Penrhyn School holds historic festival to celebrate culture

While schools across Rarotonga showcase their cultural heritage, 1400 kilometres from Rarotonga two small but mighty schools, Omoka and Te Tautua, in Penryn/Tongareva, are making history.

According to head teacher Apii Napa, this is the first time ever that the schools in Penryn have come together to celebrate Tongarewa’s “rich” culture of traditional and contemporary dance, bringing singing, chanting and drumming performances to the community.

“The cultural festival held on Thursday was a huge success thanks to the support of all the teachers and the communities of Omoka and Te Tautua,” Napa said.

Culture is one of the subjects that teachers at Penrhyn School teach in addition to academics and sports.

Napa said teachers were keen to plan and experience cultural festivals like the one at Rarotonga School.

The festival is themed around this year’s Te Maeva Nui theme, “Te au ava Rongonui o taku Matakeinanga/henua”.

Omoka and Tetautua schools each chose three main channels in Tongareva as the focus of their performances.

The Tetautua School represents the channel (canal) located in Tetautua itself, named “Takuha”.

Omoka School was divided into two zones to represent the two streams in the area.

Students from Ohire Hou district represented “Taruia” – the main waterway for boats to enter and leave the island, while students from Ohire Tumu district represented “Sekerangi” – the waterway in the northern part of the island.

Each team chooses two items from the following list – pese (chant), kapa rima (action song), ura pa’u (drumbeat), ute, or string band performance.

The Takuha team from Te Ta’utua School chose to perform a combination of traditional and contemporary performances, including an entrance song, kapa rima, and a rock and roll finale, with support from Pa Metua from the Te Ta’utua community.

The Taruia Band from Omoka School performed a kapa rima, which ended with ura pa’u.

The cultural event was concluded with a performance of the “pese” chant and ura pa’u by the Sekerangi band.

Napa would like to say “meitaki poria” and thank the Bank of the Cook Islands (BCI), MP Sarakura Tapaitau and the kind and supportive families who donated cash prizes totaling $3000 which will be distributed to each school’s account.

“I would also like to thank the hard-working teachers who work with the communities to deliver this fantastic festival for the whole of Tongareva.”

At the end of this exciting day, the whole of Tongareva went home with a raurau kai, which consists of a roasted chicken thigh, traditional Tongareva umu bread and the infamous rice.