Thomas Wayne: Stand Up: Our Identity

As a nation, as a people, this week is significant because it heralds two very important events. These events capture the essence of who we are as a people and Tu tangata, who we are, who we were, who we want to remain, and who we hope to be in the future, writes Thomas Tarurongo Wynne.

One is the start of the annual “Epetoma ō te reo Māori Kūki ‘Āirani – Cook Islands Language Week” which celebrates the Cook Islands language.

We will be having many Reo celebrations this week with the theme “My English Kuki Āirani, e tango ketaketa ia no toku o’oranga”.

Another event is, of course, Ra o te Ui Ariki (Lord’s Day), with the theme Atuituianga rangrangana – taokotai’angaa totou Ui Ariki. We are all interconnected and woven together through our Lord.

Both festivals, like New Zealand’s Matariki Festival, are set up for this modern age and reflect an important part of our identity. However, it is difficult for us to draw crowds or crowds to these events, which should give us time for self-reflection and consider what and who we are actually connected to, and why.

Just last week I was working with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is a great resource for our akapapa’anga and family history. After searching through all of our Metua and Vouvou birth certificates, I noticed something. None of them said Cook Islands or Kuki’ailani anywhere; instead, it just said Maori and the enua they were from.

Maori, not Cook Islands Maori, not Kuki’ailani Maori, just Maori and then whichever part of our commonwealth island state we have called the Cook Islands since 11th June 1901. Our Vouvou and grandfather Teavae Tarurongo were Maori from Atiu, and our Metua Vaine Arasena Duarte was Maori from Rarotonga, half Portuguese (actually she was half from Cape Verde, then a Portuguese colony).

As Maori we have a structured society that reflects our relationship with Ariki, Mataiapo Tutara, Mataiapo and Rangatira. We have Va’a Tuatua, Va’a Araara and Marae, as well as days that celebrate our past traditional leaders, their successors today and the lineage of responsibility and previous decisions that have brought us to where we are today.

The to tatou Pou e Toru we celebrate embodies our three pillars: our Traditional Leaders, Akono’anga, Pe’u Maori, Culture, Reo Māori and Enua or holders of the land and Moana or sea. Our Evanagelia, all expressions and beliefs of the Church and of course our Kavamani, our Government, our Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Executive Council, democracy and the King’s representative.

But this week’s theme is our Reo Māori and our Ariki or traditional leaders and leadership. Regardless of how we view their relevance, representation, or how they came to be in 1965, our Ariki are part of Tu tangata and we cannot abandon or diminish that. Not because of who they are, but because of who they represent and our own stories, whether that be faith, government, land, sea, or tradition and our akono’anga or culture which is atuitui’anga, raranga, and interwoven deep within each of our toto, kopapa and ivi. The Arataki or leadership they provide may be questioned in this modern era, but their place as our leaders in and out of the Māori world is not.

This week we will also be welcoming Mama Teremoana Hodges (QSM) from Rarotonga, one of the pioneers of Maori and Cook Islands studies in New Zealand and Director of the Korero Tupuna Trust. It is fitting that she is here on our island of Enua during this time of Maori celebration. We will also be celebrating the life of our uncle Papa Brian Hutchinson who has called Rarotonga home since the 1980s. Our Hutchinson, Te Wa and Talungo families will be coming from all over the world, including my

Brother Francis and his partner, friends and family will hold a funeral for mum Mereana and unveil dad Brian’s headstone next week. We will be thinking of you all next week – Reo akapumaana Prayers for the Tattoo family, Te Atua te aro’a.