Mission to Maupiti

A symbolic gesture marks the long awaited arrival of Mike Tavioni’s father on Maupiti

Master carver Mike Tavioni visited the Tahitian island of Maupiti last week.
For him, the visit was very emotional and highly personal. It was a mission to take a written record of his father’s genealogy to Maupiti for a symbolic burial there.
Mike explained to the Herald on Tuesday that his father had always wanted to visit the Marae on Maupiti but did not get the chance to. For Tavioni, the burial of his father’s written genealogy on Maupiti was to be symbolic of his father’s arrival. It was an honour then for him to be informed later that he was to take his father’s genealogy onto the Marae.
Before his visit to the Marae, Tavioni attended an umukai where he stood to recite his genealogy and make a speech. However, about half way into reciting his genealogy he noticed some women crying as they identified with the genealogy. He stopped and went no further.
On arrival at the Marae, Tavioni looked for the main entrance. The main entrance was near the top point of the triangular shaped Marae but a large utu tree had fallen across it. He noticed others had gone onto the Marae from the sides but to Tavioni that equated to entering someone’s house through a window. He went onto the Marae at a point near the main entrance after standing on a special stone.
Tavioni had brought with him a rock and a carved spear (Tokotoko) from Rarotonga. The rock was an unfinished adze with a traditional symbol on it and an ancestor’s name. The Tokotoko had his genealogy carved on it.
On the Marae there was a ceremony conducted by a younger Tohunga name Teoroi. Then the younger Tohunga who was the landowner of the Marae, took the written genealogy which Tavioni had wrapped in a Tea leaf and also the Tokotoko after a woman had covered it with a cloth decked with red feathers. The Tokotoko was then handed to Tavioni’s cousin Mareva.
The older Tohunga named Maui, then led Tavioni to a place where he laid the stone. In the meantime the younger Tohunga had wrapped another Tea leaf around the written genealogy and took it away. Tavioni does not know what happened to it.
Tavioni spent three days on Maupiti and was impressed with how protective the people were of their environment. The island was clean and the people were also very friendly, generous and proud of their cultural heritage. Recently the 9 traditional leaders who represent the 5,000 or so people on Maupiti declined to allow a large tourist resort to be built. Their word was final. Maupiti has small bungalows and no large development.
The island is smaller than Rarotonga with mountains in the centre, not as high as Rarotonga and the coastal area is much more narrow. The lagoon is very deep and there are five motus around Maupiti island some of which are large and have housing. Copra is made and most fruits are grown. There is plenty of fish but no taro as there are no swamps. Yams and maniota are cultivated and their water melon, which is grown on the motus, is very sweet. There is an airport on one of the motus and ferries connect Maupiti to other islands. Its close neighbour is Bora Bora.

Herald Issue 463 10 June
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