Polynesian Voyaging: The Greatest of All Sailors

Two Famous Recreations of Polynesian Voyaging

1. THOR HEYERDAH - THE KON TIKI: Thor Heyerdahl was the first person to try to recreate Polynesian voyaging in the Pacific to prove the Polynesians were great voyagers. He had a ship, the Kon Tiki, built in South America as he believed the Polynesians were from South America. He did prove it was possible to sail across the Pacific in ancient ships as the Polynesians had. 2. THE HOKULE'A: The Hokulea is an accurate recreation of Polynesian voyaging vessels built during the Hawaiian Renaissance in the 1970s. It is a double-hulled canoe. The crew also revived Polynesian navigation using expert navigator, Mau Piailug who taught current Hawaiian navigator expert, Nainoa Thompson. On one of the earliest voyages, the ship ran into trouble as the Pacific is extremely dangerous to sail. Eddie Aikau, famous surfer and lifeguard, died trying to get help for the rest of the crew.

The End of Rapa Nui and The Bird Man Cult

At some point, all of the trees and birds on Rapa Nui disappeared and the people on the island began to starve. They were also trapped on the island, unable to make boats to voyage. Chaos and warfare caused many to die. The people resorted to cannibalism and women and children hid in secret caves on the island. The people destroyed their first religion, the worship of their own ancestors (represented by the Moai). Instead, they created a new religion tied to a deadly race for an egg: The Bird Man Cult. In this religion, the various tribes on the island had to present one warrior to compete in a race to the death. The warriors had to climb down a terribly steep and dangerous cliff face, swim to an off-shore tiny island with the last remaining birds and bird eggs. They had to retrieve the egg, climb up the cliff. The first contestant to bring back an intact egg became the Bird Man. The Bird Man was a sacred position. The Bird Man made all of the decisions on the island while living in seclusion for one year. After the year ended, a new race and Bird Man was chosen. The losers in the game were sacrificed. The game was extremely effective in stopping the warfare and chaos on the island.

The Kauwa

Finally, the Hawaiian people had a slave class or sacrificial class known as the KAUWA. What these legends all seem to point to is the fact that the Tahitians turned the Marquesan people into the Kauwa class. Another suggestion here is that the Tahitians, being taller, forgot the "shorter" Marquesans were the original settlers of these islands wrote them into legend as MENEHUNES!

Taiwan

Genetics prove that Polynesians are directly related to the Taiwanese. The original peoples of Taiwan are the group most closely related to Polynesians.Not too many of the orginal inhabitants of the island survive. They live mostly in the high mountains as they were colonized and displaced by Chinese people. The Taiwanese aborigines were a mix of Mongolian and Asian and are closely related to Siberian, Inuit, and Native American tribes.

The Kapu System

It is very possible that the Kapu system was brought in by the Tahitians and perhaps even by the priest, PA'AO. The Kapu system was a system of laws and regulations governing Hawaiian life and behavior. Many of the laws related to the protection of spiritual power or mana. One example would be the "no contact" rule between commoners and royals - especially involving the shadow of a commoner falling on a royal. To avoid contact with commoners, the highest royals lived in deep, cool valleys such as Manoa, Nu'uanu, and Waimea and did not walk around in the open except at night. Other rules governed food. Women were not allowed to eat bananas, red fish (symbol of sacrifice), pork, or coconut. All such food items were used as offerings at heiaus (temples). Only men were allowed to eat pork. Women were also not allowed to cook. In Hawaiian and Polynesian culture, only men did the cooking and women and men had to eat separately. This was also meant to protect the mana of men and women.

The Hawaiians

MARQUESAS and the MENEHUNES: The first Polynesian settlers in Hawaii seem to have come from the Marquesas islands. They were a shorter group of people. They built the first fishponds and heiaus (temples) on our islands. Their "short" stature probably gave rise to the local legend of the Menehunes. The MENEHUNE are tiny people of Hawaiian mythology who are similar to sprites or leprechauns. They are sometimes said to build things at night while people are sleeping. Our ancient sites often have signs which state that the Hawaiians believed the site, such as the fishpond of Kanehone, was built by the MENEHUNES. The Hawaiian language is very similar to the Marquesan language. Even Marquesan poi ponders are extremely similar to Hawaiian poi ponders!

Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

MOAI: The famous stone heads of Easter Island. They represent the ancient ancestors and kings. "Moi" in Hawaiian also means king. It seems the Moai were "walked" into place using rope. They were later destroyed when the people of Rapa Nui fell into chaos during a period of starvation. At that time, the people of the island destroyed the statues, feeling their ancestors had abandoned them. TALKING BOARDS: WRITING ON RAPA NUI: The Polynesians of Rapa Nui are the ONLY people in Polynesia to have a complete written language. This language was written on boards which represented boat paddles. The language contains half-human shapes such as half-bird and half-humans. WHY is this important? It almost certainly indicates that the Polynesians of Rapa Nui visited the Inca (and perhaps Mexicans) and they created a "language" out of Polynesian glyphs based on these visits.

Did the Polynesians Reach Mexico/South America?

No questions. The answer is yes! Why? a. The Stone Walls on Rapa Nui are an EXACT replica of Peruvian and Inca stone walls like those of Machu Picchu. No one else in Polynesia had such walls. b. THE CHICKEN AND POTATO MYSTERY: I will fill this in in class!

Polynesian Plants and Animals

Polynesian plants and animals, brought with the voyagers, is proof of the origins of Polynesian people as well as the fact that Polynesians clearly made it all the way from India and South Asia to the west coast of the Americas: mainly Mexico, Peru, and a few areas down the coast of South America. Plants from India: Coconut Sugar Cane Noni (Indian Gooseberry) Turmeric (Used for yellow dye) Bamboo *Taro: South Asia/Pacific rim Kukui nut South Asia Plants from China: Paper mulberry- Used for Kapa cloth *The one plant from South America Sweet potato although there is a debate as their version of sweet potato may have excited the pacific before the Polynesians contact in South America. Animals: Pig (China) Chicken (India)

The Polynesian Triangle

The Polynesian Triangle represents the three furthest places the Polynesians colonized in the Pacific. The three parts of the triangle are New Zealand (furthest south), Hawaii (furthest north) and Rapa Nui (furthest East though it is clear the people of Rapa Nui also reached South America.

Preserving Mana

The highest Ali'i had the most mana and needed to protect that mana. Special bowls were used for everything the king and high royals touched. Any hair, nail clippings, etc., or even discarded food items the king touched were put into this bowl. The contents of the bowl were then discarded in a secret location. If a dark magic priest from a rival group obtained the items, the priest or Kahuna Ana Ana, were able take the mana of the person and/or place a curse on the items.

Tahiti

The second wave of settlers coming to the Hawaiian islands were the Tahitians. They were a taller group of people who likely conquered the original Marquesan settlers of Hawaii. The Tahitians were taller and had a stronger "military" or organized warrior culture. They also worshipped the war god, KU or Kukailimoku. The most famous Hawaiian king, King KAMEHAMEHA, was a tall warrior (suggesting Tahitian origins). King KAMEHAMEHA's main job as a young man was to carry the feathered head of KU into battle (again, the Tahitians seem to be the ones who brought in the worship of the war god, KU. The Tahitian origin of Hawaiians has been proven through archaeology as there are stones only found on Tahiti found here in Hawaii and vice versa. The LEGEND OF PA'AO also gives proof. The legend states that a priest named Pa'ao fought with his brother. The brother accused Paao's son of stealing food. Pa'ao killed his son and showed his brother the stomach contents of his son to prove this was not so. Pa'ao then left for Hawaii. When he arrived, he was angry about what he saw. He disliked the kings of the island and felt they were "not of good blood lineage." (This suggests the Tahitians disliked the original Marquesan kings and the Marquesan religion and wanted to replace the Marquesan kings with their own Tahitian kings.) Pa'ao changed the religion to the worship of KU (KUKAILIMOKU). Interestingly, the Hawaiian legends also seem to back up this change in religion. The Hawaiian legends (probably originally Marquesan) speak of punishing people by baking them in IMUS or Hawaiian ovens. This backs up the idea that the Marquesan people settled the Hawaiian island first. Later, there is no mention of cannibalism, only the mention of KUKAILIMOKU and occasional human sacrifices to KU during warfare in Hawaii.

India Connection

There are multiple ties between Polynesia and India. a. Polynesian legends acknowledge that the Polynesians came from India b. Genetic testing proves that the ancestors of the Polynesians passed under the Himalayan mountains on their way to the Pacific. As I pointed out, genetic mathematics prove this. Indians are 50% European and 50% Harappan (the Harappans were probably a mix of Asian, Middle Eastern, and African). Hawaiians have two lineages or origins : India and Asia (China). If one does a formula with these percentages crossing an Indian parent with an Asian parent, the offspring would be exactly 25% European/Caucasian and that is exactly what the genetics show of Polynesians. They are 25% Causasian! *My own theory: the Tibetan Buddhists and the Alii feather helmet: The Polynesian helmet of the Alii (kings) strongly resembles the Buddhist monk helmets of Nepal (Nepal lies right below the Himalayan mountain range) *Other cultural ties between Polynesia and India are the lei which originated in South Asia/India, the offering of coconuts at temples (common in India, South Asia, AND Polynesia), and the plants they brought from India and Asia (see below).