From Ta'aroa to 'oro : an exploration of themes in the traditional culture and history of the Leeward Society Islands

Abstract

That most studies of the Society Islands primarily deal with the windward group, is due to the post-contact history of the archipelago. From its discovery in 1767, Tahiti became the preferred anchorage for European ships in need of provisions. Missionaries and traders followed. Consequently, our sources are richest for the windward Society Islands. The centre of the indigenous universe, however, was in the leeward Society Islands and these are the main focus of this study. Myths, traditions, symbolisms, genealogies, speech and language are analysed to uncover some of the culture’s fundamental themes and patterns and to gain insights into the indigenous ethos. The first chapter deals with the origins of the people. Traditional beliefs in an ancient homeland were noted as early as 1769 and are consistent with vernacular texts recorded many decades later. The findings of linguistics and archaeology relating to the problem of origins and population dispersals are also examined. Interpretations of the latter evidence are at variance with the claims of Society Islands traditions. Cosmogony is the subject of chapter two, which examines the traditional cosmic structure and the interaction between its binary polarities, Po and Ao. Concepts of time, place, origins and ultimate destination were shaped by the cosmic structure. The major event of the ritual calendar entailed a re-enactment of cosmogony. An analysis of original vernacular texts reveals a dialectic of the raw and the cooked. Excretal aspects of ritual and myth hitherto ignored by the culture studies of the region are given meaning. Contextual meanings of tapu. ra’a and noa are examined. Marae were places of ritual at the intersection of Po and Ao. Chapter three further explores the Po-Ao theme. Chiefs were the intermediaries between the two realms and embodied society’s ora or well-being. Death was a return to the beginning and defined by loss of ora. The place of origin had a physical location in the leeward Society Islands, which was hedged with oral symbolisms consistent with perceptions of the body as pathways between Po and Ao. Chapter four analyses genealogies and marae which together formed the heart of the culture, providing linkages between past and present. The only cosmogonic genealogy known for the archipelago is examined in detail. Changes and shifts in mythology are reflections of the increasing socio-political importance of certain marae. In chapter five, cosmogony is traced to the first human ancestors and sacred chiefs of Raiatea and Borabora. The conflicting traditions of certain significant marae cannot now be resolved in the absence of other evidence. The ’Oro cult peculiar to the Society Islands may have originated in another archipelago. Genealogies and traditions reveal a historical Boraboran dominance over the sacred centre at Raiatea that possibly goes back to the introduction of ’Oro. The Boraboran warrior-chief Puni of Cook’s time, reasserted this traditional dominance. During Puni’s reign rumours reached the Society Islands, concerning strange beings and wondrous vessels passing through the nearby Tuamotus. The likely immediate source of these rumours are examined in chapter six. They were translated into prophecies consistent with the traditional universe and the political situation in the leeward islands. The prophecies heralded the cultural changes to come with the discovery of Tahiti.