolate land of the dead. In my haka circle, I was given to the task of training in the harekura of the writing boards, the Kohau Rongorongo. Tangaroa-ika and Iwi sat with me to teach me the Easter Island tablet writing system.

178 Tangaroa-ika stood outside the harekura. The golden Sun shone on his back as it was near setting in the West.

Tangaroa-ika bent down and wrote these figures in the sand as he spoke, “The harekura is an expression of the harmony of two essential elements: Figure v: Upper and Lower Jaw of Makemake – Source of Life2

The Upper Jaw is everything from above in the abode of Makemake. The Lower Jaw is everything from below, including the two-legged, the four-legged, the winged ones, the finned ones, the plants, the stones, the elements and everything pertaining to life on Earth. Harmony involves assembling the lower jaw to the upper.”

Iwi passed us each a small morsel of kumara sweet potato.

Tangaroa-ika said, “I will share with you the incantation of purifying yourself as a student by consuming this small sacred morsel of enlightenment, called horomata.

After the chant to make tapu our learning of hare-wananga, we will consume the morsal and you will be our harekura student of a morsel of enlightenment or tauira-horomata.

Here we are opening the window of heaven, since we believe the jaws are aligned. Out of the window or mouth of heaven come the sacred words of enlightenment. This enlightenment comprises three baskets of knowledge, Kete-wānanga.”

Iwi began wrapping with her broom on the near by maori oven for preparing the sacred kumara sweet potatoes. She gave Tangaroa a look of reminder.

179 Tangaroa said, “Oh, yes. The baskets of knowledge are represented in the lifeforce of the three hot stones of the umu oven. The hetu stones represent the keeping solid in your memory this basket of knowledge. The life force of keeping a solid memory of kete-wananga is transferred directly from the Creator, Makemake to our Rano Raraku volcano, to the stone moai statues and to these stones. From the stones, the life force is transferred to the sacred kumara. The solid memory of the stone is mingled with the sweet taste of the kumara. The life force of solid sweetness is then placed on the tongue with the incantation from our first parents. After consuming the morsel a small gizzard stone is swallowed to represent the polishing and purification of this teaching into our heart and belly. “To do this we practice our Haka, Mana and Ngaro Aroha, our strength, power and devotion given to us from Makemake to the First Man, Tiki-Tawhito. He passed these teachings from Rangi above to all the ancestors down to us. If we ever forget a portion of this harmonic teachings we can see them written in the stars where our ancestors in the Upper Jaw can remind us of the Sacred Stories from above. When reminded of the Harekura sacred teachings of the Upper Jaw above, we may then carefully realign the Lower Jaw of our experience and our world, so all returns to harmony.�

Iwi took a sacred bundle of branches and began to sweep our the teaching area or marae, in front of the Harekura, sacred house of the Miru clan.

Then Tangaroa-ika wrote in the sand and chanted the Sacred Sweeping Song of the Harekura: Figure w: Tahinga Sweeping Ceremony Chant3

180

Verse i: Tahi Rootu Tahi hetuhetu (Kete-wananga-tahitahia) Makara tohere Maru Tuhakau u-tahi-po raro tuma wananga Tangaroa4 Sweep (with the) broom Sweep the Sacred Stones of the Basket of Knowledge of Makemake (skull deity of the tides and Creation) and set as the Sun toward a new harmony when Maru faces Tu (in a war deity battle) with the sacred stones for solidifying the chant for sweeping the darkness to the bottom of the underworld bottom in order to stand pure and tapu with the wananga or sacred teaching of the Lord of the Ocean.

Verse ii: Poangaanga-hakahetu Tokomua, poangaanga Tokoroto, poangaanga Tokopa kohua-kete-wananga tupo-haka Mata-Tama kori-haka popohaga-haka5 Skull (decaying) first prop, skull middle prop and skull last prop standing up at the oven of the three stones of knowledge there is strength, at the grave there is

181 strength at the Gate of Rongo at the native oven there is strength at the dawn there is strength.

To live in harmony with our natural environment, all our activity is guided by our sacred rituals. The rituals form a circle of understanding between us and our ecosystems.

Through story-telling we develop an affiliation with our sacred sites and the values modeled to us in our environment. Such values might be given us by an animal totem, which is an organism whose character and personality emit that value. The Creator has given the animals a certain innocence and perfection, so that we have a model that will never fail us. Once we have the values, we need the power or mana. The mana must come from above and so we have our spirit mediums. That is, the Creator has allowed us to receive gifts from our ancestors who advocate for us in Rehua, the tenth heaven. The spirit medium is given the right to transfer ngaro or devotion from heaven to earth from the sacred sites on our territory. For a wayfinding tohunga priest or chief, we place their canoe upright as a standing up rod when they die. This becomes their source of travel to and from the other worlds on our behalf. When the canoe decays we replace it with a stone. There are 288 stones standing on sacred sites, ahu temple platforms, around the island. Great is the majority, the mana and the ngaro of the Dead. We call these spirit mediums wananga, since while they were alive they knew all the incantations of our rituals. That is my duty while living as a Tohunga, to learn the rituals with their stories, their wisdom and their incantations. The ritual ties it all together. For example, the sacred eating of the god ceremony takes the first fish and the sacred kumara, sweet potato. We cook them in the Maori earth oven or umu. The umu oven is reflected in the

182 moon, where Hina is the cook on the moon with three heated stones, later used to dry and beat here tapa bark cloth.6 She not only provides us with the sacred banquet, but she also dresses us in the purified clothes. The waning and waxing of the moon reminds us of the giving and receiving of the gifts of our Creator, Makemake. Hina, as the first woman, plucks from her thigh the flesh to bait the hook that retrieved the first man. The first man, was half fish and so was also the first fish. Every time we eat of the first fish ceremony, we receive the power, the mana, the devotion, the ngaro of the first man and the first woman. As a result, every time we look at the moon we are grateful and filled with a new energy to perform our daily haka. You cannot easily forget the chant associated with this story and ritual, since it is how the tohunga eat every meal.

Therefore, a sacred covering is put over these artefacts and sacred sites. This sacred covering is called a tapu. What do you know of Tapu7 teachings, my son?�

I gazed at the harekura, without even noticing the ring of flowers that Iwi placed over my neck. She was returning a favour, I thought, since every full moon in spring and summer I would find a handful of flowers for her and place them in her hand. She smiled at their fragrance and though blind, could see my ngaro, my aroha, my devotion and respect.

But my gaze was on the harekura, where I wanted deeply to be invited into the harekura circle by the clan tohunga and wisdom keeper for the very first time. Though I had entered unnoticed and sat behind the screen for the years that I lived in the cave, a formal invitation would make it official and make me feel like I belong after years of rejection. I replied with an innocent eagerness, “Tapu, means that the teachings or objects are sacred and one can only share in them if certain conditions of purification

183 have been met. One cannot even approach what is tapu, unless carrying the appropriate offering.”

Iwi grinned from ear to ear.

“Well put, man!” Tangaroa-ika addressed me as man since he had witnessed my rite of passage with the seven boys and seven girls in and out of the Underworld cave.

The Wisdom Keeper continued, “Tapu is a covering. The covering is placed there from above and cannot be removed by human beings, nor by spirits, nor by forces and powers.

The Creator has a purpose for what has been made Tapu and no one can take that away from the Great Spirit. No one can solve the puzzles of the Great Mystery until the Tapu covering is ready to be raised by permission. Indigenous World-view would consider anyone chosen to raise the covering of a Tapu mystery is a person who is worth something, who has been purified through flames and who should be regarded as innocent and trustworthy. The Grand Designer has a mission that leads to a fulfillment of all things into utmost beauty and purpose. We are part of that beauty and purpose, simply because we reflect the imagination of our common Creator. Therefore, there is a common life-force interconnecting all parts of creation: the four legged, the winged ones, the finned ones, the plants, the very stones, the stars, the Sun, the moon, the elements, all things. We are all related. For example, if the two-legged were to make war against the four-legged and the two-legged appeared to win that war by exterminating them all, such a morbid act would merely be a forecast of the decline of the two-legged. On the other hand, entering into a ceremony which raises the status of the most fragile organism on our island, such as, the first egg of the Tangata-manu bird-man ritual, ensures a sacred relationship between the winged-ones and the two-legged. As a result, what is fragile

184 becomes Tapu to those two-legged who appear to become the winged parents themselves, since this Tapu causes them to protect the eggs as do the birds. In fact, the entire island of Motu-nui has become such a sacred site, therefore, the ecosystem flourishes. This is verified by the tiny lagoon inside the rock of the island which contains the most colourful display of life on the island.”

I wanted to see this colourful opening in the rock of Motu-nui, more than anything apart from participate in the Tangata-manu Egg-hunt ceremony myself.

“Will I be able to participate in the next Egg-hunt?” I asked. Iwi gestured in affirmative hope.

Tangaroa-ika smiled and replied, “In order to raise a Tapu covering to see the wonderful gifts inside, one must be as innocent as they are eager. Therefore, before the Tapu restriction is lifted, there must be a Pure ceremony.”8 “I know all the chants!” I conched up loudly. Iwi nodded with pride.

Tangaroa replied, “We will test you over the next three years to see how many chants you know my son. Yet, even if you have heard the chants from the mouth of your cave, you do not know the motions and activities associated with those chants that the wananga or deified ancestors have passed down to the tohunga or living priests over the centuries from the original homeland of Hawaiki. With every chant comes an offering from the local environment. With the offering comes a story associated with the local landforms and organisms. Then there is a rite of passage for the apprentice and his protégés to weave their haka or work through the mana or life force of the ecosystem.”

Tangaroa could see the puzzlement setting in on my face.

185 Then he added, “If we don’t find a way to make all our relations on this island sacred with a protective covering or Tapu, we will destroy our island by neglect and misuse. This has happened many times through the ages by sincere wayfinders who forgot the way of the red pathway of the dawn of life. And it nearly happened to us, until a child led us to the ways of our grandparents. Therefore, all our games, all our work, all our relationships must follow these original teachings. New circumstances require another visit to the Underworld by one of our people to receive the utu to weave through the new situation our ecosystem is facing.

“Hotu-iti, the boy, must be patient, yet Tiki-tawhito, the man, will face many such challenges in life. All of these challenges come with great gifts from behind the mysterious and sacred back of the Creator, Makemake.

“Take man and woman. To lie with a woman is Tapu.” Tangaroa was very serious, yet kind in his speech.

I blushed. Iwi smiled and messed up my hair affectionately.

Tangaroa continued without hesitation, “The love of a man and a woman is not wrong or evil. A certain aspect of this aroha or love is restricted, it is Tapu. Sadly some have come to think of the word Tapu as something negative, applying scruples to what lies behind or as an obstacle imposed upon by others. No. Not at all. Tapu is like the protective seaweed wrapping around the food of the maori earth oven or umu. Tapu acknowledges, highlights and lifts up the beauty of what is being covered and hidden.

It’s the Creators way of wrapping gifts for us to open on special occasions. When we open the gifts of the union of love after a man and a woman, Makemake is there making it happen in the sacred realm. It would be fair to say that a piece of Rehua, the tenth

186 heaven, is brought down under the Tapu cover of that sacred moment. That sacred moment with the couple that will highlight the mystery of love and of regeneration hidden behind the back of Makemake, is protected by this sacred covering, called the Tapu. When the woman stands in front of the man she has chosen, before the tohunga and clan, a sacred pure9 or lifting of Tapu occurs. At first, it appears that this lifting is restricted for the man and the woman, but eventually, out of their own harekura or sacred house comes a crawling living creature we call the tama, the tama-iti or little baby. And we are all convinced that this beautiful living being belongs to the entire community.

The seed of the man and woman is hidden in the darkness of fertile soil and the couples’ private intimacy. Out of this Tapu covering comes a green shout. As we observe this sprouting of new life, the entire community is led to understand its original purpose by this Green Shout. That is, there is a saying, ‘... a child will lead them.’ How? By reminding us of our green regenerative energy and that the purpose of being fully grown is to produce fruit, to provide shelter and to enable a place for all the vulnerable nestlings to belong.”

I inquired with an innocent ignorance, “How does the pure of the man and the woman work?”

Iwi put her hand on my back and guided me closer to Tangaroa-ika.

Tangaroa began, “The pure for the man and woman is the same as it has always been since the first man, Hotu-matua and the first woman, Hina. If ever we forget the incantation that brings men and woman together an important person dies in order to retrieve the chant once again in the Underworld. Then as the wananga spirit medium he or she returns in our visions and dreams to teach us again the ways of our ancestors.

187 “A pure of the man and woman might occur like this: On a full moon, the man says to his love these words for Hina Tapairu, the Princess of the Moon:

‘The tide of life glides swiftly past And mingles all in one great eddying foam.

O Heaven, now sleeping!

Rouse thee, rise to power.

And O thou Earth; Awake, exert thy might for me, And open wide the door to my last home, Where calm and quiet awaits me in the sky.’10

“He says these words to acknowledge the love between Rangi, the Sky of Heaven and Papa, our Mother Earth, which made all things. Then the man asks that our final home in Rehua or the tenth heaven be brought down to make his own home on Earth a place of peace and security.

The woman follows with this return utu pure incantation of their powerful love or mana aroha:

‘After the evening hours I recline upon my bed.

Your own spirit like form

188 Comes toward me, Drawing stealthily near.

At long last! You are here with me, Enjoying the light of day.

Making the affectionate memories Of the many days untold Will keep on rising within my heart.

And if it stops beating, loved one This you must do, Recite the potent call of Rakahua11, And the strong cry to Rikiriki12 That I may return like Hina to Maui.

For you are so much more than an ordinary husband; You are my best beloved, my chosen, My treasured possession. At long last!’13

Tangaroa-ika proceeded, “These incantations give mana or power to the couple, since the first man and woman used such incantations given them by the Source. The couple then performs an act of togetherness in the presence of the community. For example, they may bind themselves together with the dried seaweed that will be used to wrap their first-born as Maui was wrapped.”

189 Iwi added, “Maui was placed in the top-knot of his mother, Ataranga after she bore him. She then tossed him in the sea where two seals or birds with broken wings raise wrapped him in seaweed for protection and nourishment.”

I, Hotu-iti Tiki-tawhito, cried, “That is Hoa Hakanana’ia! The statue with the two birds with broken wings raising up the smaller bird. This statue is buried half-way in Orongo, the topknot of Atarangi.”14 “Now your learning, my pillar of a little man!” Iwi boasted.

Then it all hit me, “I get it!” I said, “The couple is wrapped in the seaweed in order to wrap them in the story of Maui, the Life, who was raised on the wisdom top-knot of his mother, situated at Orongo. Therefore, the couple is wrapped in the artefact, the story and the sacred site, together with the value of devotion and the nourishment of children. And the Tapu covering is removed to enlighten the couple about a fragment or rikiriki of heaven and bear the fruit of new life.”

Tangaroa-ika voiced in triumph, “Well, there you go! Hotu-iti! You understand, well. Consider this, even your name, your identity, is wrapped in this seaweed That is, you are named after Hotu-Matua, which means our Fruitful Father. He is the first man and original wayfinder of our island. But you were named after him, though from an island far to the West.15 Therefore, we are all one family under the Great Spirit. And all our identity, all our activity becomes confirmed by the direct intervention of the Creator, Makemake, if we follow the cycle of Makemake:

“The cycle of the Creator, Makemake, is:16 To follow the story to the totems;

190 To follow the totems to the values; To follow the values to the natural artefact, which links the human organism to the ecosystem; To follow the natural artefact to the incantation; To follow the incantation to the ritual, the dance or haka activity; To follow the ritual to the sacred site in our ecosystem; To follow the sacred site to the community; To follow the community to affirm17 the person; And to follow the person back to the story where we all belong.

Tangaroa-ika continued: “This life cycle is called, Houhou-rongo or Harmony. If there is a piece missing to this cycle of life, harmony will break down. Holding it all together is the role of our Makemake. Makemake has brought this life cycle from the first ancestors to us.�

191

Chapter 14 Notes 1. The Wharekura – Harekura (Chapter 5 of the Sweeping of the Stars, contextual narrative of Masters Project: Why Indigenous Wisdom Matters: On the Decipherment of Three Chants found on the Easter Island Tablets).

This narrative explores a plausible unfolding of learning in a Polynesian Harekura. The setting is Easter Island, therefore, the ritual identity of this particular Harekura involves the use of the Easter Island tablets, the Orongo Tangata-manu birdman egg hunt and the purpose of the moai statues of Easter Island.

The narrator of the story is Hotu-iti, an orphan from a canoe that drifted from the West. His story is one of a boy struggling to find a seat of belonging among a group of Elders who themselves have just resolved a bitter war. As Hotu-iti finds his identity unfolding in the wisdom of the Tohunga and those who have chosen to adopt him as family, he also has to prove himself in a dangerous riddling contest with the islands most feared sorcerer. The outcome is certain death for the one who lacks a riddler’s whit.

Developing understanding of the harekura sacred school unfolds with a dialogue between four fictional, yet plausible characters of Easter Island before European contact: Tangaroa-ika is the head tohunga of the kohau rongorongo (writing boards) rites of the Miru tribe of Easter Island – his student is Hotu-iti, an orphan boy lost at sea whom the Miru adopted. He is given a new name through rite of passage to manhood and as a writer of the tablets – Tiki-tawhito – Pillar of a Little Man. The third person is Iwi, the matriarch of the clan. She is very wise in her old age, she has a trickster spirit, she is also blind and is the sort of person that sits partly in the spirit world. As a spirit guide, she is chosen to support the Indigenous philosophy that regards family devotion as stronger than death, which can be expressed in the basic Polynesian proverb: ‘Great is the Majority of the dead.’ In Western World-view, we have been force fed the saying, “The system works for the ‘majority’ of us, learn to live with it.” Yet, a reality check on Western consumerism tells the true story of blind elitism and the exploitation of every ecosystem on the planet. Now with over 1 million species extinct, the majority of the dead stand before their Creator with a lament that calls for a reckoning and a restoration. I would not have learned about the Wharekura, were it not for this lament from the dead before their Creator that compels those of us who are under His/Her direction to do one essential duty against all odds, which is to give them a voice. The forth person is Punga-wareware, a fictional tohunga intended to be the devil’s advocate in this portion of the story. His internal struggle involves his potential to lead the island as a powerful sorcerer. For this to happen Hotu-iti-tiki-tawhito must die.

192 This narrative begins in a golden season of innocence and prosperity on Easter Island at the end of a war, before the European slave raids began. The tohunga, wisdom keeper or Polynesian priest is teaching his student about the harekura (lit. house of red) or sacred teaching house of the original flame of wisdom.

Easter Island is restoring its ecosystem by uniting all the wisdom houses from the various trades, arts and rites in order to provide the best solutions to the island fallen to near desolation from destructive human activities motivated by the former war. Hotu-iti Tiki-tawhito is the narrator of this story.

2. These three glyphs represent the Upper Jaw and the Lower Jaw of the three stones in the basket of Sacred Knowledge. Two verses are included where they appear on three separate Rongorongo tablets: Text H, P and Q. Contained on these two verses are several important ‘flag’ glyphs, such as, the Upper and Lower Jaw, the three rock bundles of knowledge, the sweeping glyphs with broom in between, the three pillars – first, middle and last (smallest) and the gate of the Underworld Mata-tama, which appears as two birds holding up their weapons (at the gate).

3. Figure s: the portion of the Easter Island tablets contain the flag glyphs of the Upper Jaw and the Lower Jaw of greater Polynesian spirituality; the first, middle and last pillars of Polynesian lore; and Tama-mata, the gate of the Underworld guarded by two Polynesian mythical bird giants. Also easily recognized is the broom glyph for the Polynesian Sweeping of the Stars ceremony contains between the two syllabic words for sweep.

4. Glyph 1: Tahi from Taha, (side) + hinga (to stoop) = one or to sweep. Glyph 1b: Routu = a comb.

Turou and Rou mean a stick used for reaching for something.

Glyph 1c: Tahi hetu from Tahi (glyph 1) + hetu, stones = sweep the sacred stones.

Kete-wananga – the sacred three stone umu oven and basket of knowledge glyph as it appears earlier in the narrative is alternately attached to the beak of the sweeping bird glyph/ Tahitahia – Rupe’s wooden shovel used to clean Rehua’s dwelling.

The two side/stooping birds represent tahitahia, while portraying a wooden implement used for cleansing.

Rupe rescued Hina from the Underworld and brought her up to the 10th Heaven of the Lord of Kindness, Rehua.

Glyph 2: Makara = the head and a deity ruling the tides.

MakeMake is the Creator Sea God who was first a skull. The glyph represents the rising or the setting Sun, with rays as a crown and the central teeth as a pathway glittering on the sea to the rising Creator. The sun rising and setting occur as the twin tusks of this deity. The next glyph turned on its side is the missing jaw of the Makara head. The mythology likens this severed jaw to the wing of Tane, the bait of Hina which Maui used to raise the table of Rata. The Makara of ancient India, was also a water deity, with a half lion and half elephant head. The parallel of the lion/elephant head is striking. Visible is the central elephant trunk and the blunted tusks mirroring the Indian Elephant Deity who held his broken tusk to represent a refusal to judge or harm his people. Here the tusks are rounded at the end, perhaps to represent the Lord of Kindness, Rehua. An ancient ? myth tells of a serpent that came to devour man, but was intercepted by a much larger serpent who kindly swallowed the serpent lunging to devour the man. What was left was the greater and kinder serpent and man. The greater serpent was still very hungry and to prevent from eating the man, kindly ate itself by swallowing its tale. The serpent eating its tale is a common ancient icon.

Consider Makara or MakeMake as a serpent on the horizon with its tale wrapping around the world out of vision behind the rising head. As the Sun sets one might ponder Makara having completely devouring himself for our sake. With this image in mind other names arise. Hine-Makara is the ancient heroin who drank the water of the deluge to save the remnant of humanity from the rising sea. Taniwha is the general name for a water monster of Polynesia and may be a mythical monster, a great shark or a whale. The ancient Hebrew word for sea serpent or dragon is Tanin. As well, Makemake as the skull or to decay is also represented in Hebrew as Makak.

Glyph 3: Tohere-kauwae-raro from to/toru, (three) + he/here, (necklace) = to set, as the Sun the lower jaw.

This setting of the lower jaw is also likened to the Overturning of Mataaho, where all things below the heavens (the lower jaw) are consumed by death in the cycle of regeneration.

Text H has the three fragments that call for a three as the first Tohere is the sister glyph of Reimiro, thus the use of necklace syllable. The texts using just two fragments produces the comb, as the rays of the sun resemble. Whete from whe, (caterpillar) + te, (the burst forth/the figure head of a canoe) = the deity that gave Tane the birth canal (Timutimu) to produce the first man. The caterpillar is used to complement the

193 lifecycle of the sun; caterpillar/setting – cocoon/underworld – butterfly/rising. It also resembles the snake encircling the world and swallowing its tale, an action which resembles the caterpillar entering a grave it spun for itself The Indian Makara is a minor deity that always carries a greater deity on its back, as a caterpillar carries the butterfly. MakeMake is the Taniwha Creator that gave of self to carry us. It brings to mind the sweet sign of the whale that gently picked up the surfer on its back a few years ago. .

Glyph 4: Maru from ma/maripi (knife) + ru/rua (two) = Maru – the South Polynesian deity of War. Tu is the War deity more predominant in the North. Maru dwells in the third heaven, Ngaroto and spoke to Ngatoro of the curse of Manaia. Koripi and knife produces koru meaning a loop, much like the snake swallowing its tale. Koro means a noose and as a deity is the son of Hina who together were rescued by Rupe from the sacred island of Motutapu. Was this not the Hine-makara that swallowed the water to save the people of that island. Ancient lore tells of a woman so beautiful that when she ventured into hell, it became a beautiful place. Kore is the force of the Cosmos that represents Void, yet contains in itself the full potential to create and express infinite power. Again, the Upper Jaw and the Lower Jaw are represented by Tu and Maru the North and South war deities. The three baskets of knowledge have the effect of not only keeping heaven and earth in harmony, but also North and South – that is, all the Earth.

Glyph 5: Tu-whatu from Tu (stand or war deity) + whata, (to work by using the back of hand) + u/ueha (a prop or support) = stand war deity with the sacred stone.

Glyph 6: u-tahi-po - ? sacred stone chant of sweeping the ball…

Glyph 7: Raro from ra/rakau (tree, branch) + ro/miro (thread) = the bottom. (kauwae-raro is the lower jaw) Rarotonga from raro (bottom) + tonga (stem, to plant, to set as the sun) = the house of Hine-nui-te-po (or Tongnui) at the bottom of the sea.

Maui’s hook caught this house and pulled up the Table of Rata from the bottom of the sea.

Tongarautawhiri is the wife of Rata. Maui’s canoe is called Haurarotuia. Rau from rakau and au (thread) = a captive. Raka (or Hawaian laka) means to be entangled, to weave, to lay over each other, to be holy, to pass over or to miss. Rakai is to smear with red ocre. Rakataua was a boy left behind in Hawaiki and came to New Zealand on a water monster. He was killed by Rata. Rau-Hau-a-Tangaroa was a woman sent by Tinirau (Lord of Fishes who dwelt on the Holy Island of Motutapu) to capture Kae who killed and ate Tinirau’s pet whale. Tongameha was the God of the Eye near whose fortress Tawhaki and Rahiri passed on their way to the heavenly vine. They dared not look toward the fortress or they would loose an eye or two.

Glyph 8: Tuma from Tu (to stand or war deity) + ma/maripi (knife) = to stand with.

Glyph 9: Rakuru from ra/rakau (canoe or tree) + huru (bristles or hair) = pre-flood thief who stole the book to teach how to catch fish.

Waka-Wananga from Chapter 3 meaning a standing canoe or rod of a medium spirit whose incantations in this world bore him to a Wananga or spirit guide in the next. Rawa means to cross a river.

Glyph 10: Tangaroa from ta/tane (bird deity of the forests) + nga (breath) + roa (lengthen) = Lord of the Ocean.

This is the deity that pierced Rangi with his spear through both thighs. Tanga means to assemble. Tapahi means to chop. Takaro is a game. Tamaroa is a son. Takapau is a mat. Mats were used to bear child kings. Taniwha is a water monster or whale.

5. Glyph 1: Poangaanga from po/poi, (ball) + angaanga, (back of hand) = the skull. Hakahetu from haka, the hand/to work + hetu, a stone.

Glyph 1b: Tokomua from toko (a rod/pole) + mua (the front or first) = the first prop of heaven and elder brother of Rangi Potiki.

Glyph 1c: Poangaanga, the skull.

Glyph 1d: Tokoroto from toko, (a rod or pole) + roto (middle) = the middle prop of heaven and brother of Rangi Potiki.

Glyph 1e: Poangaanga, the skull. The skulls are used as crowns of the props of heaven to represent the death and decay of the ancestors as an honest part of the process of their restoration.

Glyph 1f: Tokopa from toko, (a rod) + pa (a margin, edge, finish, last) = the last prop of heaven and one of the three brothers of Rangi-Potiki, who together make up the four props of heaven that lifted their father sky (Rangi) from mother earth (Papa).

The myth tells of Rangi-Potiki, Tokomua, Tokoroto, and Tokopa as the four brothers and props of heaven who raised up their father the sky, separating him from their mother the earth. Rangi the sky wept from the loss and so caused the rain. Papa the earth shook from the loss and so caused earthquakes. Ru, meaning to

194 shake, is the deity that raised up the sky, also called, Sky Supporter. Ru used strong stakes on the center of the Rangimotia Island to build this arch of blue stones in the sky. Maui threw him up to the sky and he stuck fast, where he decayed on his bluestone arch and fell as rotted bones to form stone reminders on the earth. Consider Ru as Rupe, also known as Mauimua, (or Tokomua). Rupe travelled as a pigeon through the blue stone arch to the 10th Heaven of Rehua, to request the location of Hina and return her there.

Glyph 2: Kohua-Kete-wananga – a Maori oven representing the three baskets of knowledge. Kowha from Kohua, (Maori oven) + wha (to grasp) = to split open, or lightning.

Glyph 3: Tupo-haka from Tu, (to stand, war deity) + po/poi (ball) + haka, (a rope) = at the grave (there is) strength Glyph 4a-d: Mata Tama = The Gate of Rongo; Mata from ma/maripi, (knife) + ta/tane (the bird deity of forests) = mata – an eye or a medium used to communicate with a spirit, as in an eye to heaven. Rongoma-tane or Romatane are the ultimate expanded form of such a mata medium to heaven. Rongo-ma-tane is the usually name of the deity Rongo, meaning to listen. Ro means in or inside, as inside the Gate of Rongo.

Tama from ta/tane, (bird deity) + ma/maripi, (knife) = a son or sweet potato. Tamariki is children and matariki is the Pleiades constellation. Tamarereti is the canoe of the heavenly constellations of Orion to Scorpio; the Pointers and the Southern Cross represent the line and anchor. The glyph impressively portrays the two manu gods at the Gate of Rongo, open to those who participate in death’s tapu removal ceremony with the Kahua Maori oven.

Glyph 5: Kori-haka from ko/koko, (shovel) + ri/ringa (arm) + haka (rope, strength) = at the native oven (there is) strength. Korau from kori + au, (a thread) = a spark, white or the son of Haumia-tikitiki. Haumia is the water monster that killed another of his kind, lived at Manukau and was deity of wild roots, while Rongo-ma-tane was deity of cultivated roots, such as, the Kumara.

Glyph 6: Pu/pua/popo-haka from Pu/popohaga, the dawn + haka, a rope/strength = at the dawn (there is) strength.

6. Williamson, R. W., (1933). Religious and Cosmic Beliefs of Central Polynesia. Cambridge University Press. P. 102.

7. Tapu: a sacred restriction lifted only for those who belong to the land and are prepared by sacred ceremony to pass under the temporarily lifted covering of the tapu by way of passage rite.

8. The Pure uses various chants acquired from the Underworld as payment or utu for the permission to remove the Tapu covering.

9. Pure: a ceremony raising and lowering of tapu by using the appropriate rites and incantations.

10. Tregear (1904). Ibid. Pp. 74.

11. Rakahua – the incantation for raising the dead.

12. Rikiriki – midway point to the Underworld, where Hine-nui-te-po rested between the light and the darkness.

13. Tregear (1904). Ibid. Pp. 74-75. Adapted from a lament for a lost love.

14. Hoa Hakanana’ia, the eight foot statue from Orongo with the carvings on its back, was removed from Easter Island and taken to a museum in England. At the time of its removal in the late 1800s, the Rapanui were recently converted to Catholicism. When the statue was taken onto the English vessel, the people of the island gave out a great cheer. Consider the context. The statue as a symbol of Maui who died after opening the second door of the Underworld, might very well have let out a cheer after the newly converted people understood the parallels with the Resurrection of Christ who also died after opening a second door to the Underworld.

15. Tregear (1891). Ibid. Hotu. Hotu is a great migration chief of at least three traditions. It is plausible that Hotu Matua assisted in the work of Easter Island and then spread its mythology across Polynesia.

195 16. The Cycle of the Creator is the recipe to avoid the disasterous impact of the human footprint on Mother Earth. Totems are those things in our ecosystems that the Creator has made with the same life-force we have and unaltered by humanity; values are of the kind that maintain harmony in the ecosystem between humanity and all other living beings and natural systems; the natural artefacts is anything natural useful in ceremony or bundle to link the stories of totems to the human being; the incantation weaves the power or mana of Makemake, the Supreme Being into the active effort or haka of humanity to maintain harmony; the ritual, the dance or haka activity is any activity that the adult can affirm in the child to belong; the sacred site in our ecosystem is any local place weaved into the story; the community is a community of human beings linked to a community of all living beings including Makemake, the Supreme Being, therefore, including all creation, elements, knowledge, haka-hau-ahua, mana and ngaro-aroha; the person is affirmed to belong and that is the only story necessary to maintain harmony.

17. Affirmation is the pathway for the transfer of positive values from one generation to the next. The essential values we lack in Western society are Indigenous values that encourage a weaving of the individual’s haka, mana and ngaro-aroha to the land.

Chapter 15: The Wizard and the Wise

The sky was darkening unusually fast as the Sun hid itself from the canopy of now darkened clouds that covered the entire sky. Just as I was beginning to feel a part of the circle a cold wind blew in from the East sending a chill through my body. My phantom pains started to suddenly flare up and I was trembling with severe cold chills that struck me like lightning. Panic flushed upon me in waves of dread with full force like the breakers of the sea. Iwi sensed something was terribly wrong and gave out a groan not unlike that of Kui when the floating island first appeared. Kui grabbed the arm of Tangaroa-ika and placed it on my chest. Together the felt a curse was upon me.

Tohunga Tangaroa-ika said, “There is a sorcerer placing a manaia curse upon you. You are dying.�

Thus the two began to recite a power prayer for my protection.

196 Figure x: Kopako Uenuku-kopako Rainbow diety chant1

I had not heard them whisper so low in any other chant for the sacredness of the words. There mana was strong, for I immediately felt reassured. I thought that it would be good to learn this prayer when I need to protect my loved ones. This is how it went:

Verse i: Io (pua) poro io po ngata io po tuao kokoma komaru koma. “Io, Supreme Being, blossom forth; Io, in this darkness set your landmarks to protect our circle; Io, in this darkness stand as a warrior; Make straight the pillars of our shelter from death, Make them straight and clean of defilement.�

At that, I was well. The darkness and chill was still around us. There was a touch of rain. But for a moment I felt safe. Then another cold wind came from the West making our hair wave violently about and I felt fear enter my being. It utterly overwhelmed me. I reached out to grasp the arm of Iwi and Tangaroa-ika as we sat in a

197 more sudden downpour of rain. Iwi clasped me tight and together they continued with the power chant: Verse ii: Tupu Toko Tupu Tuputupuwhenua(tui) Tupu Titupul Waka Tamarereti Tupu Waka Tuwhenua Ranga ma. “Spring up the standing rod, Spring up the rod of the rain deity of the great deluge, Tuputupuwhenua; Lift up the canoe of souls, Spring up the standing rod canoe of risen souls Saved from defilement, pure and clean.�

At that, I was well again, but still trembling in fear and the chills of being in the open wind and rain. I was silent as lightning pealed away the dark to expose my adversary. His name was Punga-wareware, the head tohunga of Koro-orongo. He had been walking toward us in the dark and came closer now still uttering his manaia curse loud enough for all of the Miru clan to hear. All the clan was paralysed by the power of this one sorcerer. Only the tongues of Tangaroa-ika and Iwi where moving as spears in my defence.

The pain came upon me with a force I cannot describe, apart from my despairing encounter with the personification of death. I will not describe what I saw, lest it cause you to despair also. Nor will I repeat the incantation of the manaia curse of Pungawareware, lest it harm you also.

198 However, I will share with you the most powerful verse I have heard across the span of my little life. Though hail was now bruising the three of us who sat while wind nearly picked me off the ground and Punga-wareware stood over us with a powerful screaming curse, a light shone through the cloud as they uttered his name: Verse iii: Kopako Uenuku-kopako werotaringa Tupu-o-te-Rangi ngatahi potaka poka-pokal. “Benevolent Rainbow Lord, Uenuku-the Benevelent; This legitimate son has carried us, Back to Sunset Mountain, the dwelling of Rehua, the tenth heaven.

Where together we sweep a pathway to the Setting Sun, To the Poroporo tree, where hang the red berries of most holy souls.

BOOM! Lightning crashed beside us and knocked Punga-wareware off his feet to sit down beside us. We were all shaking now as the Sun pierced through the black cloud on the horizon. The Sunset made a magnificent red pathway across the entire sky and the sea up to our island from the West all the way toward us. The now gentle falling rain swept by the wind more softly and each drop turned a serial red hue. Then a remarkable double rainbow juxtaposed against the black sky to the East.

Iwi and Tangaroa finished the next verse in gratitude for Uenuku appearing out of the Underworld to make His home upon our island in the mist under the rainbow: Verse vi: Watea-atua rama kumara Ika-o-te-Rangi

199 Ra tangata kumara roa Tanga-roa tu-ikaroa honu mahanga honu.

“Sea foam deity – Wakea Atua Be the torch for the sacred sweet potato, kumara and fish offering Raised up to the great fish of souls, the Milky Way, And let every enlightened person feast on the Kumara Before the Great-Tangaroa, deity of the Ocean, The war deity of Punga – great fish of the Milky Way. Heal the divide of our Turtle Twin Island.”

There was a calm that swept over the island and the Sunset appeared to remain for the royals from every clan to gather around the four of us to hear a confirmation of the power of the gods whose favour now rested on me. This gave me a reassurance like I had never had. Hina-iti and Maui came and sat beside me. Hotu-nui and Mata-nui joined the circle to listen to the words of Punga and Tangaroa in their debate regarding my life.

Only the two and I were permitted to speak.

You could say, since a lead Tohunga wanted me killed, the island royals were compelled by respect to hear his case against me. For those that loved me, it was to put this hatred for me to rest. For those that hated me, it was to either have me killed or put me on my canoe to have me drift out to sea. Two islanders were permitted to speak, for and against me. I was also given a voice to speak for myself according to the values of Indigenous wisdom. That is, though I was not from the island, I still belong to Mother Earth whose air has no restrictions upon it.

200 Hotu-nui introduced the three defences against my execution in the style of the ancient riddling contest: “An islander must have the personal conviction, the permission of the gods and the benefit of the people in order to belong to our island.”

Then he placed a carving of the deity of truth beside a carving of the deity of lies and Mata-nui reminded me, “Hotu-iti, if you tell the truth and it is not to our liking, you will be offered to the God of Truth. If you tell a lie, we will offer you to the God of Lies.” 2 I tried to swallow the dry nervousness out of my throat and nodded in understanding of the deceptive trap I was in.

Tangaroa-ika spoke first in my defence: “In order to belong to a clan of our island people, our grandparents described each person’s haka, mana and ngaro. 3 This boy has found the haka or strength to be peacemaker of our island and put an end to our long war No one could produce this paramount portent were he not as innocent as a child. And have we been blind, for a child he is. This child has the mana or power of the gods behind him, even from the most powerful and curse filled tongue...”

Even as the outside circle was buzzing with approval, Punga-wareware interrupted with, “But he does not have the Ngaro or devotion, for he was not born on this island. Only devotion to the island of Hotu Matua renders our feet worthy of a lasting footprint here.”

Heads hung low, including mine, as the argument of Punga had always been the concern of many island people, especially, Hotu-nui. Not a few former enemies began to put their chins to their necks and wag their heads at me with sighs of contempt.

But I had a voice.

201 So as I walked toward the statue of the god of truth, I turned and said, “You will murder me before the statue of the God of Lies.”

There upon the crowd began to argue intently among themselves. But Hina-iti and Maui called out in turn, “Let the child speak his turn!”

I said, “In our trade journeys to the Northwest, there was a star that never moved.

This we called, the First Man, Hotu-paa, which means Hotu wrapped in the Seaweed.

This immovable Hotu-paa, the first-ancestral star4 watched as all the others stars revolved around it, as if wrapping him in seaweed. Without the Sun at night, whenever we wanted to find our way on the sea, we looked upon Hotu-iti our rock and knew that our redeemer lives. Then we aligned him with Te Pito o te Wakea5, the Naval or Centre of Space6, and we immediately new where we were. But as I drifted Southeast, I became lost, because I could no longer see Hotu-paa, for he had returned to Havaiki in the Underworld. And when I learned that this island was Te Pito te Henua, The Centre of the Earth, It made sense to me that I had ventured to a land that Hotu had named. Another island far to the Southwest visited by Hotupaa, gives Hotua as the first man who was killed. That is, in their migration with the immovable first ancestor as the immovable guiding star named, Hotu, once they went too live too far South, Hotupaa was dead to them. In a great pair of islands far to the South West of us, there was a canoe from the original homeland of Havaiki called, the Tainui. The chief of this canoe was named, Hotunui. He fathered many clans on this island. But, this Hotunui, though the first canoe to the great two islands, was tricked by the people of the Arawa canoe who made their temple to look very old and claimed rights as the first ancestors. Therefore, Hotu Matua

202 may have plausibly been the first chief in charge of the peopling of many island groups across the Pacific.

“Though this means that I also might be a child of Hotu Matua, my primary argument is not in self-defence. It is in defence and devotion for your island. That is, each individual has a name to protect their identity; each family has a name so the individuals keep peace; each clan name keeps peace among families; each tribal name keeps peace among the clans; just as it is true that each island has a name to keep the tribes united. What is this island of Te Pito o Henua going to do to defend itself if other islanders come from the outside? You can kill me or you can name the island groups to protect the individual islands and unite them under the name of one community.

“Is an individual more important than a family? Is the world more important than an individual?”

A solemn silence had fallen, for Punga-wareware had slowly lowered his head as I spoke in my defence. The respect for a tohunga was too great to show agreement with one who had a quarrel with them. All was silent in the dusk of the evening, which now opened a clear sky for the ancestors the stars to join in our circle. No one spoke or moved, and there were no shooting stars.

Tangaroa-ika added in my defence, “Hotu-iti has provided you with firm evidence that our community is interconnected with the outside world. But more importantly he expressed the primary quality of a true human being and that is that he has a yearning sense of otherness.”

Then Punga-wareware spoke, “In the production of the first man, Avaiki, the homeland of origin and the Mother of All tore a piece of flesh from her thigh. This was

203 her ritual haka or strength activity. This piece of flesh she called, Maui, meaning Life.

Life is the direct intervention of Makemake toward keeping our life cycle together. We know Life or Maui is from the Creator, Makemake, because of our story, where Maui fishes up the islands. He used a piece of his flesh from his side to imitate his Mother, Avaiki. Hina placed the flesh on the hook in the Underworld. It was the harekura of Hina’s husband in the Underworld that was hooked. With Maui’s strength or haka, the sacred house was pulled up with enough land to form an island....”

All looked on and listened intently is a blissful anticipation for Punga’s next words: “And who am I to quench this little light of Hotu-iti-tiki-tawhito, taken from the side of Maui, the Life, to pull up our island out of our desolation.”

My head hung low, not out of sorrow, but not knowing what to do with the rising cheer that came from the entire island gathered round under the stars and with the feeling for the first time, that I truly belonged to Te Pito o Henua. I could only weep for joy.

But my victory was short lived.

Punga-wareware added, and this is the lobster claw to my heart, “We will let you live. But you must leave the island to protect our lineage.”

Have you ever been led down a path of truth just to be introduced to the father of all lies hidden in the intention of those who idolize their own competency?

The crowd of those who a moment ago had convinced me that I was their own heart, their own kin, their own child, now began again to argue amongst themselves.

Some voiced their conviction that I should leave the island with a reasoning as insecure as the Overturning of Mataaho. Others argued over the means by which I should be cast away.

204 Hotu-nui motioned the crowd and said, “A riddling contest on the disposal of Hotu-iti from the island!”

All fell silent and Tangaroa-ika took his turn and said, “Should we turn away everyone who comes to our island? What if it is a migration canoe? All of our ancestors have taught to welcome such a company if they agree to the conditions of the royals.

And Hotu-iti’s was a canoe on migration. Even more, he became an orphan at sea, the gods gave him to us to adopt and we stand proud hunting him down all these years.

Cowards we are or are we the kin of a child so innocent he could have descended down his own haka rope from the tenth heaven? And indeed he has, for his bundle is greater than any we carry. Envy or gratitude is the destiny of this island.”

The crowd hummed in approval of the two words from which we were all so easily left to choose.

Punga-wareware had to think for a minute. Deep down I imagined that he would give up right there. But then he looked at me with a sour grin and all fell miserably silent.

Punga began to speak, “Maui first attempted to bait the hook with a star, but stars do not contain enough mana. It took a piece of the Sun, which is Maui, the Life, to bait the hook properly. The hook baited with the Sun dropped down to the Underworld, lit up the harekura of Hina with enlightenment. For such a heavy fish, great mana is required and a great rope or haka. The ropes from the trees of Maui’s choosing broke into splinters. The good rope was made of Hina’s hair, since by her wisdom she baited the hook in the Underworld. After pulling up the islands, Maui noosed the Sun with the same rope. Since all other ropes were torn apart by the Sun. These rope fragments are

205 represented by stones in a row, many of which are seen in the moai statues set in rows upon the platforms.7 “Hotu-iti is a star indeed. Let him move to guide other islands as well. For he is not the fixed star of our ancestor, Hotu Matua and he certainly does not have the power of the Sacred Sun Bird, Manu, and Moon Princess, Hina, which is the necessary bait to raise our island to life.”

Punga concluded with emphasis, “Therefore, if you love the gods and believe their mana power is sufficient, send him away!”

The crowd raised no small din of dreadful debate. Had Maui not secured my turn, I would have been sent off with a mob.

I began to speak, “If you toss me away, you render yourselves prisoners of your own island. For who would justly welcome one of your own so inspired to travel?”

At my words even those who geared at me sat to listen.

I continued, “For there is one prisoner that we might all be free. That is the fixed star of Hotu-paa8, our Hidden Friend (Hoa Hakanana’ia) to the North. And there is one star more free than all the others, that is the piece freed from Maui’s side, Ahiahi o Rangi9. The immovable star, is indeed our Hidden Friend. If our friend from the island genealogy would choose to bind himself who belongs among us, will he not also release those of us who do not belong? And if our Hoa Hakanana’ia is the bait that hauled up this island from the Underworld, will it not be a refuge for an orphan who was abandoned to the Underworld by the malice of others.”

The crowd began with a softer tone of conversation. Punga began to fume at the sound of this compassion.

206 So he shouted with an enthusiastic authority of all the gods, “You come from another land, with its own stories so different from our own that you and your offspring will contaminate our teachings.”

I countered, “Have the ancestors not left this island after death to travel to the Underworld of Stars, yet your circle expands to include a seat for their spirits. They are permitted to remain in the Standing Up Rods of your moai statues and at sacred landforms of the island. Many other islands hold this teaching to be true. The purpose is to honour the sacred memory of the ancestor and all they had learned. How much more have the islands been inclined to leave an empty seat for a stranger, that their wisdom would not pass us by?

“The Northern islands have a legend exposing all of the Ponaturi, fish-people, to the light of day, thereby killing them all. Yet, one of the fish bounced away upon the land as if in a desperate dance dodging fate and he hid from the light protecting himself from death. This Kanae, our hidden friend, is none other than Hoa-ha-kanana’ia. This last fish transforms into the first Bird-man and, therefore, is one and the same as Maui, who stole the fire from the Underworld by shape-shifting from a fish into a bird, finally escaping from this Sun deity of death into the dark house on Orongo village.

“I beg you, if the First Man – who is our Fish Offering and Bird Offering, provides us with the same light in the Northern Islands as we find in this island of Te Pito te Henua, how can we refuse that light from those who come from the North?”

There was a hum of thought filled curiosity from the crowd.

I continued, “Only the most graceful dancer could dodge the fateful light of the Sun. Therefore, Kanae must have been one and the same as the far Northern island’s

207 Hopoe, the dancing stone. That is, on the island ruled by Pele, the nimble Hopoe taught his graceful dance using all the dress from the plants that, with the waves, are given life by the Sacred Wind. He taught his dance to Hiiaka, who was given special powers to raise her husband from the dead. But it would cost the life of Hopoe the graceful, at the envy of Pele who consumed him with lava from her home and cave. Yet, there he remained forever as a black volcanic stone balancing on the shore so delicately that Hopoe would dance whenever the Sacred wind blew.

“This Black Stone of the land of Pele is a sacred memory of the black volcanic stone of your own Hoa Hakanana’ia, where the grasses of Orongo wave as freely as the Hula skirts by the powerful and constant West Wind.10 “I beg you, if the wind of Orongo forever blows life into the rongorongo chants you sing before Hoa-hakanana’ia, how could you refuse that life to the child whose blonde hair dances and waves to honour the same Life Giving Wind?”

The crowd’s soft conversation was beginning to rise into a clearer debate at the way a mere child had such profound questions in a riddling contest with a leading Tohunga.

Punga-wareware spoke with authority, yet not in such a loud tone in fear of receiving another defeat, “Hotu-iti, you are a brilliant child. But we fear that your clan has not passed onto you the same power or mana as all of our clans have received in the Most Sacred Egg of the Tangata-manu birdman Egg Hunt.”

The crowd gave an “Owooo!” of approval for Punga-wareware’s wise concern and all looked to me with the conviction that I would soon be banished.

208 It was then that I said, “It is true, the only way to noose the Greatest Life-Force of the Sun at Orongo is to consume the Great Egg from the Tangata-manu Egg Hunt.

Consider this: the Tangata-manu Egg Hunt is played out in the stars during the very same season. That is, the great shark, Puanga,11 brings the food stores of Poaka12 to the place he was reared, called Matariki,13 in order to prepare them to noose the Sun, which contains the same Life-force of the Egg hunt.

“We can locate Puanga on the island by taking note that his parents are Whaitiri and Kai-tangata. In an island far to the North, Kai-tangata is born in the house (Kuekahi) on a hill called, Ho’Orongo-ki’u,14 Listening for the Peacemaker.15 This story is a memory of your island’s village of Orongo. Below Orongo – the Listening Place (of the mother of Puanga, Whaitiri – the Thunder), is Ana-kai-tangata, the cave of Kai-tangata.

There he hides and is consumed by Whaitiri (as named Haumea or Nona) after she learns the incantation to open the cave.

“Her daughter Hina marries No’a-huruhuru who kills the man eating mother.

Hina found the sweet-potato to eat from the moon and is called, Hina-ai-malama or Hina fed on the moon. Their children are Pu’a and Hema. When Pu’a or Puanga rises each year, the crop plantings are determined. This is the same time the Tavake birds lay their eggs on Orongo. Therefore, Puanga comes out of the cave as heir of Kai-tangata. The inheritance of Puanga is the Life-force of Kai-tangata who was consumed by death. His life-force is contained in the egg itself and for the rest of the community, the first fish and the kumara from the sacred feast of spring.

“When the Tangata or man finds the egg on Motu-nui, he receives power to swim very fast transformed into a fish like Maui stealing the fire. If he makes it up to Orongo,

209 he is named the Tangata-manu, or bird-man, like Maui who stole the fire transforms from man, to fish, to bird.

“This man-eating deity is the symbol of death, just as the water-monster is the symbol of death whom Maui turned to stone in the far North island. The memory of this stone can be attributed to the island below Orongo called, Motu-kaokao, the Thorn16. The life-force of the stone is contained in the first offering, the First Egg. Therefore, great ceremonies would be associated with the Cave of the Eater of Man, provided our Tohunga power is not turned over to sorcery. If so, our people become humiliated by consuming the flesh of men, instead of the Mana of Atua in the First Egg of the Standing Rod of Kaokao-Puanga o Kai-tangata. This Standing Rod or Needle challenges Maui and is defeated, so we can noose the Sun and consume the mana power of the First Bird-man contained for consumption in the Sacred Egg, which contains the life-force of the first man.

“Teach me this: We agree that a second man need not die, when one (Hoa Hakanana’ia) has already done so in the most Sacred possible fashion atop Orongo of this island. Then, why must a second man be taken away from this island nest, when the Most Sacred Egg of all has already been taken out of its nest to give us all Life, nourishment and shelter.”

“Waaaaaahhhhh!?” Was released from the mouths of the crowd in amazement. I had survived to hear another rebuttal in this Riddling Contest.

Punga-wareware glared directly up at me to disguise the bowing of his head and spoke to me in a commanding tone: “Our grandmothers made the cave passage-rite ropes from the bark of our sacred brush. I look around and I see no grandmother of Hotu-iti!”

210 “Ooouuuuuh!” The crowd murmured and soon paused for a return.

I added. “During our wayfinding in the trade routes far from here, I heard a story.

The storyteller described a mountain where Maui noosed the Sun in a volcano. The ropes from the sacred trees tore the legs and arms off of the Sun in the crater and they became stone.”17 “The story is a memory of the activity in carving the stone moai at the crater quarry of Rano Raraku and lowering the stones with ropes wrapped through the holes in the mountain in order to snare the Standing Stones, representing the Sun being snared by Maui. The stone moai are the legs of the Sun, for they walk from their cave in the Earth to their Standing Up Place of Enlightenment.”

“When Maui noosed the Sun, the struggle was much more violent than when pulling up the fish. Therefore, the Earth shook and woke up the deity under the volcano, Rano Raraku. His name was Ru or Shake in your traditions and mine. In my traditions Ru or Rupe then wrestled with Maui. Maui was tossed high in the sky, but landed on his feet and tossed Ru so high he became stuck to Rangi, Father Sky, and the Ancestral Stars upon Rangi’s chest held Ru fast. There he died and his body rotted. His bones fell to the ground and turned to volcano stones. These are the moai scattered over the island.18 I pleaded my riddle once again: “Perhaps it is true, that I am not worthy to play finger-games with these sacred ropes of your grandchildren? But who of you is worthy to stand upon these temple Ahu platforms, that line the moai statues by the fallen cords that noosed the Sun? And if Ru is an enemy, why have his decayed bones fallen to become the most sacred icons the world has known? Have we forgotten that the power or

211 mana of a trickster such as Maui, always challenges us to the Riddle that this Life Force can only wrestle those He loves with true devotion or ngaro aroha?

The crowd agreed shouting along in unison to echo my Riddle, “Ngaro Aroha!”

Maui and Hina-iti called out, “This is enough already, the boy has proven his legitimacy!”

Punga-wareware insisted a voice and said, “Our grandfathers took the broken fibres of the tapa bark to make mats for the royal children. You have no mat, because you have no grandfather on this island.”

“Hummmmm...” came from the crowd and they turned to me, with a hint of expectancy.

I riddled like this: “Following Punga’s reasoning there is a weaving pattern from one of the distant trading islands all the way to this island of Te Pito te Henua19.” I continued, “There is a story from a distant island of how Rangi, Father Sky and Papa, Mother Earth, had children that wanted to pull them apart, so all creatures of the island could move about. Two of the sons served as pillars to pull Sky from Earth. One of the sons was a dwarf and stood on the larger hill to the South, while the taller son stood on the lower volcano to the North. These sacred sites remembered from ancient stories of other islands are identifying sacred sites on Easter Island, being the smaller hill of Rano Raraku to the where the Northern giants stand and the larger hill to the South on Rano Kao at Orongo where the relatively small 8 foot tall Hoa Hakanana’ia stands.

“Orongo to the South contains the dwarf pillar, the son, Tiki-tawhito, a Pillar of a little Man, also named Maui-po-tiki-o-Taranga, Maui Stuck in the Topknot of his Mother Ataranga. This moai of Maui Tiki is called Hoa-Hakanana’ia, The Hidden Friend in the

212 sacred house of Orongo village. This was the bait or piece from Maui’s side that hauled up the harekura from the Underworld, the house of which can be seen in Orongo. The smaller pillar is the winner of the Egg Hunt who lives for the year in the house at the smaller hill. That is why the winner of the egg hunt is called a personification of Makemake. That is, only the most Supreme Being could lift up the sky from the smallest hill.20” There was a gasp from the crowd and a former enemy cried out, “Tell us another weaving of your welcome matt to truly belong to this island.”

Punga-wareware gasped himself and his eyes widened, while he struggled to swallow having such a dry throat. He motioned me to continue.

Being so honoured by my Riddling opponent, I humbly continued, “Another weaving from a far off island states that Tangaroa, lord of the Ocean, stood upon a Rock, the Creator of All. This rock broke to pieces and scattered over the island in different parts, each with its own name.”

I added, “From my homeland we knew this story and we knew the names of your stone moai statues. The names of these rocks are To Lie Down, To Spread Out, A Platform Reef, Honey Comb, Soft Volcanic Rock, To Stand and Branching Coral.21 “Have I a weaved royal mat yet?” I whispered rhetorically in truthful voice.

The crowd, leaning in to catch my voice immediately responded as a kindling fire, “Yes! Yes!” Several island royals cried out to offer their mats.

Punga-wareware looked sheepishly at the crowd and dared yet another more severe objection, “Only a sorcerer could know so much of the island. Let me clarify with you how true his words are: these are the designations of the stone moai across the island.

213 The largest moai is lying down, many are spread out like branching coral, they are made of soft volcanic rock, they stand by the reefs upon the sacred Ahu platforms that appear like flat reefs themselves and the Honey Comb, these are the design of the 46 stone houses of Orongo village.22 Punga emphasized, “Shall we allow a sorcerer to remain on this island?”

One man from the crowd mumbled out the answer, “No?” which appeared more of a question in the face of such glares from the crowd. He soon said, “Nevermind.” And scurried off behind the crowd.

Hotu-nui voiced with full conviction, “Might we call Hotu-iti the winner and spare his life?”

I jumped up on Hotu-nui’s Harekura, to the shock of everyone, but Maui new I was imitating his victory over Hanga and Honga. Atop the house I was a true riddler on the roof.

I cried out, “A true riddler answers every reply! Do you want to know if I am evil? Do you want to know if my knowledge is deceptive or delusional? Consider this, among many of the far off islands the deity Maui is spoken of in many stories. He died opening the second door of the Underworld; he stole the fire from the Underworld; and he fished up the islands. We all agree, no? But what about his brothers? Why do these elder brothers come along on the fishing trip with their brother Maui, the trickster who drives them crazy? He drives them crazy. First they try to ignore Maui. But his haka or strength is too great to ignore. Then the brothers resort to jealousy, for if they have to notice him they might as well hate him. But then they begin to plot for his life and in the end he gives them the Islands of Life. Who are these bigger bothered brothers?

214 I asked the chief of the opposition, “Mata-nui, can you name these brothers of Maui?”

Mata-nui said, “My grandmother sang the tattoo soothing chant called, the BallGame of Maui. The brothers are named on this chant carved on the royal women of the island’s Reimiro neck band so that all the royal women can sing the song that comforts our people. The brother’s names are Maui-roto, Maui-waho, Maui-taha, Maui-mua and Maui-pae. Maui himself is called, Maui-tikitiki o Ataranga.”

I turned to the crowd and said, “These names are known all over Polynesia and they are the names of your moai statues. The brothers named the locations of the moai statues. The brothers names are Maui-roto, for the moai-inside the crater, Rano Raraku; Maui-waho, for the stone moai-outside Rano Raraku; Maui-taha, for the moai-beside the pathways; Maui-mua, for the seven statue moai-in front of the ancient village; Maui-pae, for the moai-raised up on platforms.”

The crowd marvelled and the hair stood on the back of the bravest warriors.

I continued, “My homeland tells of Tiki, the first man of our ancient creation story. Yet, there is also an account of Tiki as one of four brothers who were the pillars that lifted up the four quarters of the Sky. The four Tiki are named in one account as: Tiki of the Interior, Tiki of the Exterior, Tiki of the Shore and Tiki of the Rock, who became guardians of the land, the sea, the shore and the rocks, much like the statue moai of this island.23” Punga-wareware cried, “Your answer is long enough!”

The crowd cried, “Continue, Tama-iti!”24

215 So I said, “And there is more, in our trades with a northern island there is a story of Maui who reduces a half fish-half man to stone and the mountain is called, the Needle of Iao Valley.25 It was Maui that was thrown down to the thorns from the topknot of his mother’s hair and on Orongo, the bird-men swim past Motu-kaokao, the Needle. Is this not the deity of death turned to stone that the men can retrieve the Egg of Life safely?”

The wife of Mata-nui cried, “Who is this child that has come from a far off land to revive our land with his footprint?”

Punga-wareware came forward with his final objection in the riddling contest, “He is a spirit – a demon! He flies by night to prey upon our children!”

The crowd, full of enlightenment, cried out, “It is finished!”

In agreement Mata-nui declaired, “Punga’s intention to destroy or banish the young man, Hotu-iti-tiki-tawhito, in this riddling contest has failed. The child has led us to believe in something greater. His haka, mana and ngaro26 have shattered the deceptive articulations of a sorcerer mounted up against not a mere person who was innocent, but the Personification of Innocence itself.”

Almost interrupting Mata-nui, I stepped forward facing the one who called himself my opponent and said to the same one I call friend, “Please, let me finish.”

I concluded with these words, “If I were merely a spirit, you would not be able to harm me. But you have harmed me deeply. Indeed I have already been banished. Look at my skin, white as a spirit from being in the cave for years. Look at my knees, bruised with the obstacles along your stony paths I have fought with in the night. Look at my back, carved with the marks of sleeping on a cold stone estranged away from those who chose me in their family. Perhaps I am the living dead. But I still have a voice.

216 “That little voice wants to share with you that I belong. I am someone that matters, for this reason above all: when you enable others to sit in that place in your circle destined for them, you open up your own wings toward creative freedom and a regenerative power rooted in devotion. Creatively finding a way for others not to belong is a sure way to design a waning riddle contest that never ends.

“To conclude my riddles, I want to sing to you a whaka-u incantation I learned from the trading island to the North. The chant is sung when passing the perpendicular stones across these Northern islands in order to honour the ancestors.27 Though the use of ancestral whakau said before such stones are themselves a memory of this island’s design and ritual, this particular whakau rings of a hope that one day the people of Polynesia would again discover the haka, mana and ngaro-aroha of your particular island.

“And my people across the sea from your people knew your hidden friend, HoaHakanana’ia all along. We knew him from the scars on his back. I will prove it to you once and for all from this Hawaiian Story of the Images: The story is about Hina, the Princess of the Moon:

Hina wanted food. Wakea went to fetch it, 28 Set up images, propped them up,29 Set them up proudly in a row,30 Wakea in the form of Ki’i (Tiki) slept with “Hina the reddened one” (Hina-kaweoa),31 A moa bird was born, perched on Wakea’s back,32

217 The moa scratched the back of Wakea,33 Wakea was angry, tried to drive it away, Wakea was angry, wrathful and troubled, Tried to keep it off and it flew to the ridgepole, (roof-top)34 The moa was a chief, This was the seed of Kaeoeo35 Which spread over the sky, All over the heavens, All over the earth, Yes, over the earth.”

There was a sweet solemn pause in the crowd and even the elders gasped with the words, “How is this possible, that a foreigner knows all about our most sacred traditions?”

That is how my riddle was finished.

The crowd just stood there and we all knew our circle was as large as the heavens and the earth, like the seed of Kae-o-ao. But I still felt these phantom pains and could not rejoice in my victories.

Then Punga-wareware broke through with a woman. She was a sorcerer’s apprentice.

Punga shoved her forward like an exploited slave and geared, “Tell them!”

She pointed at me and said, “At night he would invade our territory and prowl around peeking into our harekuras! I saw him!”

218 Punga-wareware geared toward me again, “The riddle lives on pillar of a little man!”

The crowd’s silence took on the air of a waning quickly waning circle.

I walked up to Punga, looking him in his face shining so full of satisfaction I almost felt happy for him. But with the phantom pains kindled to overwhelm me by his incessant hatred against my kindred spirit, there came a deep feeling of sorrow for Punga-wareware. How could another living being be so eager and creative to deconstruct my innocence? So I could only say, “I forgive you!” just enough that he could hear so others would not feel I contradicted a Tohunga.

Mata-nui spoke out to me, “What have you to say for yourself!”

Chapter 15 Notes 1. Figure t: Perhaps a most obvious chant is the finding of the deity, Kopako Uenuku-kopako, Benevolent Rainbow-the-benevolent.

2. The altar of the god of truth and the altar of the god of lies were an actual judgement plaza in ancient Greece. The one sent to be judged was not given a fair hearing in the one line allowed for his own defense, since if he told the truth he would be killed before the god of truth and if he told a lie he would be killed before the god of lies. A salvific philosopher ended the insanity when his turn came to be executed. To the judges dismay, the philosopher outwitted the entire charade by saying, “You will kill me before the altar of the god of lies.”

3. Haka-hau-ahua, Mana and Ngaro-aroha: strength-personhood-image, power and hidden or inate devotion.

4. Best, E. (1955). The Astronomical Knowledge of the Maori. Wellington: R. E. Owen, Government Printer. P. 38-42. Northern stars appear to be named parents of Southern stars, forming an ancestral line to Polaris, Hotupaa, Whanau Marama, the light-giving family can also be understood as ‘offspring’ (p. 5).

For example, Rigel is named, Puanga and Tautoru in Polynesia. The three stars of Orion’s belt are named Te Tira o Puanga and Te Tuke o Tautoru; meaning they are children of Rigel to the North. The Southern Cross is named, Mahutonga. The Coal-Sack is named, Rua o Mahu, a child of Mahutonga to the North.

Sirius is named, Rehua. The stars of Canis Major are named Taumata o Rehua, children of the Northern most star of the constellation. Though this hypothesis that the North Star, as Hotu-paa, is Hotu-matua of Easter Island, and the first parent is plausible, the stars also appear to be parents due to their brightness and more sacred or tapu if they appear outside of the Milky Way. 5. Best (1955). Ibid. P. 35. Wakea or Te Pito o te Wakea is the ecliptic, and as Atea in Tregear (1891), is personified as the brother of Tane, the Sun. The Sun and Moon are also considered the eyes of Atea. Atea marries Papa, the Earth and their child is Hina, the Moon. Te Pito as the Naval, may associate the path of the Earth around the Sun as an umbilical cord, or the rope of life. It makes sense then that Atea is associated with Tawhaki, who climbed the cord of heaven. The Wayfinder would understand that the

219 ‘cord’ of Atea (the path of the Earth around the Sun), the ancestral line of Hotu-paa (the stars running south from the Polar North Star), the Path of the Sun (the Zodiac), the Milky Way and the Path of the Moon, all point to ones placement upon the Earth, therefore, facilitating the ability to navigate the oceans or more proper, to wayfind.

6. Te Pito o te Wakea – an aspect of the Sun’s path through the stars or the Zodiac as understood by Polynesia. In Rapanui, veta is a type of seaweed.

7. Williamson (1933). Ibid. Pp. 40-41.

8. Hotu-paa – Hotu wrapped in seaweed, is the North Star fixed because it is wrapped.

9. Ahiahi o Rangi – fires of the sky. The planet Venus, plausible called fires of the sky for the way it dances on the horizon over its cycle to raise a glitter of hope at dusk and later in turn, after 7 days hidden, herald the dawn.

10. Westervelt, W. D. (1916). Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes. Boston: G. H. Ellis Press. Scanned at sacred-texts.com, January, 2002. The Black Stone of the graceful Hopoe, rests in the Puna district of Hawaii. This stone is a memory of Hoa-hakanana’ia (and visa versa), since they are both made of the black volcanic rock, rarely used for the statue moai of Easter Island. As well, Puna is a child of Kai-tangata, whose cave lies below Orongo. By learning the Hula dance of Hopoe, Hiiaka was able to receive powerful incantations to defeat evil and raise her husband, Lohiau, from the dead. Pele kills by swallowing Hopoe with the lava that comes from her Underworld cave and tunnels. Hoa-Hakanana’ia in his aspect as Maui, who stole the fire, is surrounded by the fire of death at Orongo.

11. Rigel of Orion 12. Orion’s belt 13. Pleiades 14. Beckwith, M. (1940). Hawaiian Mythology. Website: http://www.luckyulivehawaii.com/myths17.htm or http://www.sacred-texts.com/pac/hm/hm00.htm. Scanned at sacred-texts.com. April. 2005. The many names of the wife of Kai-tangata are Whaitiri (Maori for Thunder); Hina-hana-ia-i-ka-malama (Hawaiian for Hina who worked on the moon); Hina-ai-ka-malama (Hawaiian for Hina fed on the moon) she found food from the moon in the shape of a sweet potato called hualani. Her husband cut off her foot and threw it at the moon; Whaitiri of the Maori is also called Awa-nui-a-rangi – she was a man-eater herself and married Kai-tangata thinking his name meant what it said. However, she returns to heaven upon finding he is not truly a man-eater, but first digs a pit to bury her children’s excrement or filth; Nona or Haumea (Tahiti). Nona’s husband flees to a cave with the help of their daughter Hina. Nona learns the spell to open the cave and devours him. Hina flees with the hairy No’a (huruhuru) who kills Nona. They marry and Pu’a-ari’i-tahi and Hema are their children; Nona (at the island of Tuamotu/Anaa) marries Noa-makaitagata; Ina-ma-nguruguru (of Rarotonga) marries Te-meru-rangi (also called, Kai-tangata and Tui-kaivaevae-roroa).

15. Hohou rongo means to make peace. Though the site of Orongo means Listening Place, there are two sounds heard from this 1000 foot high volcano. The Tavake bird, which has the noisiest call of all the species on the island, and therefore, chosen as the most sacred messenger of peace, Tavake. This is a messenger of peace since, Hoa-hakanana’ia has defeated death. The location of Orongo suites this symbolism, since the breakers of death cannot be heard from that high location. The source for meanings of rongo and hohou rongo, to clarify Ho’orongo-ki’u: http://www.maoridictionary.co.nz/index.cfm? dictionaryKeywords=rongo&search.x=0&search.y=0&search=search&n=1&idiom=&phrase=&proverb=& loan=

220 16. the Hawaiian – Needle Mountain was the water monster Maui turned to stone. Therefore, the Hawaiian legend represents a memory of the Birdman Egg Hunt on Easter Island. This is a confirmation that the first migration of Easter Island made contact with the later migrations of Polynesian outer islands.

17. Beckwith (1940). Sacred Texts Website: Hina of Hilo. Website: http://www.sacredtexts.com/pac/maui/maui16.htm 18. Williamson (1933). Ibid. P. 43.

19. Te Pito te Henua means the Naval or Umbilical Life Source of the Earth. Earth as henua can be a play on Turtle as honu. Therefore, the Life Cord of the Turtle is well known to Way Finders like Hotu-iti-tikitawhito as the cord attacked to a canoe and placed around the neck of the turtle. The turtle will immediate swim in the direction of the nearest land. The first name of Easter Island, Rapanui, was Te Pito te Henua, our life saving migration guide, Turtle Island.

20. Williamson (1933). Ibid. P. 45.

21. Williamson (1933). Ibid. P. 50.

22. Williamson (1933). Ibid. P. 50.

23. Williamson (1933). Ibid. Pp. 60-61.

24. Tama-iti means little child and is an affectionate name. Its context means that the island people want the boy to belong to the motherland of Te Pito te Henua.

25. Westervelt, W. D. (1910). Legends of Maui-A Demi God of Polynesia and of His Mother Hina.

Honolulu: the Hawaiian Gazette CO., LTD. Scanned, by John Bruno Hare at sacred-texts.com. Nov. 199.

See also: A Story of Maui from website: www.mauigateway.com and http://gohawaii.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm 26. Strength, power and wise devotion.

27. Tregear (1891). The Comparative Maori-Polynesian Dictionary.

28. The First Egg of the Tangata-Manu 29. at the stone quarry 30. moai statues 31. Metaphor for red volcanic rock where Hoa-Hakanana’ia is hid representing the relationship between the Motherland and the First Ancestor as creators of one another and all productivity on the island.

32. the moa was a man eating bird in mythology, they could not fly. A nearby sacred site is called, ana-kaitangata, cave of the man eater relates. The princes and princesses would stand up on the Orongo houses and chant sacred incantation with the Rapa Oars and the Reimiro 33. this deity was a man, for moa were man-eaters. Hoa-hakanana’ia has carvings on his back, from those who perform the eating of the god ceremony with the sacred Kumara and the First Fish so that they can learn to fly 34. The Princes and Princesses stood on the roof chanting along in festive style with the ceremony.

221 35. See Tregear (1891), kae (myth) or kanae. Kae was a mythical personage who quarrelled with Tinirau, lord of the fishes, in a loosing cause. Perhaps Kae is one and the same, Kanae, the one fish that escaped the killing of the fishes at dawn in Polynesian mythology.

Chapter 16: The Kinship Cave beneath the Sacred Mount

I bent down and picked up a stick stripped of the bark used for a child’s rite of passage haka string. Punga jumped back pretending like I was about to strike him. On my hands and knees I wrote the chant I had learned while peaking through the veil of Punga-wareware’s harekura or sacred house. Everyone leaned in to try and see what I wrote on the sand:

Figure y: Mahikurangi Turtle Island Sacred Mountain chant1

222

Tiki Hao-hao-ruatapu Hikurangi Ma. O Pillar of the Two-door house2 of the Sacred Mountain.

Matakerepo Hikurangi Ma. O Matakerepo, Blind Underworld Grandmother, of the Sacred Mountain.

Mataaho Hikurangi Ma. O Mataaho, opener of the window of heaven for the flood of the Sacred Mountain.

Tahinga-ahi-ahi-hetu Hikurangi Ma O Sweep the sparks of the stars of our ancestors to the Sacred Mountain.

Po Ra Ma Where darkened in the Underworld of Po, is the Sacred Sun.

Tahinga-ahi-ahi-hetu Hikurangi Ma O Sweep the sparks of the stars of our ancestors to the Sacred Mountain.

223 Tahinga-ahi-ahi-hetu Hikurangi Ma O Sweep the sparks of the stars of our ancestors to the Sacred Mountain.

Tahinga-ahi-ahi-hetu Hikurangi Ma O Sweep the sparks of the stars of our ancestors to the Sacred Mountain.

Reinga Hikurangi Ma The Underworld of Reinga lies deep below the Sacred Mountain.

Reinga Ra Ma The Underworld of Reinga has seen the Sun rise on the Sacred Mountain.

Honu O Rongo Koro.

Raising up the Sacred Turtle of the Earth, O Rongo baits the Rising Sun-Snare.

All were dumbfounded that I had learned the sacred art of Rongorongo tablets writing of Easter Island chants. And in particular, the one chant that could only be learned having a thorough training in all the others. It was the sign of graduation from the 3 years of learning chants and the 5 years of learning how to write them on the tablets. Though I did not know, to write this chant at any ceremony or riddling contest was the sign of a true Tohunga.

224 From the crowd a woman was heard saying, “Is this not a tama-iti, just a child?”

I did not understand my situation. And the shock on everyone’s face so frightened me that I had to run.

And none was more dumbfounded than Punga.

Afraid for my life I ran back into the cave, while everyone appeared frozen onto the writing on the sand. I crawled in the dark to the fresh water fountain deep within the cave. There I cupped the water in my hands and splashed my face with the fresh cold water to try and jolt the profound phantom pain out of the core of my being. And then I hung my head and wept in utter spiritual, emotional and physical exhaustion.

While I deflected thoughts of how I might be killed deep within the cave, the crowd above silently dispersed. They scattered into clusters of busy haka3 in order to prepare for the family of Hotu-nui all the provisions they would need to formally welcome me on the island, into the clan of Miru, to be a part of the family of Hotu-nui and to confirm my first footprint on the island.

Hina-iti and Maui gathered some torch provisions and a smouldering wood from the Umu oven and headed for the cave.

Punga-wareware tried to gather the crowd against me. They kept walking away from him without openly contradicting their tohunga. He tried to grab people and pull them back to the riddling circle.

“Come back to the circle!” Punga demanded. “He must now be killed for he does not belong! Come back to the circle! Come back to the circle of Truth and Lies!”

Everyone continued on their way, so Punga-wareware ran off with the false witness.

225 Tangaroa-ika gathered the remaining tohunga of both the Tuu and the Hotu-iti island tribes. All others were busy now elsewhere and Tangaroa said with a tone of admiration, “He understood things about our island, Hotu-iti-tiki-tawhito. What the island did not understand about him, is that we did not see the seed buried in the top-knot cave he has now fled to once again. We did not see his parents and noble wayfinding circle walking under the covering of their sacred house or harekura and rowing to our common timing chants in their canoe. We were not convinced that he belonged. Yet, our duty to provide shade to foreigners and the vulnerable was overlooked and forgotten. We forgot that behind every person is a sacred covering and a mysterious gift. We did not remember that the Creator can remove the covering with the innocent green shoot. That shoot is Hotu-iti-tiki-tawhito, a miracle to our island.”

Iwi-the-blind looked toward the cave and spoke to the circle of Tohungas, though one was missing, “Let us go to him in his distress, for there in the cave is A-Child-ShallLead-Them, and this Tama-iti is worth something.

Deep within the cave, the phantom pains were overwhelming me. I spoke to myself words of encouragement through the tears and sobs, “Tama-iti, you are worth something! Tama-iti, you are worth something! Tama-iti, you are worth something!”

Just when I was about to wail the cry of death, I heard a faint music coming from deep down the cave. The soft distant sound opened up a tiny spark of light within my soul. I focused on that tiny spark stoically drowning out the darkness of despair weighing so heavily around me. As the music grew closer a song of Sirens became powerfully familiar, since it was the soothing song and singer at the cutting of my face. I felt for the

226 furrowed scars on my cheeks with an affection that melted away the deep despairing darkness and phantom pains.

The chant was approaching nearer and the spark of hope within transformed into a vision of light in the delicate shape of the rongorongo writing of Tuhinapo-Rapa.

Out of that light shone a blossom of rongorongo figures that grew and grew into a spiral that appeared to dance with the music of Hina-iti.4 The light then was swept away like the stars of dawn by the torch that Maui was holding. I stood before Hina-iti and Maui and I burst out an involuntary giggle that confirmed the sense of belonging offered me in the sweetest glaring of their eyes.

Then Maui said, “Tama-iti, you ARE worth something!� and I believed him once and for all.

Behind them soon formed a circle of Tohunga who had plenty of brush to make a lasting fire amidst our seated circle in the cave. The sparkling flames of the modest fire beckoned a hint of fresh breeze into our circle toward the embers. The embers glowed the brightest colors of purple and blue, onto the fresher wood of green, into the air of yellow and orange, and dancing with red sparks all contrasting light and shadows upon the cave ceiling and walls. The water dripped softly into that pool of heavenly tasting water. The light filtered through the circling wavelets caused by the drip and rose the light up to flutter with rainbows upon the wall of the cave.

Of all the provisions and gifts that I would be honoured by for winning the riddling contest and being welcomed to place my footprint upon this island, this storytelling circle deep in the cave with all the Tohunga was the greatest gift of all.

227 Tohunga Tangaroa-ika and Iwi began with the stories of the deities and the ancestors. I spoke of my gratitude and they returned of how they had never heard of such a riddle that would go down in history. I was honoured, humbled and happy to hear their complement.

Iwi added, “All the memories that I have been given from my grandparents came out in your riddle and remind me of so many other important things I must share with my people.”

Tangaroa-ika said, “With your riddle comes a philosophy that will keep our clans and tribes secure in the true spirit of our ceremonies for many years to come. You have reminded us that the world is a circle and we must travel to over the horizon, down to the Underworld and visit our cousins across the ocean more often. This will help open our eyes to the world as a patch-work quilt of belonging. On the quilt are the 2 legged, the four-legged, the winged ones, the finned ones, the islands, the water, the elements, the Sun, Moon and stars. All belong. We want to reward you for your diligence, your sincerity and your haka.

And so, in the cave, I listened to the wisdom of the grandparents who spoke of what their grandparents had learned from their grandparents. Into the circle of our cave came during this storytelling festival, others came as listeners, or provisioners or storytellers from all the clans.

Something must be said for the atmosphere we all felt in the cave. It was like being taken back into the womb. It was now warm from the fire. The sound of the water softly dripping accented the voices of the elders as they spoke. After some time, maybe a day or two, I rest my head on Hina’s lap and she brushed my hair, while humming to the

228 tune of that Tattoo soothing chant. Hina listened intently to all the words, especially when grandmother Iwi spoke, since these were the stories in Hina’s care.

When one is sitting with a circle of elders in a clean cozy cave, nothing is meant to disturb them. It is the same with all other haka or activities on the island. Time is merely a cycle that presents all these things in harmony with the world over and over and over. Therefore, we have no word for time in the natural world, just regenerative cycles where all individuals belong by way of sustaining the others. And such a value, the concept of no-time, is the foundation of and fruit found in Paradise.

Some of the provisions included a sweet hot drink heated in coconuts by the fire.

The drink gave me a feeling of complete release in the mist of being completely content already. Combined with my sleepiness, the result was that I drifted in and out of a blissful dreaming of the stories the elders were telling.

Together several tohunga compared the myths of Maui who stole the fire from the Underworld; who shape-shifted into a fish and then a bird; Maui who noosed the Sun, when he fished up the islands, rescued Hina from the water monster and died while opening the second door of the Underworld. Another clan spoke of Tawhaki whose father was killed by the Ponaturi who stole his mother; how Tawhaki travelled with his brother to find her and retrieve his father’s bones; how he climbed to the tenth heaven with the 9 kumara after healing Kui the Blind with her one kumara. Another clan spoke of Rata who felled the tree that the woodland fairies kept reassembling and how eventually they provided a double-canoe for Rata to avenge his father’s death and retrieve his bones. Another clan spoke of Hina’s canoe trip to the moon, and how she came back upon the waters to lament for a paradise for her children upon the back of a

229 tortoise. They then described how that turtle was Easter Island itself, though others may attribute it to their own island or mountain.

The elders spoke at length at how the stars and the sacred sites interact with the sacred food to enliven our ceremonies toward daily activities and values of true human beings. One elder described how we are first to understand ourselves as ‘living beings’ even before defining our ‘human’ design.

The tohunga maintained our attention through many cycles of food brought by the provisioners. We were hoping they would continue, for they were weaving a new pattern of peace in the development of the common elements of their stories and additions that some clans had lost. At times they would ask me what I observed across the sea, which added haka to the feeling of belonging naturally present in the circle were sat in.

Then I inquired, “Is that why I was sent to hide in a cave under your island?”

The islanders paused to consider an answer for my question.

Tangaroa-ika replied, “When we buried you in the cave, we buried our own children... 14 of them. We lamented when the 15 of you were in the cave. We thought we had lost our youth. Then suddenly out of the ground came all these green shouts and we recognized who we all were. A child led us to see ourselves as producers of life, as fruit bearers. Instead we were too busy trying to find ways to exclude each other from the circle of life. What is left for those who are taught not to belong?”

I added with a question, “To be left in the dark?”

Tangaroa-ika nodded and said, “It is easy to forget that what is hidden or Tapu is also necessary and essential. Yet, how do we retrieve it? How do we revive what is tapu?

230 “Tapu is the darkness of nourishing soil, opened by the festival of the first shoot sprouting out of the ground. The rich soil is essential, but it is broken open. The dry, the dead and the mysterious seed is placed within the furrow. The broken soil is closed.

There is a watering, a sheltering, a time for sunlight and a time for the watchmen at night.

Then one day the ground is broken by the seed itself coming out of the ground and rising toward the Sunlight as a green shoot. All of the clan gathers around in festive dress, with chants, dancing and feasting for the festival of the first green shoot sprouting out of the ground. The stars, our ancestors, signal accurately each year when this first sprout will appear. They raise the tapu of the darkness of the soil for us to be surprised once again at the Life-force springing out of the dark void. “Tapu is that area behind the moai statues set in rows upon the platforms. The spirit of the one who had died is the mysterious seed cracked open every night at the appearance of the stars. The rows of statues have been cracked open from the crater, Rano Raraku. Behind the statue is sacred and restricted, because the spirit medium is hiding a great gift behind the back. And every medium moai statue has its back turned to the sea. Therefore, the ocean is the greatest sacred Tapu for all of us. That is why the Ocean is the inside heart of Tane5 with the smooth pebbles of the shore as gizzard stones.

When the ocean is lifted, that sea foam covering, stirs all life in the sands and all the creatures of the sea come to feed and mate together in the rising tide. We celebrate the new life of our ancestors in the stars and in their burial on the sands of our shores. “Tapu is the divide between heaven or Rangi and Earth or Papa. Maui-potiki, the Pillar of Heaven has come to raise the Tapu that renders us in the dark, that renders us paralysed by the weight of the unknown, the mystery, the darkness, the heavy crashing

231 breakers of death. The seal6 barks to remind us of this death. The breakers crash to remind us of this death.

Life itself is a sacred Tapu. The stone moai have turned their backs to the breakers of death to make sacred or to make tapu the crashing of death. Turning their back on the breakers of death, making death tapu, provides the opportunity for the Great Mystery to raise the tapu of death. For the deified ancestors to turn their back on death, provides a secret behind their backs and hidden in the sea foam waves. This secret is the first fish offering provided that death’s tapu might be raised at the pure feasts for the dead at the moai ahu temple platforms. The moai have turned their back on death in defiance of death and to teach us that there, in the midst of death when we fall from the top of the greatest wave of life we are surfing and break our heads open on the reef below it is merely to open the oyster of the Greatest Pearl ever known. The moai try to keep our reunion with the ancestors a big secret as a pearl hidden in the sea behind the back of the moai, you can see it glittering in whites of their eyes. And this glittering ... we call enlightenment.”

I said, “In my island of birth there is a story of our creation from ropes and vines, where worms came out of the vines and became human.”

Iwi clarified, “If we take these stories of our creation primarily as the dawning of enlightenment in the human heart and mind, such a story of humans fashioned from worms out of a vine is referring to the tablets themselves. Where enlightenment comes from the rongorongo carved vine, which is consumed by our spirits as sure as the tablets are eventually all eaten by worms.7 The worm has to come out into the light in order to consume the wood.”

232 “When you carve the tablets, Hotu-iti, you are raising the Tapu of darkness from the eyes of the world. You are bringing the entire world out of the same story of mystery out of the unknown into the light. Teach them well Tiki-tawhito, Pillar of a Little Man. Teach them well, because, since the entire island is forever questioning what these tablets have to say. Each dot is meaningful. Together they form an entire ecosystem of Lifeforce provisions to sustain all things and keep us all in harmony.”

I pondered all this wisdom into my heart. But deep down I wanted to belong to this circle since I was cast out and so I said, “When can we enter the harekura?”

Iwi replied, “My son, this is the harekura, when a ring of flowers is placed on your head, it is a sign of a looking through the hole of the Underworld into a higher realm of enlightenment. The ring of flowers is as the door to the harekura.”8 Inside the harekura, we began to practice carving each syllable of Hina’s sacred chant with the shark tooth on the wood: The Tohunga Tangaroa-ika said to me, “When you were at sea you experienced true learning. True learning is not what you think; it is who you are in relation to your environment. Look at these syllables not as functional portions of something more important. Look at every dot as an essential key to the whole, without which all would be a loss. The loss of your very soul’s understanding of itself and the world. Each syllable represents a key element to this understanding of your existence. That is they represent the core values of our life on Earth understood by the enlightenment of the dawning Life of the Trickster Maui. He is a trickster, because he has taught us to fool death with his life and models how we become spouses of the regenerative feminine Lifeforce of the Earth herself. This is not a doctrine, it is an activity, a haka, the primary

233 haka or personal strength activity that builds our identity and nourishes our environment.

All other activities revolve around this value and haka of regeneration in order to sustain it.”

Tangaroa-ika Tohunga drew a thread in on the cave floor and said, “Take the syllable HAv, from the word thread, haka or hau. What do we see in our experience that is very similar to the thread?”

Figure z: Kaha – the Rope of Strength9

I replied, “Hina-iti has always told me that the hair is the rope of heaven, because it comes out of our mind as a symbol of wisdom and Maui-Potiki is the deity who grew in the topknot of Ataranga, his mother’s hair.”

The Tohunga smiled and said, “You’re a good listener. Perhaps another secret name of Tuhinapo will come to you soon. So the rope and the hair is the same, as are the rays of the sun, as are the vines hanging from a tree. Tawhaki or Tavake climbs this thread of heaven. HA as a word by itself means breathe. Haka means strength and this thread expresses our purpose, our activity on the island. This rope is as essential to our life as our very breathe. You cannot reach Rangi or the sky/heaven, without ha, haka, hau, the wisdom rope of heaven. So HA is the syllable of the thread, Haka, symbol. Ha as breathe or life-force on earth is our thread of wisdom to climb with life-force into heavenly wisdom taught to us by our spiritual mother, Ataranga, and mother of Maui (Life). Every breathe you take be grateful for the life of ha, haka.”

234 I was puzzled by the way this symbolism taught me how to climb to heaven mystically. And so I said, “This is all very important. I want to climb to heaven.

Wisdom is the rope. But how do I apply my haka or personal activities in my clan upon the Earth to actually get to heaven?”

The Tohunga were silent. They really had to think about this one. Or maybe they new it all along but wanted to emphasize the importance of this question by the delay in the answer.

Struggling with the delay in finding an answer to the question I now believe was the most important one I could ask, I added, “Or no?”

All were silent until Iwi, the eldest would speak. Her voice came out in such an affectionate tone, through the gaps from her missing teeth, that even the drip on the pool stopped to listen.

Iwi spoke these words, “Tama-iti, little one, Hotu-iti-tiki-tawhito!”

There was another pause as we all waited for her to speak again. The embers were particularly low now and we had noticed the caves of the wall were no longer visible, but as Iwi spoke there was a very soft luminous glow to every single corner of the cave. All could be lightly seen. There were no shadows. It all seemed so serial.

Iwi spoke again and I will always treasure these words and share them at the end of my story-telling: “Tama-iti!” she said softly, “Tama-iti!” she said more softly to emphasize the very sacredness of the words, “I am going to tell you a secret, only discussed with those who have completed their acceptance into the circle of the harekuras. The answer to your question, ‘But how do I apply my haka or personal activities in my clan upon the Earth to actually climb the haka to heaven?’ is this: We

235 cannot climb this haka or sacred rope of wisdom on our own strength. We need a supernatural meal. That meal is provided every feast when we share a portion of the first fish offering and the sacred kumara sweet potato offering. Before we eat the main meal, when we consume the portion handed to us from the tohunga who has recited the appropriate incantation, we receive the power to climb sacred rope to heaven.”

I was about to inquire further but she read my mind and interrupted me saying, “How does that look in my everyday life?” She smiled, “Is this what you were about to asked Tama-iti?”

She laughed exuberantly as we all did, since we all knew it was true.

Without waiting for an answer to the obvious, Iwi concluded, “The person who has consumed the sacred mana or power morsel of the fish and kumara, and has been trained in all the values of the haka, that person, when they are left to their own devised, not interrupted by corrupt authority, they will sustain all of their circles and the environment around them will flourish by way of the natural regenerative life-forces that gather around his circle of the life of Maui.”

I wish I had memorized the exact words of what Iwi had taught me that day. But I knew that the activities of these Tohunga ever day I had watched them, were consistently offering the community a living example of what Iwi had just spoken.

All I could say was a solemn, “OOOOOOooooooooh!” with a chant like inflection to it and all the circle laughed, not out irreverence in the least, but out of the circle of souls who had no restrictions on their identity and their own self-expression.

The laughter came loud and often in this circle and at all times and on every occasion.

236 For such a person and such a clan has a heart about them that never changes. Even in battle, there is laughter.

“Yes, I get it!” I said, “Tell me more syllables.”

Tangaroa-ika had a special devotion to Hina, maiden of the moon. Therefore, he has been called, Hina’s Tohunga.

Therefore, Tangaroa-ika requested, “Tama-iti-tiki-tawhito, take this poorly carved tablet and your shark tooth and scrape all the syllables off of the wood. After this, redo the board so it speaks softly to us the chant that is a sign to Hina that her waxing cycle is complete and the moon is now full.”

I nodded in agreement and knew what I must carve, but I did not know how Tangaroa-ika new it was now the full-moon for we were deep in the bowels of a cave.

The stories of the Tohunga in the cave continued wholesomely while I whittled away.

Hina’s Tohunga spoke of the harekura and the pit of the sacred ceremony of the umu or maori earth oven of the first fish. Iwi described the ceremony in the details of one who was clearly able to remember all that she saw earlier in life.

The Tohungas stopped to comment on my carving and noticed I was well passed the full-moon. Together they asked me to recite the chant of the bathing of Hina.

I raised my hands toward the moon I could not see for the cave and prayed the first verse with all the devotion and understanding I could see from the tablet. They told me to start again, this time by weaving what every child on the island had learned of the 30 days.

237 I looked at the carvings I had made. The hair stood on the back of my neck as a hidden meaning, a riddle, a play on words, of this prayer suddenly came to me: That the twin star bobbing up and down at the door of the Underworld is Rangi-tu-ahiahi, the Evening Star10, heralding the Sweeping Ceremony for the Sun’s rays to sweep the stars into the Full Moon. As a wayfinder, it gave me comfort to learn that my Whanau Marama11 of Easter Island had much to teach me about my Whanau Marama12 in the heavens. So I began to pray the prayer of Hina’s feast weaving hearts together like a twisted thread the 30-day moon cycle with the Rongorongo moon chant:

Pregnant Hina distribute Tangaroa’s morsel by scraping up the Sacred Yam so the twins spirits will learn how to resemble a twisted thread;

The eyes of Hina’s tohunga, Tangaroa-ika, widened as I spoke of Rangi-tuahiahi, the Evening Star and he said, “What do you mean by the Evening Star, Hotu-Iti.” My reply filled the eyes of Iwi with tears, “Rangi-tu-ahiahi is a secret name of Tuhinapo-rapa, who captured the Sun as his light through the Underworld migration that rescues our ancestors.

Hina’s tohunga replied, “No child has even learned two secret names before.” He prodded Iwi. A Tohunga of the Marama clan explaimed, “What will this child become?”

Hina-iti boasted, “He has already learned the Canoe of Rata rowers-timing-chant and the Ball Game of Maui, the sacred tattoo soothing chant of Hina Tapairu.”

238 I blushed with the attention and kept my eyes meekly fixed on completing the Bathing of Hina, Moon Cycle.

The elders passed the tablet around when I was finished. The saw every imperfection, but did not openly criticize me, for the basic work was done with much haka for a tama-tohunga’s first wood.

Maui looked at the wood and said, “Hotu-iti will now be called, Te Tama-tohunga o Tangaroa.”

Everyone laughed and all was as perfect as it could be, when we suddenly heard a shuffle and a panting like a great monster or Nuku himself was coming down the cave hall into our presence.

It was Hotu-nui, the island king, who, because of his size, had tore nearly every corner of his skin just to get down into the cave. He was covered in a mixture of blood, sweet and muddied dust from the cave walls. He stopped to catch his breath in front of the while leaning his hands on his knees. There was a soft and curious chuckle from Iwithe-blind. At first trying to talk, Hotu-nui stopped himself to catch more of his breathe while nodding that he was okay to Hina-iti who had rushed to fill a coconut cup full of water.

Hotu-nui drank the water in a gulp, threw it at the wall and cried, “The floating islands are coming!...” He stopped to pant for more breathe and concluded, “They are coming over the horizon from the cave of Reinga, the Underworld, like many clouds to the East. Like our children coming out of the cave, there are 15 of them!”

239

Chapter 16 Notes 1. Figure u: This chant required the decipherment of only three main glyphs comprising of 60% of the text.

The results revealed the Polynesian deluge represented by the Overturning of Mataaho and the Mountain of Refuge called, Mahikurangi.

2. Bent by the passage of Maui.

3. Haka means rope or strength and can be associated with the strength of personal activity that builds up the community, as in a personal trade, skill or profession. For example, fishing, being a tohunga, carving and reciting the tablet prayers, cooking, gardening, etc...

4. Described is a vision the author had to encourage him to finish this book in the face of dealing with the mental illness of Major Clinical Depression and Seasonal Affective Disorder along with other stresses people face in life. I offer them as a fast and rite of passage for anyone reading this book who needs a lament, a song of the Sirens, a chant of Hina to lift them out of the caves of men and into the light of our common Creator who desires that we all belong.

5. Tane – Bird deity of Polynesia, symbolized by the Sun.

240

6. The seal – a symbol of Tangaroa, deity of the Ocean.

7. Chauvet, S. (1935). Easter Island and its Mysteries. Published on the website designed by S. McLaughlin and translated by A. M. Altman (2005). Chauvet notes that two of the tablets are called, the Worm Eaten Tablets, Ka ihi uiga, the Crescent and the Keiti tablet.

8. Rangimarie Rose Pere, Wisdom Keeper of the Maori related in January 2011 on Facebook that each culture and people has its own means of attaining enlightenment, and therefore, we do not claim a monopoly of wisdom, which comes from the wellspring of an eternal fountain.

9. Scattered over many glyphs on the tablet is this appendage or thread. In some cases the thread is added to a sequence of several glyphs, rendering it beyond syllabic usage. Interpreted as rope or cord, gives Haka, which is a word synonymous with strength. Therefore, the incantations for strength would repeat this word as a single word chorus across several glyphs. For example, to the deities – strength; to the ancestors – strength; to the clan – strength, and so on.

10. Rangi-tu-ahiahi is likely the name Rapanui used for the evening star, since ahiahi means evening. Ahi means fire. The use of ahiahi likely represents the look of fire in the sky and clouds at the setting Sun. Venus is weaved into this moon calendar. The star/phallus/fish-on-line glyph represents rauhi, meaning to gather together. Venus metaphorically does gather the stars in the morning, when the Sun’s rays sweep them off of the sky. Venus also scatters them into the Milky Way when it represents the Evening Star.

Polynesians were aware that the Evening and Morning Star were one and the same star, which is Venus.

Therefore, as the scattering star, Rangi-tu-ahiahi, (sky-standing-flames) may well represent the casting of sparks or stars into the sky with the fire of the Sweeping Ceremony, where as, a gathering of the stars occurs by reducing Rangi-tu-ahiahi to Rauhi. Ga rauhiva means twins which may be intended by the Morning and Evening Star as one anticipates the Sunrise and the other Sunset, so there on the tablet the twins are looking in opposite directions (East and West). The Sun must have been considered the model for the Full Moon to follow or an expression of full life that the moon struggled to achieve. Why Venus?

Notice the glyphs of the Ra, the Sun, decrease in Size as the Moon becomes full. This is precisely what happens to Venus in relation to the Earth and the Sun. Venus is seven times brighter when in is a mere crescent, because it is closer to the Earth at that time. As Venus becomes full, it appears to wane by seven times its potential. And on the moon calendar at the Full Moon, the little Sun is small and at the New Moon the same glyph is full size. What does this mean? Looking at the broader Polynesian mythology, Rangitu is a warrior assisting Ngatoro in defeating Manaia (the Curse) at Hawaiki. Rangitu heralded the approach of the enemy and killed the first man at the battle of Tarai-whenua-kura (strike-world-red). This may be the story of Venus as the Evening Star appearing to strike the Red Sun into the Underworld. The Sun then, is regarded as the first man defeated to overcome the Curse, Manaia. Maui, the Life, or Tane, of Tane-waiora, who possesses the Living Waters, is the Red Hot Stone that gives its life to defeat the Curse of the giant human devouring snake of death. The stone is struck by Venus and cast into the throat of the Underworld to defeat the curse of death. In myth, Rangituituia is the mourning-garment of Uenuku after his sons were killed by Whena. The garment originally belonged to his ancestor, Tu-mata-uenga, the deity of war. Uenga was the chief of the very swift Takitumu migration canoe with the very sacred woman, Hine-kau-a-rangi (Hine alone in the sky?). Venus is regarded in ancient Rome as the goddess of vegetation, even before Aphrodite’s qualities were transferred to her. Yet, among the ancients sexuality involves the reproduction cycle of plants and animals at its purest form. That is, the highest form of venus or attractiveness of creation is its ability to regenerate, since this is the divine characteristic of paradise in the eternal form. Ancient art depicts Venus’ foot resting on a tortoise, a close affiliation to Hina. Venus’ husband was Vulcan, the god of fire and maker of thunderbolt weapons of the gods. Perhaps the ure glyph is related to uira, lightning, which could produce the same syllable on the tablets and defines the look of the glyph even better. Perhaps then, lightning is likened to the throwing of the divine phallus of Uranus (whose blood fertilizes the sea) into the sea by Cronus, which produced Aphrodite who appears floating on the sea surrounded by water spirits and deities of grace. Aphrodes means sea foam, which is the name associated with Viracocha, Wakea, etc.. On Easter Island, the sea foam produced when the tide is highest stirs up ever creature needing to feed on the microbes that are washed out of the sand. As a result a chain of larger and larger creatures surface. Therefore, the sea foam of high tide is regarded as a woman’s uterine

241 fluid, that woman being the Mother of All, who provides the food at high tide for the umu oven with the three stones. Therefore, the cook appears on the full-moon, motohi, glyph the three oven stones. These stones are tossed red hot into the water, roots and fish mixture of the oven, representing the Sun setting into the Underworld Ika-roa great fish of death. That is why the first fish is the most sacred offering, and represents the food of the gods, parallel to the ancestors eternal feast on the fish of death cooked by the setting Sun quickened by the rising tides of the Full Moon. Similarly, Venus and her son, Cupid are transformed into the Pisces fish to hide from the vengeful, Typhon, who was defeated by Zeus, wielder of lightning rods, by containing him forever under Mount Etna of Sicily (perhaps a type of Turtle Mountain, where Hina falls to raise her children on paradise purchased by her powerfully beckoning lament. Typhon as Ophion assisted in the creation of all things and then was banished to the Underworld by Cronus.

Perhaps Ophion is another type of Maui or Solar deity producing life and then sent to the Underworld. The ancient Maya also liken the morning star to a fierce combatant against the Sun. The Mayan morning star is called Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, a dart throwing (represents the rays of Venus) and fierce aspect of Quetzalcoatl in Teotihuacan. When Venus appears in the Morning, the Sun soon rises. When Venus appears in the evening just after sunset, it follows the Sun into the Underworld. Five venus cycle equate exactly eight Earth years. The Mayan would use five dots on the deities face to represent Venus. Perhaps the five moons of glyphs relate to this understanding as do the eight quarters of the moon.

11. Light giving family or children of light as referring to stars, Sun and moon and all other heavenly lights.

12. Best. (1955). P. 5.

Chapter 17 – The Floating Islands

Everyone exited the cave, but Hotu-nui. He was too swolen from the crapes made by his wrestling with Ru to force his oversized body into the narrow entrance of the cave.

Desparately he tride to pass through the cave into the open air, but to no avail and no one knew he was unable to exit since he was the last to leave the cave.

Meanwhile, everyone in the island was gathering on the hills and Southeastern regions to gaze at the mysterious floating islands approaching Rapanui.

242 When I saw the 15 floating islands with sails full of the wind toward Easter Island, a rush of painfilled memories came over me.

“Gather you warriors! Hide your women and children!” I cried in a frenzy to save my new clan from the massacre of my first clan.

Hina-iti and Maui tried to console me. They reminded me of the dream of Rega to try and reasure me that all would be safe.

Even Tangaroa-ika came to console me by repeating Rega’s words: “A wooden house will arrive at Tarakiu-Vaihu, a barge will arrive, animals will arrive with their faces of eels, golden thistles will come, and the Lord will be heard in heaven.”

I replied, “But the sky is clear now, how can there be thunder?” Our belief was that thunder was the sound of the voice of the gods.

The pain of my experience with the first floating island I had seen made it impossible for my nerves to settle. The best I could do was climb upon the shoulders of Maui. We all watched as the fifteen approached Te-pito-o-te-henua. All the island was silent apart from Punga-varevare. He was busy convincing Matanui to invite wave them toward the Hotu-iti tribe in order to gain the advantage over the tribe of Tuu. Matanui replied, “Punga, we are at peace.”

Punga contered with, “Be the first of the island to express our true generosity to these foreigners.”

Matanui said, “Hotu-nui is our king. I will wait for his council.”

Punga stopped himself from begging for preference above the king and simply added, “You, Matanui, are my only king!”

The two agreed to disagree as the marvelous ships approached.

243 All the island stood still, but one man. Punga-varevare was moving quickly down to the shore of the graves. He was signalling the foreigners to approach.

The floating islands complied and smaller boats began to approach Punga’s location.

As the Miru clan observed the landing from their own territory there was a sudden stir in the crowd.

I jumped off Maui’s shoulders and cried: “Look! They are not landing at Tarakiu!

They are not landing at Tarakiu!”

Maui and Hina-iti finally appeared concerned.

Maui cried, “Hotunui! Where is Hotunui!”

Tangaroa-ika said, “He is still in the cave. You are our king!”

“The child is right, Tohunga Tangaroa!” Maui continued, “They are not landing a Tarakiu as Rega-varevare had said was the sign of a good omen! And look! Their ships are unloading hundreds of men. To me, there is a weaving of very bad signs here.”

I ran to Maui and cried, “They took all my family! And the ones who resisted were killed by those sticks they are carrying!”

Maui gave a look of a fearsome commander! And once again I heard that whistle of his. Immediately, Honga and Hanga were by his side.

Maui spoke up, “We have to warn the Hotu-iti tribe, for they are gathering in welcome with all the women and children. Hanga and Honga, you are fastest. Go and warn them to be on guard before it is too late!”

Honga and Hanga were off like Tavake birds. Maui ordered all the women and children into the cave. I stood by Tangaroa-ika and Hina-iti on the hill, while we prayed

244 haka and mana to be with the warriors and the island. Maui and the soldiers were off at half the gate of Honga and Hanga.

The Captains of the floating islands had landed and were unloading many gifts and provisions for no small feast. By this time, half the island had gathered around the foreigners. The plentitude of the gifts captivated even Matanui and the elders. Everyone was amazed at the event unfolding before them and they truly believed in the benevolence of the foreigners. Gifts and foods were being passed around as more and more small boats arrived at the shore with more and more men with armor and thunder sticks.

Hanga and Honga were soon arriving.

Yet, the foreign Captain signalled his men and the trap was unleashed. Matanui was shot in the heart and the Captain ordered his men to surround the crowd. A mobile and deliberate force of 400 soldiers began gathering and chaining the masses. Honga and Hanga lept for the commander. Many shots were fired. When the smoke settled a wounded Hanga was holding the lifeless body of Honga. By the time Maui had arrived 500 islanders were in chains. Maui and his men charged the soldiers.

I watched as a line of smoke billowed out of the thunder sticks. A few seconds later a great noise ran across the hills. Many men that we loved were falling before their enemies. Maui was soon forced to retreat. Punga assisted the men of the Tu tribe as they found refuge in a great cave. The cave was surrounded by soldiers and any warrior that was in sight of the entrance was shot dead. Maui and his men made a baracade with stones to protect the men watching the entrance. A great waiting began, while a great morbid gathering into chains and boats and ships caused us all to weep.

245 Five of the ten ships were first to head back east with over 1000 islanders chained in their bowels.

Before any soldiers had reached us, Tangaroa-ika had order many provisions into our cave. Hotunui assisted in the gathering of families within the cave and the distribution of rations for each family. But Maui and his men had no provisions.

A company of soldiers began coming our way. We ran for the cave and hoped we were unnoticed.

Days and nights felt much longer than I had become accustomed to in this cave.

Yet, for the hundreds of us, the air was clear, the provisions were rationed and the water sustained us. At night our watchers could see the fires of the enemy camped around the cave of Maui and his men. Without provisions, the warriors were forced to eat the flesh of their fallen kin.

At this time of waiting, many of the statues of the island that were not fallen in our tribal war, were overturned by the soldiers.

On the seventh day, when the warriors of Maui were sufficiently weekenned, a raid on the cave was signalled by the enemy. There was little resistance. The warriors were loaded into the floating islands and an additional 400 islanders were chained into the bowels of the ships.

As the ships sailed Eastward, our people came out of the cave and watched and wept for a great loss of life and love from our island had overwhelmed us all.

The queen of the Hotu-iti tribe came forward with a wound on her head. She described to us all that had happened during the kidnapping. As our clan ran to tend to

246 her wound, she brushed us all aside and lamented of the way our people were chained and placed in the bowels of the floating islands.

Figure aa: The Bowels of a Slave Ship1

Never had our ngaro-aroha for Rapa-nui been so tenderly expressed than by this queen.

Figure ab: a wounded princess2

247

And then, Hotu-nui was the last to come out of the cave. This time he was thin enough from eating less than his portion of rations to pass from the Underworld to a higher ground without a scratch on his back. Yet, our island had been clawed up by a great man eating bird.

Hina-iti ran to her father as the sails disappeared over the horizon and all the island could here the lament of Hina.

Where have they taken my love Turi?

He is with my brother Maui.

Both are strong and brave, But they could not overcome the devices of the enemy.

Bring them back to me, O Tangaroa, god of the sea, Bring my love back to me!

248

With Hina’s lament a great wailing rose from the island. And a season of mourning was upon us all for our loss of kin.

Chapter 17 Notes

249 1. Figure x: The context of the Easter Island tablets are best understood as funerary and power chants for the dead. Therefore, it is strongly encouraged to follow these prayers with a certain historical awareness and even veneration. This research rests its conviction upon the reality that to toil at the heart of this wood and sets the stage for a contextual and reverent decipherment of this wood: 2. Figure y: This is the authors rendition of an island queen or princess from the Hotu-iti tribe. He has stylized the face after a woman who defended the Indigenous status of Rapanui in a peaceful protest march in 2011. It appears she was wounded by a plastic bullet. This book is devoted to her and the many others who alive and deceased fight for their Indigenous voice around the world. It is this voice that will restore the Earth toward human sustainability with our ecosystems. When you look at the picture ask yourself the question: “What would you do to give voice to Indigenous world-view if this was you own mother?�

Indeed, we are all Indigenous to Mother Earth, how can we Shift our hearts in the Great Turning toward her?

Chapter 18 - The Longest Swim

250

This was the first time on my new island that no one was looking for a reason to laugh. The tohunga were merely busy preparing a ceremony to give power to our kidnapped 1000, so that they could return to their families. The elders requested each remaining clan produce an umu oven with a Tuna as the first fish. Each family was to sing a canoe timing chant with a morsel offering of the Giant Tuna.

Hotunui gathered the clan. Tangaroa-ika blessed the morsel. The Miru clan and those few remaining from the Hotu-iti tribe consumed the morel. Together we began to chant the Canoe of Rata power chant for rowers.

Since it is used out at sea, it is a song that never ends. Therefore, as a community offering, watchers were appointed night and day to continue the chant in an unbroken fashion.

To here the chant in my waking and sleeping was the only consolation for me, who felt orphaned once again until Maui would return. The pain of losing him brought back all the memories of losing Rapa and my family. I did not sleep for three days watching and chanting continually. My distress manifested itself in a fever and I fell in and out of consciousness.

Iwi provided me with some crushed sweet scented resin and root and prayers were said over me. Then I fell into a dream that was so much more than a dream.1 Though my body rest, my spirit was more awake in a place that my body knew nothing of. I could see Iwi and Tangaroa as clouds beside me. But up in the starry sky I saw my first family more clear than when they were alive. Rapa reached down and I was drawn up to him. There was a kindred reunion without words.

251 My father bid me to continue through this vision to a greater mission. My uncle instructed me to care for my new island as true kin. My mother pointed to the moon and we saw Hina falling to the Earth like lightning. Then I also began to fall, never losing a complete sense of peace in spite of the dire situation of my world below.

I kept falling playfully through the air and all was blue. A sound of the Canoe of Rata chant stirred deep within my soul, and grew louder....

uga! uga! uga! uga waho!... uga! uga! uga! uga waho!.... uga!

uga! uga! uga waho!... uga! uga! uga! uga

waho!... uga! uga! uga! uga waho!... uga! uga! uga! uga waho!.........................................

As I fell, I approached one of the floating islands. For the first time in the vision, a fear erupted within. But the Canoe of Rata chant filled my loss like the tattoo soothing chant of Hina.

The chanting was a chorus of my kin chained within the ship. My spirit entered its belly and I found Maui and Hanga chained together. There did not perceive me, but I could see and understand them.

I began to talk in my sleep and it gave courage to the Miru clan: “I see Maui and Hanga....” And I began to repeat all that I saw, though I was only aware of my presence with Maui.

Maui struggled with the chains. He pulled at the wall with his feet and arms until his wrists were bleeding. Hanga was motionless, stunned at the loss of his brother.

Maui spoke to himself, “These chains are too strong for me. There is no stone to break them. There is no stick for leverage to open them. I could use the strength of ten ...” Suddenly it dawned on Maui that he was chained beside a giant.

252 I knew exactly what Maui was thinking as he said, “Hey! Hanga! Why don’t you see if you can tear these chains apart?”

“No way... Maui... I tried.” Hanga grumbled.

Maui did not want to contradict him, for he did nothing but mourn the loss of his brother as he was escorted into his tiny bunk.

So Maui said, “Honga will be missed. Many of our people will be missed and never return. Our people are praying for power and strength. But that is not all. With every thrust of the Oars of Rata, there is an appeal for reckoning.... for reckoning, my brother!”

The shaking of Maui’s fist opened the eyes of Hanga.

Maui continued, “Who is going to defy these oppressors for their ways?”

You could hear the chains of Hanga beginning to stir.

Maui prodded him, “Who is going to take the satisfaction out of their hearts for having placed us here?”

Hanga stretched his long pillar legs out across the jerked the chains in defiance to test their strength against the beam.

Maui’s eyes glared power into Hanga with the heart of true kin, “Who is going to vindicate our brother Honga?”

That was more than enough to empower Hanga with the strength of a dozen or so.

The giant geared, grunted and flexed, while powering the chain taunt and groaning. At first the chain seemed too much for even Hanga. But the haka, the mana, the ngaro-aroha of a man is greater than these chains, which began to give in every link. All at once the chain was slack and Hanga roared a defiant burst of freedom. The noise of the giant

253 stirred the watchman and soldiers were meeting the giant at his bunk. Though our worst enemies, we pitied the men who had to face him. Which ever way their bodies hit the beams around them, they were knocked unconscious.

Meanwhile, Maui unwrapped the chain of Hanga linked to the other warriors.

Soon no small battle was waged between the foreigners and our kin. Our strategy could now only be to overcome them all. In the close quarters under the deck it was easy to avoid the thunder sticks and there was an advantage. We positioned ourselves on deck to our own demise. For a great firing prevailed. Many of our bravest warriors were fallen by even the most cowardly of foreigners. A divide was soon made between Maui’s warriors and a group of fierce foreigners firing into the hole. They soon descended and stayed the chain to prevent more from escaping. Maui through Hanga an long oar and he was able to knock the guns out of the hands of many and drive them back.

Yet, Maui perceived still many thunder sticks ready again to kill and he whistled a retreat into the sea and cried, “For Te Pito te Henua!�

All the remaining free men jumped into the sea.

Shots were fired as they swam away and more were killed, but there were 15 alive swimming together back to us in my vision.

The foreign captain was convinced those who jumped ship would perish at sea, so he left them and continued on Eastward, while dumping the dead into the sea.

In my vision I joined the 15 swimmers heading West upon the sea. They were swimming and I was flying from crest to crest.

The oar helped Hanga to float, for he had been wounded more than once.

254 Maui’s heart was burning with what could not be put into words, though I will try.

I perceived his heartfelt burning so intensely that my knees buckled as I walked on water.

Within Maui was the sense that such a swim was futile. I had to shake him out of that thought, for this was so much better than being chained in the bowels of Punga-roa.

So I began to chant, “Ha, ha, ha, hau; breath, breath, breath, chop” And Maui appeared to hear me only for a moment. Then he began to chant just the same Canoe of Rata and his warriors also, but their wounds had attracted the sharks.

There was a kin swimming valiantly beside Maui whose side was hit with the thunder-sticks. The sharks came to him and Maui could do nothing.

But he said, “I will swim to the island for you my brother and tell the clan of your courage that helped us to our freedom.”

The brave warrior nodded with pains of terror, for the sharks were gripping him.

Maui said, “Release yourself to Punga-roa now as an offering to give your island people strength.”

The brave lost his fear and nodded as he disappeared into the sea.

The hours passed and the wounded were lost one by one. Maui feared greatly for his wounded friend, Hanga. Yet, I somehow understood that this was not the time for Hanga. At first it appeared that Hanga remained for the simple reason that a wounded giant with an oar can fend off the sharks. However, there was a great hammarhead, far too large for even Hanga to handle. When he could no longer fend him off and was sinking out of despair, I saw a remarkable sight. Out of the sky came his deceased brother Honga with a thread of the Moon Maiden, Hina’s wisdom hair. Honga placed it on the head of his waning brother. Suddenly, Hanga became animated and grabbed the

255 nose of Punga-roa. I could listen to the spirit of Hanga speaking to the shark with, “My body will be yours Punga-roa, as soon as I secure the safety of my brother and my prince.”

Then the shark simply backed away. Out of the depth came Hanga-roa to swim once again beside his brother Maui.

Of the fifteen, ten remained and continued to swim West to our homeland, too far to notice under the horizon.

Maui now was in a trance too pure for revenge. His Creator, he knew, would measure the actions of these foreigners, find them lacking and call them to a reckoning.2 Yet, Maui even thought to pray for them to turn from their insatiable greed. Though, his heart was fixed like flint on his duties to intercede for his people.

The strength of these ten men waned into the night as the moon and in the morning there were seven swimming at sea.

I feared in losing them all, so I began to speak to them, though I did not know if they could hear me.

This is what I said, “Hanga clutch the oar that will give our island great comfort for many generations, knowing that in the wood was a great seal waiting to be opened one day to vindicate his ancestors. On this wood, I will carve the Canoe of Rata chant in honour Honga, your brother and all who are lost to the slave raiders. Remember, it was the epic hero Rata3, who tried to hew down this Tree of Life, to retrieve his father’s bones. Look at the wood of your salvation and envision the words I will carve:”

Figure ac: The Canoe of Rata chant - verse 14

256

Po Hine Tura-tuata Tura-tuata uga uga uga ugakete Tuhou-ngaho Tuhou-ngaho maro-maha maro-maha raha-Rakau rere-marama (Hawaiki-raka-ha-raa-rakararo) Rata-raho-marama raha-raka-raro rakau kouru rakau iwi hourua waka.

Night Maiden Hina – Tura who stole the fire sticks - for the removal of Tapu from this canoe with Tura who stole the fire sticks – for the removal of tapu from this canoe - lead – lead – lead – lead with strength – for Tuhou (9 foot deity whose bones are used in ceremony - father of Rata?) row down – for Tuhou row down – stretch a fathom and lift up – stretch a fathom and lift up. --- Reassemble the extended tree - chips fly - to the Underworld Table - of Rata deity who rises up to the platform with an enlightening torch – extend tree to below where the Dead reside - Reassemble the tree from the top down – prepare the tree – this pillar is the bones - the tree - is the double hull canoe of Rata.

A sudden burst of joy filled Hanga’s heart, so profound his courage was renewed and that of the six kin swimming beside him.

I continued to speak, while walking on the waves of the seven fighting for their life at sea in my vision “I, Hotu-iti-tiki-tawhito, am here with you to help you prevail.

257 From here I can see your lost kin in the stars, safe and stirring up a reckoning to Makemake. I can see the great chasm of your pain, your future ponderings and your present predicament. I can also see the life of a single chant of Iwi pouring into your soul. I can see that even if you wane to suffer death it is merely a gateway to a better place. Remember my kin, my elder brothers, that you are floating in the very Heart of the Bird of Creation, Manawa Tane. No sorrow is too great to be filled with this ocean of haka, mana and ngaro-aroha. Listen with fervour and devotion to more of this Canoe of Rata chant for haka, mana and ngaro-aroha:

Figure y: verse 2 Rata-rarama rahaka-rangaranga 1- rangi-tokotoko ara waka -2- rangi-ngari kohuhu ara waka -3- Hikurangi-ri koko ara waka -4- rangi-ngari (Hikurangi-ri) tokorua ara waka -5- rangi-ngari Tu ara waka -6- raro(tonga) ara waka -7rangi-arapo-matara ara waka Rata rangaranga Rata the torch-bearer; worker of light to avenge; with the ray’s of dawn that are the pathway for the canoe; with the chorus to pull the rowers together to the well spring on the pathway for the canoe; to the Holy Mountain protected well spring on the pathway for the canoe; hear the chorus of canoe timing (to the Holy Mountain screened or protected by the spirits) on the Sun and Moon’s (day and night) pathway for the canoe; hear the chorus for canoe timing and stand fast (with the deity of War, Tu) on the pathway for the canoe; at the Underworld (house pulled up by Maui’s fish hook) on the pathway for the canoe; at the sky of the Underworld loosen the Sun (dawn) on the pathway for the canoe;

258 Then seven continued on through the day as the current and wind turned in their favour toward the West.

As the Sun was setting I spoke to give them courage: “Are not the beacons of Oroongo shining with their Mother of Pearl? As are the eyes of so many Moai statues outside the quarry of Rano Raraku. Can the mighty Hoa Hakanana’ia fall? As it is rooted in the chanting house not to be moved. Is not the Canoe of Rata riding the raise of the setting Sun? As are the starry ancestors being swept onto the sky above. Is this not our destiny? As this swim to the sunset is the path of all kings, giants and men. Listen to the Canoe of Rata for haka, mana and ngaro-aroha:

Figure y: verse 3

-8- ra-anga ara waka -9- ra-mana ara waka -10- ga-rauhiva ara waka; pua ara tiare; Tuata tu(mata) ringa poipoi-Tu mate Reinga Po. Ringa tu matariki tu (pa?) tangata. let the Sun do its work on the pathway for the canoe; (harnessing) the Sun’s power on the pathway for the canoe; see the Sun’s reflection (enlightening our loved one) on the pathway for the canoe. - This is a pathway of sweet scented flowers - protected by Tu who has removed tapu from our canoe. – behold the standing place where the arm is raised (to beat the canoe with a stick) - to bind and loose the tapu - and make a wave offering to Tu – for the dead – of the Underworld, Reinga – in the darkness of Po. - Raise your hand - to set up at the

259 standing place - the fragments of Pleiades - that we stand again (at the feast of)our sacred humanity.

In the morning there were but four men swimming to the West, Maui, a giant and two other braves.

Hanga wept for his own brother, Honga, and for the first time feeling his strength waning.

So I continued to speak. “Did not Hotunui kill the great man eating bird, Poa, to rescue us from such corrupt and false rituals as cannibalism? But here, those from the floating islands resurrected the spirit of Poa in the hearts of our children that day when Matanui was forced to ration the flesh of his fallen warriors in the cave under siege.

Does this not pour a fresh portion of mana into your limbs?

“Now, like Rata, you must vindicate this father, Matanui, and lay his bones to rest. Rata felled the greatest tree of the island to make a canoe for his journey to retrieve his father’s bones. However, each morning he returned to the felled tree, it was standing whole and alive again. Consider each chip cut was a bone of his ancestors. That the good work of decay, was actually a sign of regeneration. Chopping endlessly through the waves, are you not also hewing away at the ever restoring tree of life? And when you return to shore, will your children not laugh at Rata having to return to chop at a tree he has already fallen?

“Look at them now, all the children of our island. Are they not the Ponaturi creatures who forever bring new life back to the life giving tree? Look at the birds, the

260 creatures, the insects, from all over Rata’s island putting the tree of life back together chip by chip. They were singing a song:

“Fly together, chips and shavings, Stick ye fast together, Hold ye fast together; Stand upright again, o tree!” 5

Suddenly, out of the brush ran the fiercest Rata, while birds and insects scattered too frightened to fly. Rata knew the leader and captured him. The trickster bird was most beautiful and cunning. An agreement was made that Rata would set the king of the birds free. The King would order the creatures to transform that sacred ancestral tree into a canoe over night. The pact was made and the canoe hewed out in one day. To Rata’s amazement it floated through the sky down to the sea. Rata used the canoe to retrieve his father’s bones. This Tree of Life brings life when fallen from above by transporting the Stars across the sweet scented pathway of flowers and the burned fish offering of Ikaroa, the Milky Way, back to their place on the horizon at the rising Sun with its rays performing the gathering banquet of paradise called the Sweeping of the Stars.6 The evening came and the sun set once again. There were only two men swimming in the morning. It was the third day.

Hanga spoke to his best friend Maui saying, “It is finished, brother. I have no strength left. You must go alone. What hope it will give Easter Island when they see your arms rising in the sea from the East?”

261 Maui urged his giant friend on all through the day and in the evening.

When even Maui saw his friend waning he said, “I need you beside me, my giant of a friend. Stay with now and to the island my kin.”

Hanga could only say, “Take this oar, my friend. For even you are getting weak.

You must take on last thing as a gift of a true friend. Promise me you will take it.”

Maui held back the sorrow with his unfailing strength and said, “I promise my brother.”

Hanga’s final words were, “Take my haka-hau-ahua and you will reach the shore.”

Hanga’s body sank into the sea and a twin star was born in the night sky.

It was the fourth day of my vision and I woke up to my kin on Easter Island. I told them all that I had seen and went to look on the horizon to the East for my beloved father Maui. All that could be seen was the new Sun rising off of the 1000 white caps dancing in the wind across the sea.

I sat and watched for the entire day. I was sure that behind every wisp of wind sweeping mist was an arm of my Maui.

Suddenly, there it was, an oddity to the pattern, a lump brushing the wave higher into the air. I ran back to the harekura.

My cry of elation arrived long before me, “It’s Maui! It’s Maui! To the East!

It’s Maui!”

My eyes welled up with joyful tears as Hotu-nui ran out with Hina-iti and others to meet me. We all turned toward the sea and watched as I pointed to the spot of my sighting. We looked for a moment that felt like a life-time and I shouted, “There!”

262 Then we all noticed the spray of a whale rising into the air. Everyone walked away in sorrow.

That night Hina-iti sang a song that I might sleep. And in sadness I closed my eyes and finally fell asleep.

As I woke, I could smell the umu oven of Tangaroa-ika. I could hear the breakers in the distance. The mourning cries of our lost warriors were rising with the morning sun.

The sound of the cries began to shapeshift like a trickster disquised as a widow and suddenly a watcher announcing a sighted turtle or wayfinding ship. Then the clan could be heard stirring in shout and whistles. I ran out of the harekura and looked out to the West. But nothing. I ran closer to the hill to the West of the clan and looked at where the watcher was pointing. “... It is true... it is Maui...� I cried.

Hotu-nui, Hina-iti, Iwi, Tangaroa and I were all dancing and shouting toward the West were this swimmer was seen. Small read boats were already driving their oars down to assist Maui.

I embraced my father, Maui, to thin to carry me.

A great feast was prepared for the next day, as Maui was given a night to recover his strength.

At the feast it was decided that the Orongo Tangata-manu birdman egg hunt would be restored in the following moon.

263

Chapter 18 Notes 1. Dreams and visions are essential guides for the Creator to direct our journeys. Some dreams are more private, some visions are for the circle of humanity to discern. This author has had many dreams in his life, but only one vision. After deciphering these prayers I saw the glyphs before me when I was resting. I was completely awake, but they travelled in circles in reverse directions. The letters from other ancient languages were mingled among the Easter Island picture letters. Essentially, they were dancing. Given that they are words, these prayers are also a song. The songs are for all people to help restore our

264 fragmented circles of humanity and creation, provided we have the merciful and gracious direction of the Easter Island Elders.

2. Hebrew Bible: Mene, Tekel, Peres – producing the popular phrase, the writing is on the wall.

3. Wu Kang of China cuts an acacia tree down that repairs itself eternally on the moon. Thus the tree of Rata is the moon itself, waning a waxing. The Talmud relates it to Jacob and his ladder, where ascending and descending parallel with waning and waxing. The Haida have a boy gathering wood taken up to the moon for such disrespect. Black Foot myth relates Moai as the woman gathering wood taken up to heaven to marry Morning Star. She pulls the Turnip and peers through the hole to her family on Earth. Then is sent down, as Hina falling through the hole in the sky after her father in heaven pulls up the great tree making a hole. The Iroquois have the same legend. Here the waning and waxing of the moon is attributed to Hina falling at the full moon cycle. The moon then is the abode of the dead, who return to life when the moon is full. It is a yin/yang cycle or churning of the ocean with dark and light. The Horis eye that is poked, or Yi the archer blotting out the suns.

4. Figure y: The Canoe of Rata chant contains several flag glyphs that confirm the decipherment, such as, the double hull canoe used in the Hawaiian version of the Canoe of Laka chant; the tree being assembled and chips beside it; the pathway for the canoe.

5. (Reed, 1967, p. 71).

6. The Sacred Ancestral Tree of Rata is a banner now rising, set up immovable and permanent in the history of humanity, fixed by the innocent blood of so many millions of Indigenous Peoples, lest we forget.

Once we learn again to honour this Tree of Rata, whose fruit is the living First Nations Peoples so faithful to our Mother Earth, only then will our land begin to heal. To be nourished by this tree is to follow the example of its fruit.

Chapter 19 – Tangata-Manu, the Birdman Passage-Rite

265 This is my island, Te Pito te Henua, the End of the Earth. These are my people and once a year we have the great contest, Tangata Manu, the Birdman Egg hunt. These are Princes and Princesses who chant to give mana or power to their clan. These are the chiefs and their families who provide food to the contestants. This is the Greatest Chief, Hotu Nui and his wife, Hina. These are the 46 priests who chant the tablets inside the 46 Orongo prayer houses, to ensure victory for one of the 46 Birdman contestants. And these are the contestants who race down the 1400 meter volcano, Rano Kao, to swim across the three kilometres, past two small islands to the third, named, Motu Nui, where the Tavake birds gather in the Spring to lay their eggs. From time immemorial the first islander to find this egg reigns from the crater Rano Raraku for a year and his chief rules the island. Needless to say it was a fierce contest...

I raced with the contestants down the cliff carrying our reed bundles or pora to assist them in the swim. Most skilfully we all climbed down the cliff. Well almost all of us. There was one falling like a tumble weed. The two front runners exchanged the lead with a life-consuming, yet trickster-like effort. Two women looked on from Orongo urging on their men, cringing at apparent stumbles and exchanging competitive glares.

The one pushed aside is my father, Maui. He is the strongest on the island with only one rival pushing him as we go. That rival is me. Maui has raised me, with his sister, Hina Iti, to be as strong and competitive as he.

So, I tripped up Maui who got up with a smile and rushed to catch his opponent.

Maui used his pora reed bundle as a toboggan to catch up to me. The two of us tossed our pora ahead and dove into the sea. Others soon begin the dangerous swim.

266 Once a year, the ritual of the Birdman Egg Hunt occurred on our Rapanui island nest. The winner of the hunt is called the Birdman and was given high honors while living in seclusion in a stone hut of Orohie – the Cooing Place at the base of the stone quarry, Rano Raraku. It was there during the entire year, that the Birdman would call with prayers and incantations like a young chick for his food. The islanders fed him all year as if he were a young bird in his island nest, humbling him to know the service of others. The year of service and seclusion prepared the strongest young men on the island to become more understanding and enlightened future kings themselves. During the entire year the chief of their clan was made island king. Until the next ceremony started atop the volcano Rano Kao, in the stone village called, Orongo, the Listening Place.

I made the Birdmen raft from the dried reeds called ngaatu, which I cut from the crater-pond at Rano Raraku volcano. Then long twisted bark strings were weaved through the reeds to make the long floating boat, called a pora, which enabled me to swim to Motunui Island to capture the first bird egg of the year. And it was down from the lodges we ran at the command of the Royal Chief. Some men looked for a cliff to dive into the sea. Others ran the long steep path to the water to begin their swim. Men who cut themselves greatly increased their chance of being bitten or even eaten by sharks. I chose a cliff midway down I had jumped from in the past year. My pora landed ahead and I came up just under it as Maui had taught me in my training.

I swam beside him for my life trying to keep the victory out of my heart so I could swim with sincerity for the good of my island. I also ignored the swimmers ahead of me and prayed for those crying out for the sharks or who did not rise from their dive behind.

There were plenty of sharks that day and so I had to strike them on the nose as they came

267 near. It was harder to fend off the pain that pierced through my aching muscles from about midway between the first two islands, Motu Kaokao and Motu Iti. The farther and larger Motunui Island of the Tavake bird nests lay ahead and out of reach. The stinging muscles and the distance caused me to doubt if I would make it. I needed to think of a distraction for my waning spirit. Maui and I took our two person poras to Motunui last moon. We rested in the natural pool inside the rocks that was teaming with life. Beneath the water there proved to be the most colourful place in Rapanui, due to the fish alone.

My father told me how to get up to the nests from there. And so, before long I found myself there climbing to the small platteau.

Maui was already there sitting on a rock as if he had stayed the night. I shook my head in disbelief and he just smiled and laughed. I untied the food bundle from my leg.

Maui placed it with his food.

He said, “No one touches my bundle, so just leave yours here!�

This was telling for the amount of respect the islanders had for our Prince.

All the contestants slept in the cave of fasting. There is enough room for just over forty men to crouch with knees to chest and sleep that way all night on the stone flour.

With the face of Makemake above, it becomes a true rite of passage. Many of the men have dreams and visions from animal totems guiding us into harmony with the values and stories linked to our ecosystem. There is a statue in this cave, a small one, representing the lowest place of the Underworld where the dead are immoble. It is only the egg of life that will awaken us back to life.

Then a day came when finally one would find an egg. You could almost tell by the excessive cries of the Tavake bird. Their call was by far the loudest of the island.

268 That is why their egg was chosen to return to the listening place of Orongo. Koro-orongo also means peace. Since, the finding of the egg determines whose chief will reign as king for a year, the egg is also called, The Egg of Peace.

Early in this certain morning I will remember forever, the first bird had awoken me. I stood for several minutes until the tingling stopped in my legs. Even as I walked, I tumbled for I still could not feel my legs. Outside the cave, I massaged my legs until able to climb to the Motunui platteau. I knew where many of the nests were and began to search them for an egg. The birds were now nesting and preparing to lay. So each bird that dodged out of the way might very well uncover the Egg of Life.

There were no eggs in the mourning, so I started toward Maui who would join me in a dive and swim off the rocks. But I was distracted by a Tavake groan that came from a crevass between a rocky ledge by the sea. I looked over the ledge and there was an opening large enough for a bird to nest. It was not safe, but neither was the swim. So I climbed across the step embankment into the crevass, my feet on one side and my back on the other. I scaled across to the place where I heard the call. In a hollow I could hear it cooing. It was the sound of a mother when in the presence of its young.

When you search for the greatest prize that one can hold in the hand, it is wise not to get your hopes up. The disappointment of seeing no egg in each nest can become heart wrenching. So, I just took it all in stride. But this time it was different. Maybe it was because of all the effort I had made to come to the nest. Maybe it was the cooing mother.

But this time my heart was racing.

As I reached into the opening, the mother had nowhere to go. She started pecking at my hand, while the father came swooping down to my head. The birdmen have

269 become accustomed to the behavior of nesting birds. Therefore, the result of the Tavake commotion was a crowd of birdmen gathering and peering over the rocks where I first saw the hole.

Maui was there and he inquired, “Well? Is it a fishbone or and egg?”

The birdmen laughed nervously.

I reached my hand into the hole to my shoulder. That is when the Tavake mother took a good bite. I pulled out with an, “Oooouch!”

The birdmen laughed histerically this time.

At that the mother came out of the hole and flew off, joining the father in swooping down at my head. They were pretty good at pulling little tuffs of hair off the head of birdmen.

Maui said, “Hurry up! Or you’ll be bald before the you catch the egg.”

More laughter from the Birdmen who knew that the one who catches the egg is shaven bald, together with his new king.

In my hand went, unhindered this time from exploring the nest. Unless the bird was into collecting and warming rocks, there were indeed eggs to be hatched.

I pulled one out of the dark hole and there were cheers from above the crevass.

“Who is this kid?” One birdman called.

Maui said, “That kid... is my pillar of a little man!”

I held the egg instinctively up to the sun. I could see the yoke through the glare.

Then it all hit me. My heart and mind could not take it all in. My vision began to fail me and my mind was swept to near unconsciousness from elation.

So I cried out, “It’s ... it’s... the... the... Tavake Egg!”

270 Everyone above me chuckled.

Then one of my competitors continued my echo, “... Tavake Egg!” Everyone was histerically laughing again.

Maui said, “Well, come on up, my little hero! You are birdman for a year!”

I tried to move about with egg in hand and three limbs to climb with, but my instincts prevented me from taking too much of a risk. So Maui lowered down an egg carrying basket to tie around my forehead. I tied the egg to my forehead with a piece of tapa bark and was struck with the symbolism of enlightenment that this egg represents toward harmony with this land.

The birdmen began to chant the Canoe of Rata chant to give me haka, mana and ngaro-aroha and swam back to the cliffs of Rano Kao in a trance.

My heart lept as I saw the chief and princess still waiting at the top upon my arrival. And there was a great cheer and procession, while my mind reeled in the waning disbelief and rising pleasure of victory for my clan and my island people.

This passage rite has held our island together for over 1000 years. But our thriving community of 2000 had been reduced to a mere 111 people by the colonial slave raids and influence. Through this immessurable suffering we believe there is another passage rite that came to our island as predicted by Rega-varevare. The ship arrived at Tarakiu-Vaihu and out came a Pillar of a Little Man. We offered him a place in our circle and he kindly learned our language and was eager to preserve our own mother tongue. 1 And our elders raised the greatest tapu, when we lifted this Pillar up to Orongo and offered him the back of Hoa-hakanana’ia.

271 Figure 21: Back carvings of moai statue Hoa Hakanana’ia2

Then the tohunga wisdom keepers carved the Falling of Hina moon calendar and funerary chant on the tablets, they gathered the people and together they lamented a song of restoration:

Figure ae: The Bathing of Hina Moon Calender chant3

272

kaiga-hina4 tangaroa-ria5 hina6... tahi(nga) 7 uhira-(ga)rauhi(va)8... (2 marama) ata9 ari10 (ohiro)11 Pregnant Hina at your Feasting Place distribute Tangaroa’s morsel.. by the Scraping (Sweeping) Ceremony of the Sacred Yam... for the twin spirits to know (Ari-Hiro) how to resemble a twisted thread (how to unite in sacred wisdom)

kaiga-hina Tangaroa-ria12 hina... tahinga uhira13 (6 marama)14 korore tahi, kokore rua, korore toru, kokore ha, Kokore rima, kokore ono At the Feast of Hina serve Tangaroa’s morsel... by scraping up the Sacred Yam from the dark expanse of the Underworld, scrape once, scrape twice… up to six times;

273 kaiga-hina Tangaroa-ria15 hina...

tahinga tama16 urahi... mahina mahua atua hotu17

At the Feast of Hina serve Tangaroa’s morsel...

scrape child, scrape up the Sacred

Yam... causing the Moon to heal for Lord Hotu (the first ancestor) who bears the fruit of the land;

kaiga-hina Tangaroa-ria hina-iti18...

tahi(nga) urahi19...

maure ina-ira rakau20

Tangaroa’s portion nourishes little Hina and her people, causing them to grow,

by Scraping the Sacred Yam out of the darkness...

exposing the sacred enclosure

with the digging stick of the first woman and her husband (Ina-Ira);

Matahiapo(Motohi) 21 (for the wrapping of) the First Born of the full moon (umu oven);

kata-hine22 tangaroa-ria Hina...

Atutahi23 Rangi tahinga uhira...

Marama x524

Tangaroa’s morsel fills Hina with laughter...

while Hina’s mother, Atutahi, and

father, Rangi, scrape away the Sacred Yam…

from the void once, twice… the five

times;

kaiga-hina tangaroa-ria hina-iti...

tahi(nga) rangi25 uhira...

tapume matua maro26

Tangaroa’s portion mourishes little Hina, by scraping away the Sacred Yam, as the parent consecrates the feather;

274 kaiga-hina tangaroa-ria hina...

tahi(nga) uhira-ikaroa27...

(Orongo) Rongo ma

Tane28 mauri-nui mauri-karo o-mutu Tangaroa’s portion nourishes Hina, ...

Underworld,...

by Scraping the Sacred Yam in the

can you hear the Sacred Bird who conveys a message with the great

heart, the kind of heart that brings darkness to an end;

kaiga-hina tangaroa-ria hina...

Tangaroa’a portion nourishes Hina,...

tahi(nga) uhira...

Honu (tireo)Mahanga29

[Then I whispered:] By Scraping up

away the Sacred Yam, O Rangi-tu-ahiahi, to become the Morning Star hidden by the Sun...

for the Turtle Island twins to spring up from the earth quickly appearing as the

twisted thread of Wisdom’s design.

Figure: Hawaiian Rock Carving of Rongorongo Turtle Twins30

O Hina te ao meha Eia O Fetu-moana Eia ….

O he tai toko e hetu. E He enata i mua i te utuna O te Fetu-moana

Oh Hina-te-ao-meha. You are here Oh Lord of the Ocean. You are here ….

Oh the flood, the roaring. Awesome A man before, with the offerings Oh the Lord of the Ocean

275 He enata i mui te pikia i te utunu O te Fetu-tau-ani He hono te vavena-e-tani-huina O te tai toko e hetu. E. Tipia, tipia to oe puaina, te hae pe’ia Mea tuna kai no te Etua ke huha ko huha

Oh man behind, holding the offering Oh Lord Tau-ani A turtle between, making great noise Oh the flood, the roaring. Awesome Cut, cut your ear; this is a bad house For cooking food for the God a different portion, the portion. 31

And so I made a pledge beside the volcano Rano Raraku, the hill of our emergence.

I pledge my heart to you Hotu Matua the first man crowned with the red earth tupa.

You alone know the names of all living beings, You alone have the ancestral tree carved across your heart.

I pledge my life to you Hina-nui-te-po the first woman who traveled through the Underworld.

You alone are my guide under Mahikurangi, the Sacred Hill, You alone fell from moon of heaven to rescue all your children, You alone remained with your lament to defend us, And now the half of Rehua-Rangi Paradise is falling to restore the depths, to wipe away every tear and to open the Harekura upon this rising Turtle Island.

May this Easter Island of Rapanui always thrive and remain a sign, like Turtle Island at the End of the Earth, foothold to noose the Sun and a model for the world’s restoration.

My name is Hotu-iti. Here is where I belong, sitting on the side of Rano Raraku, where all the statues were carved. I am fasting for one year to acquire the perception of

276 the Creator who keeps my island in balance. My clan’s tohunga feeds me morsels like a bird feeding a chick. As the winning Tangata-manu from past generations, I also prayed: Cause to descend, outside, beyond Cause to enter into these offspring…

The ancient prized knowledge… O Io-e!....

Be fixed in thy root and origin; affixed thy constant attention, Firm be thy inspiration, thy ardent desire, Within the roots, and rootlets of their thoughts.

May it grow, the fullness of this knowledgeThis ancient knowledge, this original learnings, And be like thine,…. O Io-all-knowing….

May thy inspiration grow [equal to thine]. O Ruatau-e!

And to that of Tane and of Paia-who-acquired-all-knowledgeAnd to Tangaroa [god of ocean] and Tawhiri-matea [god of strong winds] In the beating and trembling of my heart.

Hold firm, for ever, with desire towards the ways of Tu [the god of war] May he draw forth abundant knowledge.

And entwine in his desires, the ways of Rongo [the god of peace] Let them combine with matured inspiration.

Be effective, the sanctifying meal of Tu-horo-mata, And full advantage be taken of the teaching, by (these children), For they are thy offspring, that desire thee, O Io-the-all-father e! 32

277 So much has happened since that day Chief Hotu-nui included me in the circle of this island. This cave born passage-rite was such a small but necessary step. In the years that follow, my heart will be carved like these statues in order to make room for a dream of paradise we, the peoples of Turtle Island, call ‘Reality.’ I brushed my hands over this Rongorongo tablet given in exchange for the winning tavake egg. The writing board reminded me of all the elders. I pondered in my heart the words of Grandfather Tangaroa-uri: Only when we become a guardian of the earth do we fully understand what makes us all akin to one another. Even the most impossible odds are overwhelmed by the circle that realizes that each individual has a different knot to tie in order to complete the noose to snare the sun. For this purpose we have all been born to learn together the harmonious tune of that resonating call of Orongo ma Tane.

The focus of my gaze rose from the tablet, down the hillside of Rano Raraku from Orohie harekura33 and I saw the fifteen gravestones, the Standing Up Rods of Tonga-riki.

A rainbow was flashing off of the mist from the waves as if the Rainbow deity, Uenukukopako was honoring the dead. These ancestors taught me how a birdman can fly into that void of the grave where lie hidden the mysteries of enlightenment. As I scratched

the name of Rainbow onto the sand 34

this became my song:

For under the rainbow of benevolent kopako Uenuku-kopako Hidden in the mist I am the warrior35 crawling Out from the cave to my home upon the waters.

Like a little tortoise from the hatchling pit, With cracking sounds abound our origin stories

278 And the Tangata-manu calls unhindered Apart from the spreading brush of my wings Toward the first soaring Of the meek who inherit the earth.

279 Chapter 19 Notes 1. Fr. Sebastian Englert lived as a missionary on Rapanui (1888-1969). His knowledge and passion for the language inspired the naming of the Father Sebastian Englert Anthropological Museum on Easter Island.

His writings are considered valuable to researchers, including one with a record of ancient legends called, The Land of Hotu Matua, 1940 and Island at the Centre of the World, 1970.

2. On the back of Hoa-hakanana’ia is a carving of the mythology of greater Polynesia: there are the two birds with broken wings that raised the child Maui who was thrown out of the top-knot of his mother’s hair into the sea. It is a symbol harmony toward Indigenous philosophy around the globe, since it fulfills the Ojibwa 7-Fire prophesy, “And a child, shall lead them.”

3. This passage from the Mamari tablet represents the only confirmed portion of the tablets, being the Moon Calendar. It is placed as a 8 verse chant here with each verse representing a portion of the moon’s phases.

4. paiga – mahina, meaning food distributer the moon maiden combines with glyph 2 below, tuha(gai), meaning to nourish. This first set of glyphs confirms (Jacque Guy), that the full moon represents the cook with the three stones of the maori oven for the sacred umu feast. These sacred feasts in Polynesia were sacrificial feasts of the gods, tied into the chants of the living priests or Tahunga, as well as, those prayers of the deceased ancestral priests or Wananga. The feast had the purpose of nourishing the gods to establish a feast for the living in heaven. That is, after the person died they became servants in heaven at the feast of the gods. When they crossed the river of death they were not to eat of the meal they saw on the other side lest their disrespect cause them to loose heaven. Yet, after the gods assembled the servants were also participants. However, in the river of death is the great water monster of death that devours souls.

Required to liberate the dead are the three red hot stones of the moari oven. In other world lore these are called the three apples or three pomegranates. They are tossed into the mouth of the serpent, burning up the insides of Death. The result is the death of Death and a safe migration of souls across the river toward the heavenly umu feast in the afterlife. Hindu lore has the deity of death consuming a potion that gets caught in the throat and becomes blue from choking. The Blue Stone of Hebrews and the Polynesians may be considered here as the blue stones set in a row of Rangi or Heaven, the Wananga, the High Priest(s). Hear in the moon cycle they are flaming red and blue. These are the colors of fire and water, which combine as the symbols of war in the Mesoamerican lore. The war then from the point of view of the island priest or Tahunga, is the war to secure his or her island people in their migration to heaven after death.

5. tuha(gai) (tuwha) (Tunganga – out of breath (gaegae) from nga breath; gae = breath) (ngawha – a spring, to burst open; ngawhariki – a hot spring; gaaha – to burst) (rima – by the hand of hina); ngari is a timing song for paddlers. The same meaning comes from the reversed word for sky or rangi; ngaro – concealed hidden. Ngaroto is the third heaven in Polynesia, which is the heaven of lakes. Water is therefore represented as the element of the Moon, as fire is the Sun as is Mayan Classic lore. The deity of the third heaven is Maru, which corresponds with Tu as war deity, in the South Maori Island.

6. Hina – Hina is coming out of the New Moon cycle. Consider the New Moon as the dark side of Earth, or Hawaiki in Polynesian lore and the Full Moon as the migration to the light side or Aotea. Therefore, Turi, the chief from Hawaiki who migrates to the East in the Aotea canoe finding Aotea Harbour in New Zealand, is produced from glyph 2 where TU, to stand and RI/Ringa, hand or arm. I propose that Turi is also Tu, the deity of war, since Tu dwells with his mother in Hawaiki in a narrow section called the Mute Land and Turi also means deaf. Hina’s Moon Cycle, then, is this Mute Land in the waxing cycle from the pit or New Moon, but while waning after the Full Moon begins Orongo, meaning to hear, is the gift given to the twin needing to respond to the call of Tane.

7. tahi(nga) – the Sweeping ceremony to raise the restriction or tapu from a new canoe. This means the canoe would be safe at sea, free from harm. Raising tapu has from a new canoe hewn from a sacred tree is a sign of respect to ecology of the island. The tapu is essentially a sign of restriction protecting the tree from being taken for the wrong reason and with nothing to offer in return for what was taken from the land.

The priest would offer a first fish that was cooked in a ceremonial umu oven. The umu feast include very

280 sacred incantations that are offered by the priest with the first fish offering. These incantations, also called, umu, are payment for the raising of the tapu. This ceremony concludes at the break of dawn when the priest sweeps at the sky with a burning branch. This Sweeping Ceremony, also very sacred, gathers the stars into the rising Sun, the Full Moon or the Pleiades Constellation. Even the sparks off of the burning branch were very sacred and likened to the Sacred Ancestors, the Stars.

8. rauhi(va) – to gather together. (ra’a as the Sun glyph is widely accepted) Perhaps there is a connection here with the ancient term for Hiva, the homeland of the original Easter Islanders, giving the meaning of Hiva as the Gathering Place. Hivo in Rapanui means to pull or pull together. Ga rauhiva – means twins from vahi (to separate, the context of portions of the moon cycle). Therefore, the Turtle twins on which Tangaroa travelled upon their backs in migration might also have an ancient relation with the Old Country and the New Country during the migration cycle. Since the Turtle here has twins lamenting the previous full moon and anticipating the coming full moon, Turtle Island, as the Island of Life, could be represented in both the Old Country and the New; the old lamented and the new anticipated.

9. Ata – shadow or spirit. (Guy, 142) Here the spirit symbol is attached to the moon. The moon syllable is ma, from marama, for moon. Together they give us, maata, in broader Polynesia this means a swamp, which may be helpful in understanding the context of the New Moon as a swamp or empty pit related to death in myth and symbolism. More useful is the application of ma as the plural affix in Polynesia, giving maata the meaning of more than one spirit, or spirits.

10. ari – to show or reveal (Ari and Hua are twins – to show the sprouting; to reveal the birthing). Ari also means to resemble. Then, maata ari ohiro produces, the spirits reveal the twisted threads. Consider the context of this line with the moon cycle and the ancient deity of Easter Island called, Tavake. In Polynesia his name transfers to Tawhaki, the one who climbed the thread to heaven avoiding the two outside threads.

The spirits reveal the twisted threads express this mythology as the New Moon is called that which appears as a twisted thread. These two threads are also seen in the ancient line, Kawa and Maraenui were seen hanging from the forehead of Tuna (an eel) like veils. While Tuna descends because of drought in heaven, Tawhaki meets him as he rises on his journey to Hina, his mother, in order to save his father in Hawaiki, the Underworld. Tawhaki’s twin brother is Karahi or Arii, related to the twin Ari in the moon cycle. They are seeking to avenge their father Hema, a common Polynesian theme among the deities. Kawa means bitter and Maraenui mean the great sacred enclosure. The moon cycle then has these three threads handing from heaven in the Tawhaki myth of Kui the Blind. Two threads bring down from heaven bitter death and the house of life. Neither of these threads lead to heaven, since death leads to the great ocean of the Underworld and Maraenui, the Great Sacred Enclosure, is brought down from heaven to house Hina on Turtle Island in the Underworld. What is left is the central thread, called Maha, between the Full Moon waning down to the New Moon. Maha, as to open, plenty, life up, light or twins, is the name of this thread.

Reralated is the Rapanui, maharo, to be amazed. It is the thread Tawhaki chooses after taking 9 of 10 of Kui the Blind’s sweet potatoes and then restoring her sight. Tawhaki amazes us as he climbs to heaven between the full moon of life and the new moon of death; between the lamenting and anticipating turtle twin; between the bitter house and the Great Sacred House Enclosure; this makes Tawhaki a mediator and a powerful one. The twisted threads also reveal for us a battle between good and evil, between water and fire, the moon and the sun. The rays of the sun are the threads. In fact, Tawhaki’s threads are elsewhere in Polynesia called the Rainbow. Climb the central thread, the pillar of heaven, the pathway to the sun, in order to restore to life, those who have died.

11. ohiro – the moon is like a twisted thread. Hau is the thread made from the soaked bark strips of the paper mulberry tree. Hiro is a Rapanui deity of rain, Métraux (1940). Ibid. P. 310. One of the sacred ahu platforms on Easter Island is called, Tangaroa-Hiro, two of the three central characters of this Moon Calendar. On stone on Easter Island has a hole that sounds when the wind blows threw it, called, Pu-o-Hiro or the Trumpet of Hiro. This trumpet confirms the relationship between Orongo Tane, the hearing call of Tane and the sound of Hiro’s trumpet. This stone is covered with the komari, vulva glyph. According to Tregear (1891), Whiro had to migrate for unfaithfulness and went to war against his brother Hua after killing his son and hiding him in the canoe chips. Hua, meaning scrotum, appears on the Moon Calendar, before the Lord glyph, Atua/tuatea, for wave and the Hotu glyph, meaning swelling, birth or fruitfulness.

Consider Hua defined in Tregear as genealogy and in the Moon Calendar a genealogy of lords, deities

281 and/or kings, along with the birthright down the line of the first mother and Princess of the Moon, Hina.

Whiro is the line or cord representing that lineage. The saying Whiro is the New Moon which appears like a twisted thread reveals the portions of the moon cycle through divine appointed offspring. To hide Hua’s son in the chips of the moon portions, is to give Hua’s offspring a portion in the divine lineage.

Representative of the restoration of this son not only in the returning waxing cycle occurs in the brother of Whiro, named Tura, another Hawaikian chief. Tura’s son was born and continued to travel in Whiro’s canoe after Tura remained at Aotea with his wife. Tura surrendered his immortality so his wife would survive the childbirth. His first white hair caused his wife to begin to mourn. To this day white hair is called, the Weeds of Tura. Giving his life so his wife will live represents an acknowledgement of the heavenly origin of the mother. Tura left Whiro to move onto Wawau without him. This migration from Hawaiki, to Aotea, to Wawau appears then to be cyclical, returning again to Hawaiki. Therefore, the Moon Calendar, which contains expressions of the Hawaikian chiefs, Whiro, Turi and Tura, can teach these seafaring wayfinders something of how to follow their own migration patterns. Confirmation of this is represented in the pre-Cook tradition of trade routes among the islands of Polynesia. Also the meaning of wawau in Tregear is to scrape. In the Moon Calender, Whiro leaves Aoteo, the Full Moon by travelling to Wawau, the Scraping, which represents waning which leads one back to the New Moon, represented by the Underworld island of Hawaiki. Consider then, Turi, the war deity who stands with hand raised in the Great Sweeping of the stars, which corresponds with the Moon Cycle, calling upon the Great Fish offering to raise the tapu of the sacred canoe to embark safely on migration. After Turi, comes Tura, the one who sacrifices himself so that his wife may continue to participate in the life of her son. Turi works for Tangaroa, finding the sacred island and the sacred tree and Turi presents the heart of Uenuku’s son in a food bundle for Uenuku to unknowingly eat. Tura works with Whiro, who hides in their canoe chips, the dead son of Hua. Canoe chips are payment for canoe builders. They also represent the portions of the moon cycle, which likens the moon itself as the sacred tree of Rata, being chopped and restored month after month. The glyph appears as Hapohapo or Pohapoha; Hapopo is a priest who consulted the deity, Te Kanawa (see Hua Hakananai’a), against Uenuku. Hapopo ended up dying with the words, “Lying, deceiving god, you have escaped, leaving trouble for Hapopo.” Hapopo also means, the body or trunk, decay, a pit or crowding together. Poha means full or overflowing. Pohaha means split open. PohatuWhakairi is the Suspended Stone, set up by the Arawa crew as an amusing rocking stone, said to be a man turned to stone. Here the Moon is the rocking Suspended-Stone in its waning and waxing cycle. In fact, it is the Ball Game of Maui hidden in the chips of Rata’s canoe.

12. Tari means to carry. Tare – a Rapanui spirit who visited homes with food gifts. Tare was partners with the Rapanui gift giving spirit called, Rapahago (shining fish?), perhaps our Ikaroa, the Milky Way. 13. Ono – six. Here is the empty space in the Lunar cycle with six kokore (the expanse; moon days in clusters of 6, 5 and 5 begin with this word meaning, the expanse or void). Ono means six, or the pit, the grave in relation to six expanse or kokore ono. In the New Moon cycle Ono is the pit; the place of lament, of fasting and of preparation towards the waxing cycle. Tavake or Tawhaki climbs the 10 heavens to solve the riddle of his father being in Hawaiki, the Underworld, perhaps her the empty expanse placed here in the moon cycle. Notice that there are 5 + 5 kokore moons for Tawhaki to climb from after the dark expanse and they both occur on the other side of the Full Moon in the cycle. Consider them the 10 levels of Rangi or heaven. On the tablet, the first five moons heavens are associated with Atutahi and Rangi, the parents of Hina and the Falling of Hina glyph. On the remaining five moons or heavens we find Tane, crying out a message from his Great Heart, the Heart of Darkness, the Underworld Ocean of Tane’s Heart. This Turtle Island, where Hina was rescued, the Heart of Tane in the Underworld, is the tenth heaven. This is why Tuna the eel of death descends from heaven’s flood and Tawhaki meets him, since it was Tawhaki in lore who caused the Overturning of Mataaho, which is the Great Flood. This overturning of Mataaho, or what the eye can see, what we perceive is our own concept of death leading to eternal ignorance, but not on Tane’s watch after hearing Hina’s lament from Turtle Island after her twins are born in darkness into death.

Tane floods heaven and paradise falls to restore the Underworld by the overturning of the 10th heaven.

14. six marama: six moon days 15. Ri – the Screen or Sacred Barrier which only the Tahunga or priests were able to proceed. It indicated the most sacred portion of the chant approaching, here it was the Full Moon, Omotohi.

282 16. Tama – a group of people travelling in formation (Rapanui), poles, sun rays; Matahine – daughter.

Tama-mata (poles-window) is the gate to the underworld. Consider Tane or Maui flying between these poles seen as bird seals on the back of Hoa Hakananai’a in order to escape the underworld goddess of fire.

Tamareko? Is the talisman used to capture 17. Hua Atua Hotu – the scrotum, son, fruits of the Earth, to grow well (Rapanui), to repeat (Churchill); lord, deity, good omen, good person (Rapanui, also etua); swelling or fruitful (Tregear). Mahua would be a literal reading and means to lift up, to raise up, to grow. Prior to Hua Atua Hotu is Maharu, the ninth day of the moon cycle of Easter Island (11th to 13th elsewhere in Polynesia). Maharu may be related to the Rapanui word maharo, which means amazement and mahanga means twins. Corresponding names in Polynesia for the moon Maharu are Mawharu and Owaru (Tregaer). These words correspond with eight in Polynesia and/or scraping or peeling. The moon cycle is represented in the lore as a scraping or peeling of portions of seven or eight. As the saying from Tregear under waru, “Hina alone keeps seven, yes, eight balls in motion.” Though this may refer to the planets, sun and moon, the seven portions are also represented in the seven chips of the moon’s quarter and the eighth is the halving of Hina, when she gives birth to the twins. Maharu in Tregaer also points to the plural marker, ma or maha, multiplying the rumblings, haru, of the Earthquake deity, Ru. Further study on the relationship between the number 8 and earthquake or thunder beings may be useful.

18. Mata iti: Little Hina combines with the eye glyph addition to form the word for daughter, mataiti.

Tangaroa (unrestricted), Tangaroa is the lord of the ocean and the moon. Shirres associates Tangaroa with Hina in the third stage of the Maori karakia ritual, which is the offering of food to the atua or deity (Shirres, M. 1996. Ibid. Website). Tangaroa also shares many common qualities with Maui as stealer of fire and maker of islands. Métraux states that he lands at Tonga-riki in the form of a seal, is in the form of a man as Tangaroa-mea and one ahu on the south coast is named, Tangaroa-hiro and after Tangaroa, Papa, the Earth and Hiro, (Métraux, 1971, P. 310). Métraux, A. (1957). Easter Island, A Stone-age Civilization of the Pacific. Bullock, M. (Trans). New York: Oxford University Press. In one story he makes islands by throwing down stones from heaven (see 1). Therefore, the umu stones that kill the serpent of death also become symbols of the islands of life. Métraux’s informant, Tepano, gave the account that Tangaroa was a half man, half seal. He came from Mangareva and the people of the island tried to cook him in an moari oven. When his flesh did not cook the people said, “It was true, he was realy a king, he was Tangaroa and not a seal.” Métraux (1940). Ibid. P. 311. Tangaroa as half seal was King of the Sea and his brother, Tekoof-the-long-feet, was from the land and came to Te Pito te Henua looking for Tangaroa his brother. His feet made large steps and his head reached the sky. Puku-puhipuhi was the place Where-Teko-planted-hisdigging-stick. Perhaps the digging stick is part of a ceremony where a giant reed tree is weaved and placed in a great hole where it is turned around reflecting ancient American and ancient Hindu myth and ceremony of the Great Churning of Turtle Island.

19. Raiti – the small Sun – after the Sacred Screen or RI was set up, words were often spoken in a softer tone to emphasize their sacredness. Here, the great star, our Sun, is called Little Sun, as a sign of affection and familiar respect. Perhaps the ‘small Sun’ is the morning star, Venus, used with the Sun and Canopus to help guide the moon out of the Underworld.

20. Maure rakau – sacred enclosure and tree. Between these two moon on the Rapanui Moon Calendar is ina-ira. Ira was the son of Uenuku and was nourished on the heart of his mother. Such lore may represent Turtle Mountain in the Underworld as the heart of the first Mother. All life is produced and nourished through this heart, which rises as paradise out of the abyss. Ira also means a birth-mark throughout Polynesia or a spot. In Hindu lore, the mark or spot is the most sacred sign of enlightenment. The mark of Cain comes to mind. Irawaru (spot eight?) is the husband of Hina. When Maui turned Irawaru into a dog, Hina threw herself into the sea. Irawaru as Owa, meaning warning, as the deity of dogs, signifies the barking as a warning of human mortality. Hina jumps into the sea of death our of the full moon waning that Turtle Island might raise her children up from the New Moon and her incantation draw heaven to send down the half of paradise. Tangaroa was represented by a hollowed out rock. Hina as the Standing log.

Related to Mauri, the day or days near the New Moon cycle (Tregear). The love triangle around the royal sister, Maurea, caused the burning of a Wharekura (temple), where as, Mauri is defined as the heart and/or Guardian of Life (Tregear). Maure(a), then, is focused on the sacrifice of birth in the Full Moon, where the

283 cooked umu offering is ready. The New Moon of Mauri is focused on the Turtle Island of life. It is not a denial of the representation of life in the Full Moon and death in the New Moon, rather, the Rapanui Moon Cycle of Hina is an answer of how to confront the realities of life and death. Life must be sacrificed for the offspring, while even in death there is a refuge. In fact, Tregaer identifies related moon days called, Mara’i in Tahiti and Marangi in Roratonga. Related is the Marae, a city of refuge, a sacred oven or to be hospitable; Mara means a chip, a portion or a splinter, as does marama, the usual name for the moon itself.

Marae-o-Hine is a pa or City of Refuge in Hawaii, where no war party was allowed to even step, much less kill, for the safety of defeated warriors. The Cities of Refuge were called, Puhonua in Hawaii and Tapua’iga in Samoa. The Turtle Island of the one who laments old wounds and the one who anticipates new life, might be considered the Mauri or heart of the refuge of Hina in the New Moon, while the Maure is the oven paying umu for the sacred incantations that will purchase and secure that place of refuge. An important relationship can be made between this Rapanui Moon Calendar and the migration of the Moriori to the secluded Chatham Islands 400 miles East of New Zealand. Look up Tregear’s Maraenui, Kawa (see 22). See Hawaiki for sacred rakau or sacred trees in Polynesia. The tree of life in Polyensian paradise is said to produce the enlightened sons (Tregear Hawaiki).

21. Matahiapo or Motohi. The full moon, the first-born offspring of Hina. Motohi or the full moon is the umu oven full of the sacrificial food of Hina as deity of nourishment or Pa. That is, her offering is her heart or the heart of her son hidden in the food, not actually, but implied in the regenerative life expressed in the food. The Indigenous philosophy regards seeds, plants, eggs and creatures as eternal spirits do to the Creator bestowing this gift of regeneration. It is that creative aspect or life force present in every rock, creature, element, that ties us all together to the Creator. The Tohunga priest, then, expresses the rite to make offering with rock, fire, water, plant and fish as if this offering was an aspect of the Creator. This offering then has the power or mana to raise the tapu or restriction from the wood of the canoe for the migration for example. The restriction from hazards at sea is also lifted. Consider the full moon as the island of life lifted up by the fish-hook of Hina. Notice the right side of the moon is the first waning half, which appears as a fishhook in the sky. By no coincidence, then, the word for right or right side, matau, is also the word for fish-hook. This hook that Hina baited with her own bird that flies to and fro, that waxes and wanes, for Tangaroa or Maui, enabled them to pull up Turtle Island, the island of life in the New Moon cycle. It is no coincidence that the word for left, mau, is also the side of the moon that fills from its second half to the Full Moon Cycle and that mau or maui also means life. Taken as a whole, the New Moon represents darkness, emptiness, a vast dark ocean with a fierce water monster and giant birds that consume humans. In a word, the New Moon represents death. The spirituality of Polynesia takes the first waxing day, Ohiro, as the thread of hope and wisdom that will enable freedom from death by climbing to Rangi, heaven. The water monster will be caught by Matau, the fish-hook on this first quarter of the right side or Matau of the moon cycle. The second quarter waxing from the left is called, Mau, the left or the life, since the water monster of death has been caught and is cooked by the stones of the full moon umu oven. The back of the water monster becomes the island of life.

22. Fall hina – cut hina divisions. Pata, from PA, full belly representing deity of food consumption + TA/tane, the bird deity = pata, to fall. Together with Hina, Pata-hina or the Falling Hina. Berthin confirms in this glyph as ‘Great/Aging is the Moon’, Berthin et al. (2009). Ibid. P. 93. The relationship to waning or weakening is reflected by the daughter of Tangaroa who went down to fly to and fro over the flood waters looking for land. Tregear (1891). Ibid. Hina. On swimming to the Holy Island (Motutapu) she is found by her brothers and named, Standing log of timber (Ihungarupaea). She is a type of Noah dove with olive branch, the woman at the tree of life in Eden. Hina helps Tangaroa or Maui by fastening the hook to draw up the islands or baiting it with her bird. Hina is called, Inaika or Hina the Fish, as her hair was used to noose the Sun. On the full moon face is Hina and her mallet used to pound the mulberry bark for clothes and rope fibres (Hau). Though Tangaroa is once considered Hina’s father, she is also considered lord of the ocean and the incantation may actually be calling her Tangaroa as: “Provisioner Hina, Great Lord of the Ocean, Little Hina. She is married to Tiki, the first man. Tangata is man, related to Tangaroa; Tangataroa is a giant or long man, which may be referring to Tiki, the man-tree, or the tree of Hina, or Hina, the Standing Log of Timber, Ihungarupaea. See: Hinenuitepo, Hinetuahoanga and Hinematikotai. Hineahua – from the moon with stripes, where ahua means to heap up. Ahua is related to words for pregnancy and accent as a royal lineage or even an altar from a heaping up of stones. The sacred raised platforms are called ahu. Elsewhere in Polynesia they are called marae or pa. Hineahua was found

284 floating on the waters of the deluge. At the end of the deluge an altar (ahu) was erected to honour the moon, Tane appeared as the true deity and forbid it. Elsewhere, the gods climb the altar and consume the moon (Tregear, Tuputupuwhenua). The sacred turtle rescues Hina, this holy mountain is called, Mahikurangi. The deluge was caused by a refusal to give Ruatapu the sacred turtle. He killed all 70 priests in the deluge, only Paikea escaped.

23. Atutahi and Rangi are the mother and father of Hina. Atutahi is the star Canopus in the Constellation Carina, the Keel in Western Astronomy. In Polynesia, Atutahi is regarded as the most, or one of the most important stars. The Milky Way is the basket or great fish containing all souls. Atutahi sits outside of the Milky Way and as such is a guide for Hina to find her way back. Interestingly the glyph for Atutahi is turning back to Hina as if to beckon her on after the fall into the Ocean through the full moon. Rangi as the father of Hina is present in the small shrivelled Sun glyph. Remember, Tawhaki/Tavake climbs the rope to heaven or Rangi, when Tuna is descending from a drought in heaven. The drought shrivels Rangi just as the glyph defines through its syllables. What does this all mean? In order to save humanity from death, a great deluge of the living waters of Tane (Waiora). These waters come from an emptying of heavens lower levels to produce a drought in heaven. Heaven offers itself or pays the price for humanities rise to eternal life. Hina’s lament beckons half of heaven to fall to her assistance. The rongorongo glyph for Rangi symbolizes this mythology in its very design. Notive the glyph turning away (huri) signifies a change; consider tahu from TA/tapa, side + HU/huri, turn = tahu, to cook for work helpers daily. Also, the foot of the tahinga bird, appears to indicate the direction of the stooping or sweeping as away from. Then after the full moon there is the opposite effect. Therefore, sweep to gather vs. sweep to scatter. Or, before the full moon, Hina’s savior, Rupe sweeps to gather Hina and her son, then once they are in heaven or Rehua, he sweeps the dust away and make Rehua spotless, thus, the New Moon. Hina’s husband is Irawaru, eight spots or eight marks. The carving of eight moon quarters or eight spots purifies the moon of all spots at Rehua, the New Moon, or Tenth Heaven where Hina’s heart’s lament was heard.

24. five marama. There are five moons here, contrasted with the six above. Consider the Turtle, Honu or Ono as the sixth.

25. Rangi and one day waning riko. Rangi and ngari mean the same as a canoe timing chant. Hina paddled her canoe to the moon. Her standing log is also considered a standing whetstone for Rata to sharpen his axe upon. The waning and waxing sections of the moon are considered the sacred sparks of this sharpening, or the fire stolen by Maui; they may also be the chips of Rata, hiding the dead son of Uenuku/Hua whose son’s heart was also hidden in the meal of which he later ate.

26. Maha – open, plenty, to lift up, light, twins (the stats confirm and agree). Hama, outrigger, ama (the stats disagree). Amai, to lift up as the lifting of a vessel. Hama, to be consumed, to open wide as the mouth to consume. Maha then is the lifting up or Maha of the outrigger, Hama. The canoe bursts through the wave and comes out on the other side. Here the wave hits at the Moon thread glyph, Maha, and breaks through at Pohaha or the split open, of Hapopo or the Body of Whiro the twisted thread New Moon waxing.

The island history has the study of this portion of the chant in the Turtle Towers set up around the shores of Easter Island. Those preparing to learn the Rongorongo and/or the migrations fasted and prayed inside the Turtle Towers watch for the turtles, not across the ocean, but in the moonlight itself. Mihi… tangaroa mihi is a chief who owned the man-eating monster, Kataore (laughing biter?), from Tikitapu (the forbidden), killed by rope snares in contrast to the three red-hot stones thrown from above by Tangaroa to produce the islands. Mihi means to lament. Mihiti (lamenting tree?) is the name of a chief of the Rangimata (sky light, full moon?) migration canoe to the Chatham Islands east of New Zealand. Another story tells that the chief was Mararoa (long portion/refuge/heart/chip). If we consider these migration legends integrated with the moon cycle due to the importance of relating to the moon at sea, then Mihiti is the name of the rongorongo moon twin looking back and lamenting the past full moon or sky light (Rangimata), while Mararoa is the long chip or measure anticipated in the waxing toward the next full moon cycle. That is, Mararoa is the name of the second twin on the Moon Cycle of rongorongo. This connection with the Chatham Islands is made more evident by the curious explorer named Kohu in the Tane canoe who returned to Hawaiki after finding the islands. Consider Tane as the Hine bird of Tangaroa flying to and fro until finding land. Kohu means mist or fog, related to Uenuku the rainbow whose misty land is a safe haven or refuge where no war party may enter. The Chatham Island explorer, Kohu’s name, was used for the largest Chatham Island,

285 Rangi Kohu (ReKohu). The use of Re or Rangi, then confirms the Maure or Marangi name as a refuge appointed by the deities of the sky or heaven. Kohu is the husband of Ika-roa (long fish or great fish), the Milky-Way and their children are Nga Whetu, the stars. The stones of Tangaroa that fall in the mouth of the great fish are likened to a sacrifice of the first fish from the umu oven used to secure safe migration journeys at the Sweeping of the Stars ceremony. This ceremony of the priests burning branch waved at the sun rays of dawn cooperates with these rays to gather the stars into Matariki, the Pleiades Constellation or the Waxing Moon, the heart of Rangi the sky. Completing the cycle at dusk would return the stars to their place on the belly of Rangi the sky, or the open umu oven of Ika-roa, the great fish sacrificed to secure the migration of souls after death to turtle island found by Hina and representing her compassionate heart.

Another name for this umu oven is the kohu oven, since the burning rocks cause the water to become mist (kohu) and to boil the fish and sweet-potatoes inside. The relationship with Ika-roa is the misty appearance of the star clusters gathered there. The relationship between the people and their deities are integrated into the Moon Calendar from the very first syllable found in the bulging belly of Hina, deity of food consumption or Pa. The pa is a sacred enclosure protecting the people by the wall or pae. Pae also means the horizon. Consider the philosophy incorporating the horizon as the eternal limits of protection upon the people who migrate who never truly reach the horizon. The Pa of the people then, is integrally wound around the Marae sacred enclosure and is kept sacred by the kohu misty offering of the umu oven, confirming the people in a permanent cycle of spiritual nourishment, secure homelands and renewed society by the anticipation of migration to a land of refuge. When you look at the moon, what do you see?

27. The fish with the rere or flying symbol in it represents a very sacred fish offering called Ikare(re) and may be represented also by Ikaroa, the Milky Way or the great fish where the souls of heaven reside.

28. Orongo tane – the calling bird who enables us to hear (orongo). The word Orongo in Polynesia is associated with Rongo, Oro and Koro. The three prior Rapanui moons are Tapume, Matua, Orongo and then wanes Orongo Tane. Perhaps to consecrate (tapu) in company with (me) the parent (matua) of the hearing place (Orongo) of the Sacred Crying Bird (Orongo Tane). The cry of first parent is a lament for falling from heaven and it is a great sign for his and her children to learn how to rise. Following Orongo Tane are the Rapanui moons: Mauri Nui, Mauri Keno, Mutu and then Tireo. This means the Great Heart (Mauri Nui), the Heart in death or in the dark land (Mauir Keno), the moon brought to an end (Mutu) and gaze in anticipation (Tireo). Mutuwhenua is the Maori term for the New Moon and can be translated as the end of the land. Mutu in Maori mythology as Tekau mutu, is the manner of counting from one to ten. The counting of Tawhaki (Rapanui’s Tavake) involves the ten kumara roots of the blind woman and is related to the climbing of this thread to heaven after Tawhaki restores her sight in exchange for nine of her ten roots. Tireo and Hiro are the final moons, meaning anticipate or look out with hope for the thread of Ohiro (see 26 and 8).

29. Tireo, honu mahanga – the turtle twins appear in the stage of the moon on Rapanui called, Tireo. The word appears to be associated with Tiro, meaning to observe or to gaze. There are two perspectives of these hero twins. One is observing the waning cycle and lamenting the full moon, while the other is gazing at the waxing cycle and anticipating the full moon. This crier and the dancer have been images of global indigenous lore. Midway through the Moon Calendar is the Full Moon. It is the cook on the moon with the three stones of the Moari oven, representing the celebratory feast of the offering that removes the tapu from the sacred canoe, which now can embark on the migration of Rata or Whiro, Turi or Tura, or all of the deities migrations combined. Why? Because they all need the moon to travel on the ocean and since they were the original ancestors, their stories or mark have been left upon the moon Calendar. Opposite the moon cycle from the Full Moon is the New Moon. Yet, the Turtle stands before it. Therefore, at the New Moon, the symbol of darkness and the pit of death, there is a Turtle. This Turtle is the Island in the Underworld where Hina fell and gave birth to the Turtle Twins. In Mayan lore, the Great Goddess mural in Teotihuacan not only holds the same tree of life, but beneath her is a great mountain in the underworld which is her very own heart. From this heart she allows to flow all life. On the Moon Calendar then, Hina’s heart brings forth safety for the twins who would otherwise die in the Underworld. The imagery of Turtle Mountain as the heart of the divine Princess Hina in the Underworld, overlaps that of the Sacred Canoe of Rata breaking through the breakers of death; similarly the stone of Maui swallowed by the Underworld serpent defeats the power of death; also Tawhiki his brother speak to the blind woman with 10 sweet potatoes trying to find a way out of the Underworld. Tawhiki takes nine, as if a thief like Whiro, but

286 then returns her sight. She points him to the mountain with three cords. The one on the left and right only swing back and forth (as the moving cycle of the Moon Calender). In fact, Tawhiki’s companion is almost thrown to his death when he tries to climb them. However, the centre cord is grounded on the Mountain as enables Tawhiki to climb to heaven. Whiro appears as the two threads where heaven comes down so that we can rise up on the Hama thread with Tawhiki to heaven.

30. Hawaiian rock art: From Oahu and now in the Bishop Museum of Hawaii Resembles Easter Island birdmen without the beak, (Lee, 1992) 31. In the Polynesian Race, Fornander writes down the Samoan deluge chant, called Te Tai Toko.

32. Whatahoro, 1913. P. 96. Tu-horo-mata: the personification of knowledge absorbed by the tauirahoromata or student as they absorb the fern root morsel, aruhe, while simultaneously absorbing the teaching of the wisdom school or Whare-wananga. Also, see Tregear, 1904, p. 487.

33. Orohie is the house where the winning birdman was fead for a year. Due to its place in the history of island ceremony it is considered a sacred site (Chambers & Blood, 2009; van Tilberg, 1994).

34. Kopako Uenuku-kopako from KO, hole + PA, cluster or catch + KO = Kopako, meaning benevolent and NUKU, bent = Uenuku, the Rainbow deity the benevolent.

35. The story of the home of Uenuku-kopako, under the rainbow mist draws a parallel with the prophecy of the Rainbow Warriors among the early American First Nations about people of all races who will help restore the earth threatened by ecological crisis (Fuller Stone, 2011).

287 Epilogue Are the stories, rituals and voice of these Indigenous wayfinders transferable for our situation and times? Given the current global ecological crisis, humanity is poised to respond affirmatively to the voices of Indigenous wisdom. Hotu-iti sits in the sacred house of the winning Tangata-manu Birdman beckoning a morsel from our hand for a share in his Indigenous wisdom.

This pillar of a little man speaks of Pulling for Turtle Island by gathering from the cave of fear many hidden treasures, be they the winning egg of the sooty tern, the Easter Island tablets or the common stories and experiences of human history. Polynesian wisdom keeper, Rangi Marie Rose Pere, supports an ancient tradition that enlightenment is not restricted to any particular world-view (Pere, 2011). If wisdom can come from any corner of the world, then in a time of crisis it is reasonable to seek over all the earth in order to find and hear the voice of that wisdom.

The winners of the Tangata-manu Egg Hunt are those little enough to search in every cave, even if it is a child leading them. These are the meek who shall inherit the earth with all its hidden treasures. One such treasure is the first egg of Motu-nui, which represents the life of Easter Island for the entire year. Another hidden treasure is a mystery writing tablet from this same island. Its carvings represent a sacred tapu, restricted from the untrained eye. The learner arrives to finally understand this Indigenous writing system and the sacred tapu covering is raised enough for one to enter under the covering of the harekura wisdom school. The raising of this mystery hidden from the earth can draw all people into the same Indigenous story. This Indigenous wisdom matters, because it contains the stories of harmony with the earth. This wisdom

288 works to influence human activity to change the story of human history for the better.

The essential activity to restore the earth will appear much like a wayfinding clan willing to leave old world patterns behind and take in the canoe only those provisions necessary to secure a sustainable relationship with the new world. With the wayfinders’ banner of Tuhinapo-Rapa this clan will embark on the courageous hopefilled story of the Rainbow

Warriors. On our difficult migration across the ocean of sustainability these ancestors have given an essential direction from the Seven-Fire Prophecy: “Look for an island shaped like a turtle that will be an instrument in the restoration of the earth…. And a child shall lead them” (Benton-Banai, 1979).

289 Humanity’s migration canoe needs a few good people Pulling for Turtle Island‌

To be continued‌ The Pledge of the Rainbow Warrior I(We) solemnly pledge as a Rainbow Warrior to become a motivating force led by Indigenous elders who offer a safe passage-rite to weave human identity into the environment of Mother Earth.

As a Rainbow Warrior, I pledge to be motivated to the full extent of the human will, motivated to give up any kind of illicit luxury, motivated to postpone any licit good, and even motivated to die for the primary purpose of transferring the natural earth as an inheritance to the children of future generations.

As a Rainbow Warrior, I pledge to become learned in the knowledge and the stories of the land as its science and mysteries instruct humanity and all living systems into an equitable harmony.

As a Rainbow Warrior, I pledge to choose no living enemies, but to embrace the singular conflict with my inner-self for the purpose of curbing my human activities toward this ecological harmony within the Natural Law. As a Rainbow Warrior, I pledge to become part of a Spiritual Force commissioned by the Creator and able to inspire and heal others, especially those most broken by the world-view of exploitation, with the understanding that no wounded warriors, no matter how hopeless their circumstances, are to be left behind.

As a Rainbow Warrior, I pledge to be inspired by the visions and dreams of the elders, from every culture of life, especially those cultures maintaining Indigenous values, and I pledge to become familiar with their prophecies and to become aware of the signs of the times.

As a Rainbow Warrior, I (We) pledge to answer this desparate call at this cross-roads of living history to join in the migration by Pulling for Turtle Island, taking only what is necessary to sustain harmony with Mother Earth and leaving behind all things that might harm her capacity to nourish all living things.

As my passage-rite, as a Rainbow Warrior, I solemnly pledge to wear this banner on my heart,

290

representing the Guardian of Ocean Migrations (the Higher Power, our Creator) to remind me to stand for my principles as a guardian and true child of Mother Earth

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About the Author Jayme Dansereau completed his Masters in First Nations, Métis and Inuit Education in 2011. Much of the narrative of this novel is drawn from his Masters Project, Finding Turtle Island. In 2006 he began researching global Indigenous mythology to complement his Métis ancestral study. He headed the Youth for Peace Aboriginal Art Contest from 2004 to 2006 where student results have been archived in the Museum of Canada in Ottawa. Through this devotion to Indigenous art he became interested in Polynesian studies and the undeciphered Easter Island tablets. In 2011 he Amazon published 10 Chants – On the Decipherment of the Easter Island Tablets. His experience includes learning and instructing in the Blackfoot community from 2007 to 2011 where various elders taught him how to better recognize the original voice of Indigenous world-view from which he carefully grounded this work. He learned that Indigenous world-view includes a keen attention to the wisdom, stories, prophecy and dreams of the Elders who advise in the sharing of unusual dreams to help the community in times of crisis. His ultimate dream is to offer his children and grandchildren a sustainable relationship with this paradise we call Mother Earth.

Unusual Dreams of a 12 Year Old Listed is a series of unusual dreams the author experienced at the age of 12: - When he crossed the train bridge in his hometown he saw two worlds. One world was dark and emitted an aweful feeling. The other world was full of light and emitted a feeling of immense peace. He woke up reaching out to the world of light with all his heart.

- Upon walking through his neighbourhood the earth shook with an explosion at a nearby school. He looked up and saw thousands of airplanes of different sizes and from different eras. Looking at the planes gave him an incredible feeling of peace, but the planes were flying in every direction at every altitude as if they were full of confusion.

- Walking away from Calgary with his cousins on a four-lane highway he looked back on the city and it appeared high like paradise while emitting a light that filled him with a great peace.

However, the highway was completely empty of cars and they were walking into the darkness away from the city of lights.

- While flying in a large passenger plane an airline stewardess told everyone to sit down and buckle up because the plane was falling apart and about to crash. After everyone had buckled up the plane became brand new and climbed to an incredible height.

- In a series of nightmares, an invisible man pursued him and his cousins in an attempt to take them to an underground city. The series of nightmares ended when a woman from paradise took them on a tour of this city under the ground full of light.

- Each of these dreams had an unusual feeling of peace so intense that he desparately wanted to fall back to sleep and return to the dream upon waking up. The author shared the dreams after taking the advice of an African Elder who said “Little Dreams” are for the individual, “Big Dreams” are for everyone. Before the Europeans arrived in North America, the First Nations people had visions and dreams of the future. For example, the Hopi Elders described power lines as spider webs across the land; cars and highways as giant beetles carrying people on

298 pathways across the land. The Indigenous view of dreams is that they come during a time of great crisis and are meant to help us envision a new reality to participate in as our old realities crumble. Then we can look at the crisis as a rite of passage, where all along the Creator has a plan that will ultimately lead to our greater good if we are willing to follow the good Red Road to enlightenment.

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