Tracking the Pacific origins of Kupe
Time to restore Pacfic prosperity
I’m sitting atTe Papa looking at the statue of Kupewhich stirs upagain all the questions of Ma¯ori origins. Every tribe has awhakapapa and culturalmemoryof Kupe. Every Kahungunuperson can claim descent fromKupethrough Rongomaiwahine and Kahungunu.
Kuramarotini, Kupe’swife gave Aotearoa its name. Kupecamehere from Tahiti in pursuit of Muturangi’s octopus. Not a physical octopus aswe tell it today but Muturangi had a network of connections, eight whakapapa tentacles that included trade routes throughout Te Moananui aKiwanamed“Te Whekea-Muturangi” or in Tahitian “Taumata fe’e fakatupu hau”— thewhekeof great prosperity— which included all of Polynesia and Melanesia aswe knowthem today. Eight, living breathing tentacles of growth.
Kupeset out to claim or destroy these, having been cursed by Muturangi for having drowned his nephewHoturapa to win overhis wife Kuramarotini.
Kupe’s purpose for killingTe Whekewasto lift the curse from himself and future generations which wesayhe achieved in Aotearoa. So he returned (Te Hokinga a Kupe) to Tahiti eventually drowning at the reef entrance to Maupiti Island wherehis bones werediscovered 20 or so years ago.
The Maupiti peopleknewthis forever of course, withKupebeing a native from there, but so did the Rarotongan people where Kupe’s fatherwasfrom.
Thishas been explained tome from elders throughout thePacific. They seeKupe quite differently than wedo. It is what it is. Ta Hekenui Mai Tawhiti Busby visited Maupiti Island in his time to pay respect to the birth and resting place ofKupeas have otherMa¯ori leaders, to¯hunga and a¯riki.
Lastweekat theMa¯ori Music Waiata Awards, PaAriki andImused over the passing of Kuini Irihapeti and her global influence, butwealso reflected onthe influence of Pasifika royalty going back toKupeand Kuramarotini and the need to restore the Taumata Fe’e Fakatupu Hau, the strands of prosperity throughout Te Moananui aKiwa ina moremodern context.
I’m at Te Papa with the European Union trade negotiators supporting Minister NanaiaMahuta, amokopuna of Pasifika andMa¯ori royalty, encouraging “trade not aid” into the Pacific region. Kia kaha Nanaia, heoi ano. Te reo ki tua oKahungunu— heee haaaa! Te whekeki tua o Takitimu— Tihei wairua e!