Hawaiiki calling

Having understood that the spirits of Maori return to Hawaiiki, PAUL RUSH follows one family's pilgrimage to that same ancestral homeland in French Polynesia.

I'm standing on hallowed ground in a state of reverence and wonder, oblivious to the small knot of travellers around me and the intense heat of the tropical sun.

I can't fully comprehend the fact that I'm really here in a mythical place that I thought was forever lost in the swirling mists of time. I've always understood that the spirits of Maori people make their way to Cape Reinga and descend into the ocean via the lone pohutukawa tree. They then move through the underworld on a long journey to their spiritual home of Hawaiiki.

But for me it is a revelation that this vast marae of closely fitted volcanic rocks and standing-stone monoliths on the Tahitian island of Raiatea is the Hawaiiki of ancient legend that is often mentioned back home in New Zealand. In ancient times Raiatea was known as sacred Havai'i and was the centre of royalty, religion, culture, history and heraldry.

Maria, our local guide, is explaining that the marae we are on is called Taputapuatea - "tapu" meaning sacred and "atea", faraway. "The first Maori people came from Asia and sailed to Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and Tahiti around 1200BC. The first Polynesian migration to Hawaii, Easter Island and New Zealand followed sometime after 400AD."

I'm absorbing this information with interest, particularly the fact that the word Maori or Maohi in local dialect is used in these islands to describe all Polynesians. I do know that recent DNA research has linked tangata whenua to Taiwan, so that is consistent with Maria's exposition.

"Raiatea was the cradle of the Maori religion and the dispersal centre for migratory journeys that followed the track of Matariki - the Pleiades constellation. The voyagers were skilled at observing seabirds and flotsam on the currents. When they thought they were near islands, pigs were placed in the water. Once the pigs smelt land they paddled towards it."

Maria explains that only high priests and paramount chiefs were permitted on the holiest part of the marae. The priests chose young men of strength and vitality to be sacrificed under the upright stones to appease the god of war and fertility, Oro.

For a Kiwi Pakeha man and his Maori family among our group this is clearly a pilgrimage, a homecoming to the place of departure for all Maori of Aotearoa. They are standing together before a huge headstone chanting a karakia. I had met the family on board our cruise liner, the P&O Pacific Sun, and we all joined the shore excursion on Raiatea Island.

Our absorbing island tour concludes in the busy port town of Uturoa, where most of Raiatea's 10,000 inhabitants live. We are dropped off at the French equivalent of a suburban mini-mart where I casually pick up the local newspaper and do a double take. The man I observed offering up a solemn karakia is featured on the front page. I buy the paper thinking he may like to keep it as a souvenir.

With my schoolboy French I discover that Justin Smith is a charter fishing operator in Oakura, Northland, who joined up with two Raiatea fishing gurus earlier in the day to wet a line and swap yarns.
 
Back on board the cruise boat, he is delighted to learn of his published exploits. I ask about his visit to the marae and he tells me he read a book called Vaka Moana, Voyage of our Ancestors before leaving New Zealand. He hoped his son Aorangi Smith-Iri, 13, stepdaughter Samantha Gedye, 13, and wife Ngawai Smith would all gain something spiritual and tangible by making this symbolic return to their ancestors' homeland - the sacred island of Raiatea.

"I thought the pilgrimage was important for my family and that it would add another dimension to our lives. The mother of my two children was half Cook Island Maori and Ngawai is Maori and had a Cook Island great-great-grandfather. This led me to the point of taking Aorangi and Samantha on the cruise to show them Taputapuatea.

"After the marae visit ended I hung back and opened myself up to whatever influences were around me. My first thoughts focused on my dad who died last year and I had a feeling of love and closeness to him. He taught me to make every moment of each day powerful while we're on Earth.

"I'm really proud that I married a Maori woman and I'm very conscious of my role as a European in educating my children about their joint heritage. I know that Hawaiiki has been spoken of for many generations and I believe the voyagers sailed from Raiatea to Rarotonga and then on to Aotearoa. We collected pebbles off the beach at Rarotonga on the way here and laid them on the sacred stones at Taputapuatea, along with a New Zealand coin.

"While I was kneeling before the sacred altar stone I thought of all the people I loved and experienced a great clarity in my mind. I felt that the spirits of Aorangi and Samantha's ancestors were proud of me for bringing the children back to their roots. I had an abiding sense of the strong connection between New Zealand Maori people and both Rarotonga and the Society Islands."

During our voyage home, I ask Aorangi about his special journey to Raiatea. "I have been to my original homeland of Hawaiiki now. So I now know who I am. That will help me a lot in my future life. I'm a Maori boy from Raiatea and Aotearoa." Raiatea is the second largest island in French Polynesia and is situated 220km northwest of the largest, Tahiti (40 minutes by plane or four hours 30 minutes by boat). For the Polynesian Maohi, the ancestor of today's Tahitians, Raiatea was known as Sacred Havai'i.

The P&O Pacific Sun operates a number of cruises from Auckland to Australia, Melanesia and Polynesia. A 21-day Tahiti Treasures cruise is planned for May 2010.

Websites: www.tahiti-tourisme.co.nz, www.pocruises.co.nz

Paul Rush travelled to Raiatea with assistance from P&O Cruises.

- © Fairfax NZ News