The Ancestors of the Arts ^Featured

Tēvita O. Kaʻili, PhD Professor of Cultural Anthropology & Dean of the Faculty of Culture, Language, and Performing Arts Brigham Young University Hawaiʻi.

Art is a central thread of culture. Thus, some cultures worship the creators of the arts. In Moana Nui (Polynesia), originators of an art form are often elevated into deities. Ancestors were deified due to their great achievements in the arts. Today, they are still revered within the pantheon of Moana Nui societies. In Tonga, ʻotua are deified ancestors. They are known in Māori tradition as atua (ancestors or gods) and in Hawaiian as akua. ‘Otua are linked to the three principal genres of Tongan arts: (1) tufunga, material arts, (2) faiva, performing arts, and (3) nimameaʻa, fine arts [1]. Tufunga is the Tongan equivalent of the Māori tohunga and Hawaiian kahuna (expert, priest, or healer).

In Tongan tradition, art forms are associated with deified ancestors Hikuleʻo, Tangaloa, Maui, and Hina. The goddess Hikuleʻo is known primarily in Tonga and Sāmoa. She is the chiefess of the legendary island of Pulotu. Hawaiki, Pulotu, and Kahiki are the three primary ancestral homelands of Moana Nui. Pulotu is also the name for a composer of art. Specifically, the art of pulotu faʻu (composing of poetic lyrics), pulotu hiva/fasi (composing of music), and pulotu haka (choreography). In Tonga, when an artist attains all three areas of composition, the artist emerges as a punake, a master poet-composer-choreographer [2]. Pulotu was probably the ancient hub for the art of poetry, music, and performance.

The faiva taumafa kava, or the performing art of the kava ceremony, also began in Pulotu. Tongan tradition relates that Hikuleʻo, Tangaloa, and Maui often engaged in kava drinking ceremonies in Pulotu while the famous ʻAkaulea, the Talking-Tree, acted as the kava server, touʻa [3]. Faiva taumafa kava began in the ancestral homeland of Pulotu, the realm of Hikuleʻo, and later performed in Langi, the Sky World of the Tangaloa clan, and Maama, Earth World of the Maui clan.  

In Tongan cosmogony, Tangaloa ʻEiki is the younger sibling of Hikuleʻo and the elder brother of Maui and Hina. He is recognized throughout Moana Nui as Tangaroa, Tagaloa, Taʻaroa, and Kanaloa. In Tonga and Sāmoa, he is the god of creation, whereas in Hawaiʻi and Tahiti, he is the god of the sea.

Tangaloa ʻEitumātupuʻa is the divine father of ʻAhoʻeitu, the first Tuʻi Tonga (King of Tonga). All the royal and chiefly families of Tonga trace their genealogical lines and mana to Tangaloa. Tangaloa ʻEitumātupuʻa was also the first person to engage in faiva heu lupe, the art of pigeon snaring. His divine sons were among the first athletes to participate in faiva sikaʻulutoa, the art of javelin throwing. It is likely that the arts of pigeon snaring and javelin throwing originated with the Tangaloa clan.

Tangaloa Tufunga (Tangaloa the Master Artist) was the patron of the arts in Tonga, and carpenters were called the Children of Tangaloa Tufunga [4]. He had an art workshop in Langi, the Sky World, where he created all his artwork. He also had a toki, an adze, which he used to create art. In the creation tale of the first Tongan island, Tangaloa Tufunga threw down from Langi shavings from his workshop to create the first island of ʻAtā. Like Pulotu, Langi was a realm of the gods and certain arts.

Perhaps that most famous of all the deities is Maui. In Tonga, Maui ʻAtalanga was the father of Maui Kisikisi or Maui Fusifonua, Maui the Fisher of Land. Maui Kisikisi is celebrated in Māori tradition as Māui-tikitiki-a-taranga. He was a master of faiva fusifonua, the art of fishing up land. This art form was closely linked to faiva faifolau, the art of navigation, and faiva toutai, the art of fishing. Both Maui ʻAtalanga and Maui Kisikisi were known to engage in faiva fānifo, the performing art of surfing.

They are probably the originators of this art form. Maui ʻAtalanga was famous for his mastery of faiva faʻa, the art of cultivating crops. He was a master cultivator of ʻufi (yams), talo (taro), and kumala (sweet potatoes). Maui Motuʻa, the senior Maui, was the master of faiva toloafi, the art of making fire, and faiva feiʻumu, the art of cooking in an underground oven. His grandson, Maui Kisikisi, learned the art of fire-making from him. Maui Kisikisi, like the sons of Tangaloa ʻEitumātupuʻa, also engaged in the art of javelin throwing.  

Hina, like Maui, is well-known throughout Moana Nui. She is Hina, Sina, Hine, or Ina. In Māori tradition, Hina appears as Hine. For example, Hinemoana is the Māori goddess of the ocean. In Tonga, Hina is the sister of Maui Kisikisi. She is the goddess of the moon, tapa (barkcloth), and sharks.

The moon is her abode and she beats her tapa on the moon as the master artist of nimameaʻa kokaʻanga, the fine art of tapa making. Women tapa makers perform a sacred ritual to Hina during the process of tapa making. Hina is also the master of faiva mata māhina, the art of moon observation. Moana Nui moon calendar originated from Hina. Last of all, Hina is the goddess of faiva noʻoʻanga, the art of shark catching. Today, shark catchers still perform faiva laulau, the art of chanting, to Hina when they engage in a shark catching expedition.

Deities who are linked with the arts are immensely important because their mythical stories reveal the deep history of art. In addition, they remind us that art is sacred and spiritual, and that humans have a duty to care and support the arts.

[1] Māhina, ʻOkusitino. 2010. “Tā, Vā, and Moana: Temporality, Spatiality, and Indigeneity.” Pacific Studies 33 (2/3): 168–202.

[2] Māhina, ʻOkusitino. 2005. “Tatau, Potupotutatau, and Mālie: A Realist Reflection on the Symmetry, Harmony and Beauty of Queen Salote’s Poetry.” In Polynesian Paradox: Essays in Honour of Futa Helu, edited by Ian Campbell and Eve Coxon, 168–83. Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies, University of South Pacific.

[3] Maʻafu, 1904. “The Beginning of Death.” In Tales From Old Fiji, edited by Lorimer Fison, 139-161. London: Alexander Moring Ltd., The De La More Press.

[4] Gifford, Edward W. 1929. Tongan Society. Honolulu: Bernice P. Bishop Museum.

Further Readings

Hauʻofa, Epeli. 2008. Pasts to Remember. We are the Ocean: Selected Works, 60-79. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press.

Helu, ʻI Futa. 1999. South Pacific Mythology. Critical Essays: Cultural Perspectives from the South Seas, 251-260. Canberra, Australia: The Journal of Pacific History.

Māhina, ʻOkusitino. 2003. Oceanic Mythology. Mythology: Myths, Legends, and Fanta­sies, edited by Janet Parker and Julie Stanton, 374–81. Australia: Global Book Publishing.

Māhina, ʻOkusitino. 1993. The Poetics of Tongan Traditional History: Tala-ē-Fonua: An Ecology-Centred Concept of Culture and History. The Journal of Pacific History 1 (28): 109–121.

Source

Crafting Aotearoa: A Cultural History of Making in New Zealand and the Wider Moana Oceania (2017), edited by Karl Chitman, Kolokesa U. Māhina-Tuai, and Damian Skinner, and published by Te Papa Press, Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand.

To be continued.

Hufanga He Ako Moe Lotu, ‘Okusitino Māhina, PhD Professor of Tongan Philosophy, Anthropology and Art Vava‘u Academy for Critical Inquiry & Applied Research Vava‘u, Kingdom of Tonga

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Vā Moana: Space & Relationality in Pacific Thought & Identity Marsden Inquiry & Research Cluster Auckland University of Technology Tamaki Makaurau Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand