Kalapu Moa Tonga

TAI :: TAHI
TANGALOA, FEKE AND MIGRATION

We postulate that a distinctive feature as the land tenure in eastern Polynesia was
structured by the principles of the deep-sea navigation. With the exception of the Society Islands, the sea god in eastern Polynesia was Tangaroa or Kanaloa. A member of this kinship, Ati Ta’aroa, was essential for seafaring as he represented an insurance against problems of all kinds. Taputapuatea ou Naunau are the embodiments of the god Ta’aroa as it is confirmed in Teuira Henry's work and by the genealogy.

The land conquered eastward result in a system, a political order which stems from the canoes. The arii system replaces an ancestral system. For example, in Rarotonga island, the ariis were at the head of the canoes/districts such as Takitumu and Teauotonga. In Tahiti, districts are referred to as the Va’a Mateina’a, the canoes of the districts which led by ariis. Likewise, in the Hawaiian archipelago, it is the districts waka moku such as Kona or Kae that shape the land subdivisions.

The ari'i system spreads out from the coastal marae and generates a network in all of eastern Polynesia, except for the Marquesas Islands. Nevertheless, there is no clue indicating that the other maraes are subordinated to the one in Opoa as the combination Taputapuatea/Naunau exists in all of eastern Polynesia under diverse compounds. Ahu-Naunau was the location chosen by the leaders on Rapanui to settle. Hau-Naunau in Hawai'i was attributed to the Ali’i Keawe, whose men came from the Marquesas islands. In Porapora, marae Marotetini also bears the name Naunau. In Tahiti, Ahutoru in Arue is known as Naunau.

Handy notices, according to queen Marau's information, that a group named the manahune was dominated by a new cultural layer, the Huiari’i as Ta’aroa offsprings. In this scenario, a movement belonging to an ethnonym Ati Ta’aroa manages to legitimate their claim to govern territories.

However, the genealogy of Fakarava [Haivaiki] evokes the enthronement of multiple ari is, as sketched by Franck Stimson. They descend from the same lineage, Tagaraoa /Teahatea. This genealogy started with Tehiri-o-Atea [space] and his wife Henua [Fonua] and their children Tane-nui-Atea-Tagaroa-i-te-pō-vaitumatagata-te-ariki-o-te-pō. According to the genealogy books, some of these chiefs left Havaiki, the ancient name of Fakarava, for other islands.

The myth/genealogy assumes that fata were built for every ari'i establishedz It is likely that this wave of ari'is as leaders was at the origin of the influence on lands conquered in eastern Polynesia. This group, led by warriors Tū-Tavake, Tū-Fareua, Tū-Makinokino emigrated in the direction of Rarotonga and pursued their journey in the direction of several others islands.

All these chiefs were offsprings from the land of Havaiki, the ancient name of Fakarava with Atea as their god and Tangaroa as their ariki. During my ethnographical inquiries, my informant expressly formulated the existence of migrants from the island of Rarotonga. For the informants, all the names of tribes or villages beginning with Tai belong to this period. Tainu’u marae on Raiatea island would have been built by a leader, Poriri from Rarotonga. Taiohae or Taioa in the Marquesas islands or Taipari in Tahiti fit in this pattern.

Paul Niva
Taputapuatea and Ari’i

[The Wheke, Octopus or Fe’e that dominated Ra’iatea and Taputapuatea Marae in French Polynesia is a much later migration then those remembered in Tonga and Sāmoa.

There have been many ‘Otua Feke rising and conquering from the second dimension, over multiple spheres of influence generationally and in varies ages of procession.

It is hubris to suggest that these later timelines, despite their size and influence, are the sole birthplace and source of Polynesia. None the less, Tai remains linked permanently with Tangaloa and the Ocean, Tide, Sea and Saltwater. -Tk]