Aotearoa, the new Hawaiki: where are we off to next?
Our tupuna (ancestors) were innovators, pioneers, engineers, scientists, voyagers, botanists, agriculturalists, artists, storytellers, the list goes on.. They left the warmth and comfort of the islands for new frontiers, challenges, opportunities, wonders and lands to explore that might nurture a growing population.
Exploring uncharted territories and channeling Tāne (atua of the forest, pursuit of knowledge) to realise their potential ultimately brought them to the shores of Aotearoa from Hawaiki.
“the question to ask, is not simply where is Hawaiki.. but what is Hawaiki?”
— Raimona Inia, “E Oho”
“With the constant migration and movement throughout the ocean, every new island or land mass that was discovered was honoured with the name of the original homeland, Hawaiki, and qualified with an adjective that best described its natural state,” another line from the cuzzie Raimona, whose gathered over 20 years of research on Te Arawa whakapapa and tupuna antics.. instrumental in learning more about why the tūps did what they did.
Hawaiki Tautau/Tahutahu was the name given to Aotearoa and keeping with that voyager, explorer theme.. where are we off to next?
You might have your rational thinking cap on and say, what do you mean where are we off to, the world has been mapped already, there’s no “next” for us to discover.. ha same. but hold that thought, turn down the heat and let it simmer for a bit.
Let’s think about whakapapa as a function now, how we’re the culmination of everyone and everything who has come before us..
how our ancestors live on in us and are always with us, whether we acknowledge that connection or not…
We’ve journeyed out far and wide, expanded our sciences, knowledge systems and art forms, we continue to survive the effects of colonisation and are gaining momentum towards the tipping point where we start to thrive. Not just in pockets here and there, but all of us together, as a people. Our tupuna’s wildest dreams are just in their infancy, just beginning to crystallise.
Bring that pan back to the heat now and consider perhaps the next frontier for us to explore is inward… to remember ourselves, remember our tupuna, remember our greatness and capacity for the incredible and make the impossible, possible. To know ourselves deeply and intimately, to reconnect to who we are and use whakapapa as the blueprint to navigate that exploration so that any journey outward is a true expression of our potential.
We’ll need to prepare a few things before we set sail, what might be on your list?
Tēnā tātou,
Hana.